A group of 4 friends and I are travelling to Japan for a two week trip in Mid to End April, and it’d be great to have some advice for an itinerary that we have planned out. Our accomodations have already been booked so now we’ll just need to settle on the places that we are visiting.
Please let me know if its overly ambitious or packed, we don’t want to tire ourselves over endless travelling or visiting in general. Much help is appreciated!
Apr 11, 2023 Settling down + Asakusa
Flight arrival at 11.45pm, check in at Airbnb which is 10 min walk away from Asakusa
Apr 12, 2023 Odaiba + Ginza
Apr 13, 2023 DisneySea
Apr 14, 2023 Ghibli Museum/Nakano Broadway + Akihabara
Apr 15, 2023 Ueno and Shibuya
Apr 16, 2023 Shinjuku + Hakone Onsen stay
We’ll spend the morning and afternoon at Shinjuku, and then make our way to Hakone where we can relax in an onsen and rest at an inn
Apr 17, 2023 Hakone day trip + Kyoto commute
We plan to take the typical Hakone look (Bus, Cruise and Cable car back). After that, we’ll take the Shinkansen to Kyoto. We’re also wondering if we can fit the Mishima Skywalk here, even though its abit distant from the place at Hakone where most attractions are.
Apr 18, 2023 Kyoto Temple hopping + Pontocho area
We plan to rent bicycles and travel around Eastern Kyoto, maybe starting at the Philosopher’s walk and ending at Kiyomizu-dera Temple. After that, we can go to Nishiki Market and Pontocho to have our dinner.
Apr 19, 2023 Nara day trip + Gion
For this day, we plan on going to Nara deer park to see the deers and temples, and also to visit a mochi-making session. After that, we plan on heading back to Gion at night to see the Geishas
Apr 20, 2023 Fushimi Inari Shrine+ Toei Kyoto Studio Park + Osaka commute
After visiting the shrine and park, we plan on heading back to our hotel in Osaka from Kyoto
Apr 21, 2023 Shinsekai area + Umeda
Apr 22, 2023 Minoh Park + Cup Noodle Museum (Sushi Place) + Dotonbori
Apr 23, 2023 Kobe day trip
in Kobe, we’ll head to Arima Onsen to enjoy the hot baths there, as well as visiting Mount Rokko to enjoy the views. We also want to visit a Sake brewery, and then enjoy some Kobe beef for dinner.
Apr 24, 2023 USJ
Apr 25, 2023 Packing up and leaving
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A few questions I would also like to ask:
\- Is it recommended to buy the JR pass? Whether for 7 or 14 days. Also heard that there is a 72hr express pass, but it only applies for certain trains i think
\- Is Arashiyama worth visiting? If it is, we’re likely to sacrifice Apr 21 to visit the area.
\- Also, do hotels and Airbnbs generally require a photo of your passport?
\- For anyone who has visited Minoh Park, Arima Onsen or Mount Rokko, able to share anything about the places? I couldn’t find much material online and was wondering what its like to visit them
\- Is Japan crowded around Mid to End April period? Am worried that these places become to touristy and crowded for us to visit.
Much feedback is always appreciated!
2 comments
Does not look like a JR pass would be worth it at all
All hotels will always take your id, airbnb in japan need the info to follow the law.
Also. if you were not planning on it already, I would send your luggage ahead to kyoto before going to hakone.
Day 14-15… you know that Ueno is at walking distance from Akihabara ? And it will also take less time to get to Shibuya from Nakano (11 to 20 minutes) than to Akihabara (19 to 25 minutes).
Mishima Skywalk is not totally impossible. If you do, you would likely want to send your luggage from Tokyo to Kyoto (instead of getting it delivered to Hakone-Yumoto that would be the second option to avoid carrying it yourself). You will want to do the loop counterclockwise, so start by Gora/Owakudani/cruise/Moto-Hakone. From here, instead of going to Hakone-Yumoto/Odawara, you would want to go to Mishima skywalk and Mishima station. Actually going to either Odawara or Mishima from the south of the lake takes about the same time, so you would just do a stop on the way. Just note that you do not want to get to Hakone too late, you usually have to check in to the ryokan before 5 or 6pm when the meal is included.
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JR Pass, no because you would need to at least leave Tokyo and return within 7 days, and you are not. 14 days will be much more expensive unless you decide to add some extra expensive train rides. Even if you were to do the round trip to Tokyo within 7 days, in your case it will make more sense to use the Romancecar from Shinjuku to Hakone-Yumoto, in that case it would even be harder to justify the cost of the Pass.
There is a 72h subway ticket… it could be good it you use the subway like 3-4 times a day and staying in Asakusa that is for sure 2 times a day just to get out and back to accommodation, so yeah, it might not be a bad option, maybe just re-order the 3 days with the most subway use one after the other.
Yes, it can be worth visiting, there is different interesting things around there. So do you want more temples, bamboo forest, scenic train and monkey park or more modern things like what you listed in Osaka. Both are valid options.
Yes, I am pretty sure that the law say they need to keep a copy of the passport of people that are not resident of Japan. I think that if you are a resident, you cold show your resident card to say you live in Japan but not let them copy it (but some places apparently insist).
Went to Minoh park…. it’s just a walk along a paved street in the park up to the waterfall. It’s not bad, but would also not be my first choice. At least it’s close to the cup noodle museum so it kind of make sense.
If you want to know if the international tourism “peak” of this period have an impact… not as much as many people seems to believe. First of all, it may not even be the month with the most tourist, for example in 2019, July was first and April second. There is also a difference of a bit less than 40% more people going during the least popular month compared to the most popular. What will have the biggest impact is likely the local tourist and it will be especially the case in area with a seasonal attraction, like any cherry blossom spot (I do not see that many in your itinerary) will be much more crowded during that time than if you go at any other time of the year, however any other typical attraction should not be especially more crowded during that time.