Hello! I am travelling to Japan this year late may/ early June. And wanted to know if this itinerary is sensible, and would I be able to see and do everything on it, is it too ambitious? Are there bits that are not worth seeing/visiting?
I am travelling with other 5 people, if that makes any difference.
**Day 1 (Tokyo)**
* Arrive at Japan 7:10 (Haneda airport)
* Drop off luggage at hotel
* Pokemon Cafe (Make a reservation)
* Sensoji temple
* Check-in into hotel at 15:00 and rest/sleep
**Day 2 (Tokyo)**
* Shinjuku
* Takeshita street
* Pompurin cafe
* Meiji Jingu
* Shibuya
**Day 3 (Tokyo)**
* Team Labs
* Imperial palace (can you wonder around the grounds/garden around there on Monday? As I know they don’t do tours on sunday/monday)
* Either Sky tree,Tokyo tower or the government building observation deck
*From here on out staying in Kyoto as a base, as I don’t want to be changing accommodations*
**Day 4 (Kyoto)**
* Activate JR 7 day pass
* Take a bullet train to Kyoto
* Drop off luggage at hotel (staying around Kyoto train station for easy travel)
* Higashi Hongan-ji Temple
* Toji
**Day 5 (Kyoto)**
* Go to Fushimi Inari early in the morning around ±8
* Kiyomizu temple
* Rengeoin Sanjusangendo
* Explore Gion area
**Day 6 (Himeji)**
* Take a train to Himeji
* Explore Himeji Castle and it’s grounds
* If there’s time go to Okayama
**Day 7 (Kyoto)**
* Monkey park *(is this worth going to in the summer?)*
* Bamboo forest
* Tenryu-ji Temple
* Kinkakuji
**Day 8 (Nara)**
* Travel to Nara
* Explore Nara park and it’s surroundings
**Day 9 (Osaka)**
* Travel to Osaka
* Osaka Castle
* Nambayasaka Shrine
* Some shopping
* Dotonbori
**Day 10 (Tokyo)**
* Travel back to Tokyo
* Drop off luggage at hotel
* Anihabara
* Do more shopping
**Day 11 (Fuji)**
* Take a train to Kawaguchiko
* Oishi park
* Explore the area
**Day 12 (Leave Japan)**
* Fly back early in the morning
Some questions
1. Are there any cute cafes in tokyo/kyoto/nara/osaka that I can visit? I only picked Pokemon and Pompurin for now, but considering going to Cream Puff Factory (Totoro Cafe) if there’s any time!
2. Could I also get recommendations for restaurants that serve Kobe beef in Gion area? It’s my mums 55th birthday, so want to take her somewhere nice.
3. Also, another question, I am planning on buying a Suica card, but not sure how much money should I put on the card to use on public transports (for almost 2 weeks) and use sometimes in the shops (as I’ve heard you can pay in shops with suica card)
4. Is Arashiyama Monkey Park Iwatayama worth visiting in the summer? Or will there be no monkeys at the time?
Thank you for any advice/feedback I can receive!
3 comments
I can answer question 4.
I went to Iwatayama Monkey Park in late June in 2016 and there were tons of monkeys. I’ve not been post Covid, but part of the thing is, at Iwatayama you can go in a special building and pay money to feed the monkeys, so I think all year round the monkeys tend to come by because free and easy food vs. in Jigokudani Monkey Park in Nagano, you never feed the monkeys and in the Summer the monkeys are OK not going in the onsen.
It really is a 20 or so minute walk mostly uphill at Iwatayama, so just be prepared for that.
I would leave myself with some flexibility with which day you go to the Pokemon Cafe out of your Tokyo days. Getting a reservation can be hard and as a group of 5 or 6 people it is even harder.
You can try for the Kirby cafe but those resos go at the snap of a finger.
Are things in order? Shinjuku is kind of focused on shopping and stores only open at 10-11am, not really a morning destination. Meiji-jingu on the other hand open much earlier. You could easily do Harajuku, walk to Shibuya then train to Shinjuku.
For observation deck, I would consider Shibuya Sky or Roppongi Hills Mott et I Tower instead of Tokyo Tower or the gov. Building.
Suica, maybe start with 500 yen a day that you will use it on transportation, it is easy to recharge, make more sense to recharge than to overcharge and try to get a refund at the end of the trip. If you plan to use it every time you can, it should not be hard to use for an extra 500 yen a day.