Hi JapanTravellers, please have a look at my draft itinerary and provide suggestions and recommendations where possible! 🙂
I feel like some days I have planned 1 activity, that might only take 1-2 hours, so feel free to suggest things that are somewhat nearby to a planned activity. The itinerary isn’t concrete, eg. a lot of the night time activities like izakaya and yokochos can be on any night.
For context, we are a group of \~28 year olds. Most of us have been to Japan before, some have not. Our interests are varied.
We like eating food. We like drinking alcohol. We like shopping for street wear – both new and secondhand. We like sightseeing. We like Art. We like anime/manga.
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“…” in the itinerary means to be decided.
# ITINERARY:
* 24/12 – Tokyo (Shibuya)
* Arrive at Narita Airport @ 5:40pm
* Check-in to Airbnb, dinner, drinks, explore shibuya
* 25/12 – Tokyo (Shibuya)
* Day: Shopping – Shibuya scramble square / miyashita park / Parco
* Night: Christmas lights/markets, Shibuya Sky
* **Question: do we need to book Shibuya Sky tickets in advance?**
* 26/12 – Osaka
* Day: Travel to Osaka via Shinkansen
* Night: Chill @ Dotonbori
* 27/12 – Osaka
* Day: Kyoto day trip (west) – arashiyama bamboo forest / Tenryuji Temple
* Night: Arcades @ DenDen Town?
* **Question: Is DenDen town the same vibes as Akihabara? I have fond memories of playing arcade/crane games during the night at Akiba where it is open until late.**
* 28/12 – Osaka
* Day: Kyoto day trip – …
* Night: teamlab botanical garden osaka
* **Question: I’m a bit stuck on this Kyoto day, since most of us have already done the usual Kyoto stuff like Kyomizudera and Fushimi Inari Shrine gates. Any suggestions for nice temples/hikes in Kyoto that are not usually on the “first time travellers must visit” lists? Or would this be the best time to visit these places since there’s less tourists than pre-COVID?**
* 29/12 – Osaka
* Day: Universal Studios Japan
* Night: Universal Studios Japan
* 30/12 – Osaka
* Day: Naoshima (Art island)
* Night: chill @ shinsekai (eat kushikatsu)
* 31/12 – Osaka
* Day: Explore Osaka – Koromon market? Shitenoji temple? Amerikamura?
* Night: NYE party – amerikamura/dotonbori? / visit shrine
* **Question: we’re staying in the Namba area and this is our only full day to explore Osaka. Are the activities listed worth a full day? Most of us have done Osaka Castle, but if there’s not much to do, we may do it again.**
* **Question: Where should we go to party for NYE? Amerikamura or Dotonbori? Depending how we feel/how busy the crowds, we may visit a shrine afterwards. Are there any certain shrines to visit for new years? or do all shrines get visited by the locals?**
* **Question: any club/bar recommendations in Osaka?**
* 1/01 – Niseko
* Day: travel
* Night: night ski
* 2/01 – Niseko
* Day: ski
* Night: ski
* 3/01 – Niseko
* Day: ski
* Night: ski
* 4/01 – Noboribetsu
* Day: travel / onsen / hell’s valley / bear park
* Night: onsen / public footbath (24/7)
* **Question: is this realistic for day time? Unfortunately, we only booked 1 night here, so not sure if we’re able to enjoy both the local area as well as the hotel onsens. We’ll try to fit in an early morning onsen dip the next day before we check out.**
* 5/01 – Sapporo
* Day: onsen, travel, explore sapporo, eat miso ramen/ramen yokocho?
* Night: eat Jingisukan (lamb bbq @ daruma)?
* 6/01 – Sapporo
* Day: Otaru day trip? or explore sapporo / sapporo beer musuem?
* Night: explore susukino crossing/nightlife
* **Question: would you recommend eating Jingisukan at a restaurant or the Sapporo beer garden?**
* 7/01 – Tokyo
* Day: travel
* Night: party (WOMB/WARP)
* **Question: I like EDM so I’ve found WOMB and WARP clubs. Might look at Ce La Vi for something bit more classy. Any other club/bar recommendations? Something with Hardstyle would be even better :P**
* 8/01 – Tokyo (Shinjuku)
* Day: shinjuku gyoen park / Shopping – harajuku? / meiji shrine ?
* Night: Akihabara shopping/arcade/etc
* **Question: is Harajuku still the place to go for streetwear shopping? I’ve heard that these days it’s too touristy and expensive.**
* 9/01 – Tokyo (Shinjuku)
* Day: Ghibli museum / …
* Night:
* **Question: managed to book Ghibli musuem @ 10am for this day, but unsure what to do afterwards.**
* 10/01 – Tokyo (Shinjuku)
* Day: tsukiji fish market / teamlab planets / …
* Night: omoide yokocho (izakaya)
* **Question: early day time activities, unsure what to do afterwards.**
* 11/01 – Tokyo (Shinjuku)
* Day: Hakone day trip? Kamakura day trip?
* Night: tokyo red tower (interactive vr games)
* 12/01 – Tokyo (Shinjuku)
* Day: Asakusa?
* Night:
* **Question: early day time activities, unsure what to do afterwards.**
* 13/01 – Tokyo (Shinjuku)
* Day: 1 michellin star ramen / ginza art aquarium
* Night: party (WOMB/WARP)
* **Question: last few days of Tokyo seem to be a bit light on activities, open to suggestions.**
* 14/01 – Tokyo (Shinjuku)
* Day: fly out from Narita Airport
* Night: –