I’ve been planning a trip starting November 1st flying into Haneda. I’ll be meeting up with a friend that will be living in Tokyo so most of my trip will be based there. It’s still too early to pin much down since I won’t know my friends schedule but roughly one to two weeks I want to travel around. I will have 20 full days and two half days when flights come in/leave. I want to see a lot of the amusement parks and spend a lot of time in the national parks. I also like model trains/trains in general and photography. I tend to have busy vacations with aggressive schedules but don’t want to push it too much as I’ve never flown so far before. I definitely have more scheduled than will be possible so any advice as to what I should cut would be helpful as well as anything I may have missed that I should see. I’ll probably be alone for much of it but some of the things I will definitely do with my friend.
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This itinerary will have stuff grouped by days together but exact timing can’t be nailed down till September once my friend is settled. I tried to keep it flexible. I am planning on getting the rail pass, possibly for all 3 weeks just for peace of mind. Travel times are approximate based on google maps, I know they aren’t the most reliable but seemed to be about the same when double checked.
Travel Day 1
Train ride to Hamamatsu (2h 10m)
Hamamatsu Castle
Lagunasia
Train/bus ride to Nagashima Spa Land (Staying there for night)
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Travel Day 2
Nagashima Spa Land
Train Ride to Shima Spain (2h 15m)
Stay as Season Inn Amigos
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Travel Day 3
Shima Spain
Train ride to Osaka (3h 5m)
Stay at The Park Front Hotel
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Travel Day 4
Universal Studios
Stay at The Park Front Hotel
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Travel Day 5
Train ride to Himeji 1h 30m
Himeji Castle
Himeji Central Park
Train ride to Kyoto 45m There are quite a few nice hotels near the train station around 3 and 4 stars I’m looking at.
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Travel Days 6 & 7
Arashiyama Bamboo Forest
Imperial Palace
Kyoto Railway Museum
Senbon Torii
Fushimi Inari
Want to try and do Hirakata Park as well, it is an hour from Kyoto Station.
Travel to Yokohama (2h)
Stay at Yokohama Bay Sheraton
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Travel Day 8
Yokohama Cosmoworld
Hara Railroad Museum
Train ride to Fuji Hakone (15m) Not sure if I’ll do this the next day or not. Both Yokohama and Fuji Hakone could be broken off from this leg of the trip depending on how the scheduling works out. Google didn’t show many direct trains to Fuji Hakone with most stopping in Yokohama first.
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Travel Day 9
Fuji Hakone Area
Open Air Museum
Owakudani
Chisuji Falls
Hiryu Falls
Train ride to Tokyo (35m) Again this day could be changed if necessary but it would be more efficient to chain it.
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\+1 Day Fuji Q Highland
\+1 or 2 Day for Mt. Fuji Area, Ice Caves and (2nd day) Hikes near Enzan and Kofu
\+2 Days Disney Sea and Land
\+1 Day Nasu Highland This park looks really neat and has many coasters but is also quite out of the way. I thought maybe I could travel to it one evening and stay around that area overnight. One of the more likely days to be cut due to travel time.
\+1 Day Jet boat to an Island, perhaps Shikine-jima. I think this would be really neat but may also be one of the better things to cut.
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Altogether these leave me with 4/5 days for Tokyo. Here are some of the things I wanted to do there (not in particular order)-
**Koto**
Teamlabs Planets
Joyopolis
Small Worlds Tokyo
National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation
Tokyo Metro Museum
**Tokyo Station**
Imperial Palace
Plarail Shop
JCII Camera Museum
Tokyo Dome City
Koishikawa Korakuen Gardens
Popondetta Akihabara
Tamtam Hobby Shop
**Taito**
Tokyo Sky Tree
Senso Ji
Asakusa Hanayashiki
**Kawasaki**
Todoroki Ravine Park
Train and Bus Museum
Yomiuri Land
This area is spread out quite a bit but I really wanted to see Yomiuri Land. I could probably cut the museum as I have several others marked that are similar that I can go to. I can also try to stop in this area coming from Yokohama or Fuji Hakone.
**Saitama**
The Railway Museum
Omiya Bonsai Art Museum
Hikawa Shrine
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I figure all of these would be around 6 full days but I might be able to squeeze some in on flight days. A few other things that either weren’t located near enough to other sights or weren’t as important are-
**Tokyo unspecified**
Hobby Center Kato
Nezu Museum
Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden
JGSDF Info Center
Shunkaen Bonsai Museum(m)
Tokyo Tower(m)
Tokyo Summerland(m)
Tobu Zoo(m)
Any advise is appreciated thank you!
2 comments
First advice, be flexible, you do not have to do everything in the list and it does not have to be in order. Just try to enjoy what you are doing/seeing.
1 : Of all castle, why Hamamatsu castle ? Is there a specific historic character you like that have some link with this castle ? If not, I would highly consider Nagoya castle instead. It is also a reconstruction (and unfortunately the keep tower is under restoration) however, they have an extremely well reconstructed palace that is really worth seeing.
You were not kidding when you say you like amusement park. I was going to say that at least you are realistic on the required time between places, but I saw some mistakes, so make sure you double check and make sure you know how long it take to reach each place.
8 : Hakone is not 15minutes away from Yokohama, it’s more like 1h30. No there is no direct train, you need to go to Odawara first, then move around Hakone with bus/train/ropeway/ship… and ride back to Tokyo can be done on the romancecar, but that is not 35 minutes, that is 1h25.
If you really want to do Yomiuriland, it does not really make sense on the way to Kawaguchiko and anyway taking the bus direct there is cheaper than the train, so it can be better. From Hakone it would be easier, take the Odakyu line or the Romancecar to Shin-Yurigaoka station, then a bus to the amusement park, it would be possible by train to get to Keio-yomiuri land station, but that would require to take 2 train, so a bit of a pain.
Tokyo Tower is arguably not the best observation deck in Tokyo, consider Roppongi Hills Mori Tower and Shibuya Sky instead.
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In general it kind of work, but there is a lot of moving around, so for sure that can be exhausting. I personally am ok changing city almost daily and being in the train for 2-3h.
Obviously a lot of interesting points in Tokyo, but it will take time, so group things by area, make priority and don’t try to see everything at all cost.
Tobu Zoo is huge if you include the amusement park and it’s about 1 and a half hours from Tokyo station. If you want to go there it will be a whole day trip.