Itinerary Check – 19/09 – 09/10

Hi all. We are looking at travelling to Japan at the end of Sept and early Oct. We would just like to share our itinerary and receive any help/advice on how doable it is or if it is too cramped.

Some additional information:

Will be myself, my wife and our two daughters. Our youngest has autism (she’s fairly high functioning) and she does have her limits when it comes to travel and some extra time she needs between trains/destinations etc. Due to this we are open to not locking in certain sights and missing items on the itinerary if she needs to stay in the hotel for the day. We’ll just be happy to be in Japan.

Where we live it takes ages to get anywhere so we’re not adverse to travelling for a while to get somewhere and then get back to our hotel.

We’ll take 3 large backpacks for luggage to make it easier to move between hotels and travelling on trains and in cars.

Our itinerary is as follows:

Tokyo 20/09

Land at Tokyo Narita, we’ll be flying in from Perth so won’t have jet lag as Japan is one hour ahead of where we live. Will catch the Narita express to Tokyo Station and then to our hotel in Akihabara – staying here as it was cheaper than hotels by Tokyo staton and it’s only for one night before we leave early for Kyoto.

Kyoto 20/09 – 23/09

Catch the Shinkansen from Tokyo to Kyoto. Sights on our list:

– Fushimi inari shrine.
– Arashiyama bamboo grove.
– Wander around Gion
– Golden Pavillion
– Wander around Nishiki Market.

Would like some recommendations for other sights and what to group together on the same day if possible or what to skip on.

23/09 – 27/09

Catch the train to Osaka. Sights on our list:

– Wander Dotonbori on the evening we arrive.
– Spend the day at Universal Studios
– Day trip to Nara
– Day trip to Himeji Castle.
– Wander Shinsaibashi

27/09 – 30/09

Catch the Shinkansen to Fukuoka, rent a car and drive to Beppu.

This is the part of the whole trip we’re struggling to plan as it’s not one of the usual tourist cities so is a bit more in depth. We love taking road trips here in Australia so we don’t mind doing a 5/6 hour round trip to see some of the scenery for the day with a couple of stops along the way. The journey on the road is part of the experience for us.

We’d be looking for recommendations if possible of places to drive to for the two full days we are there. We’ll be using our hotel as a base to return to in the late afternoon. Our daughter will struggle checking into hotels for just one night, that many nights in a row if we were to do long road trip around the island of Kyushu.

Some of the places we’ve seen are:

– Daikanbō Lookout
– Visit the various temples of Kunisaki Penninsula.
– Visit Hirajiri falls.
– Takachiho Gorge (how long would be sufficient to spend here are the trip is 2.5 hours from Beppu?).

We wouldn’t do all of these just the easiest/most recommended.

30/09 – 01/10

Leave Beppu to drop the car off to Fukuoka and then travel by Shinkansen to Kyoto for one night stop to break the journey up back to Tokyo.

01/10 – 05/10

Arrive in Tokyo and stop at one of the hotels near the Disney resort and spend three days in the parks and leave for Tokyo proper on 05/10. Can’t cut our or reduce the time at the Disney parks as my wife and kids love Disneyland and this is something they have requested.

05/10 – 09/10

Stay in Ueno as it seems to be fairly family friendly and is on the Yamanote line. Things we’d like to do are:

– Shibuya crossing/Hachiko statue
– Our teenaged daughter wants to go shopping in Harajuku
– Mooch around Shinjuku
– Shinjuku Gyoen Gardens
– Sensō-ji temple
– Tokyo Skytree observation deck.

09/10

Leave for home.

Thanks so much in advance for any help/confirmation we’d get, it’s really appreciated.