Hi Everyone,
A few friends and I are planning to spend two weeks visiting Japan this September. All of us will be first time visitors. I put together a rough itinerary of things to do and I wanted to run it by people who have some experience and make sure I didn’t pack any days too much.
The four of us are in our late 20’s and in decent shape, so walking around for long periods of time is ok. We plan on getting the rail pass for travel between cities, and will either take the subways or walk while staying in each area. None of us speak japanese but I can say a few things and hope to learn a few more before we go.
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Day 1 – Travel. We’re coming from the US so pretty much the whole day will be burned flying over.
Day 2 – We plan to fly into Haneda airport. We’ll check into our hotel (we plan to stay in Shibuya) and rest for a while. If we’re feeling up to it we’ll explore around the hotel. Mostly just taking it easy.
Day 3 – Asakusa and Odaiba
Morning – Senso-ji Temple, Nakamise Dori street. Walk to Tokyo Skytree
Afternoon – Skytree viewing platform. Lunch at Asahi Brewery. River Cruise to Odaiba Seaside Park.
Afternoon/Evening – Explore Odaiba. Find somewhere for dinner. Cross Rainbow Bridge and return to hotel.
Day 4 – Ginza & Akihabara
Morning – Imperial Palace
Afternoon – Walk through Ginza (not really into shopping but want to see the area).
Afternoon/Evening – Make our way to Akihabara and do some shopping/hang out there until we go back to the hotel.
Day 5 – Harajuku & Shinjuku
Morning – Meiji Shrine and walk through Yoyogi Park
Afternoon – Walk through Takeshita Street. Maybe go to the art museum.
Afternoon/Evening – Take train to Shinjuku. Find something to eat for dinner and spend the rest of the night going out. Go to Golden Gai, random izakayas, maybe karaoke.
Day 6/7 – Fuji Five Lakes
We plan on staying two nights near Lake Kawaguchiko. Ideally we’ll spend most of the two days visiting some museums, the Fujiyoshida sengen shrine, chureito pagoda, maybe a boat tour. We mostly want to use these days for relaxing so we don’t want to pack the schedule too much.
Day 8 – Western Kyoto
Morning – Travel to Kyoto. Check into hotel.
Afternoon – Arashiyama (Tenryuji, Togetsukyo Bridge, Bamboo Groves, Sagi Toriimoto street) and a guided tour of the Yamazaki Brewery if we can get a reservation.
Day 9 – Eastern Kyoto
Morning – Kiyomizudera Temple
Afternoon – Higashiyama District, Kodaiji Temple, Gion
Evening – Have dinner in either Gion or Pontocho
Day 10 – Southern Kyoto
Morning – Toji Temple
Morning/Afternoon – Fushimi Inari Shrine. Not sure whether we would hike to the summit or turn around before then.
Afternoon/Evening – Head back to rest at the hotel and then get dinner in either Gion or Pontocho (wherever we didn’t go the night before)
Day 11, 12, 13 – Back to Tokyo
I thought it may be a good idea to keep a few open days in Tokyo so that we could do anything we didn’t previously have time for and to allow for any potential travel delays before our flight home. Some places I wanted to go but didnt add to the schedule are Nakano Broadway and Shimokitazawa.
Day 14 – Go Home
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So that’s my first attempt at an itinerary. Would love some constructive criticism, and if anyone has any recommendations on hotels/ryokans, things to add/subtract, or maybe some cant miss restaurants, I would appreciate it. Thanks!