Hey all, I’ve been lurking on here for a while now and I have a draft itinerary for my honeymoon taking place later this year in the fall. I feel like there’s more I can do but I purposely left a lot of open time so that we could explore each area without rushing to the next.
I’ll post the itinerary first and then explain some things at the bottom:
**Day One/Two: Departure/Arrival**
*Arrive in Japan, Narita Airport the next day due to 14 hour flight
*Clear customs / Pick up Pocket Wifi / JR Pass(7 day) / IC Card
*TRAVEL TO OSHIAGE STATION (TOKYO SKYTREE)
*Check into Hotel
*Rest/Check out stores/conbini
**Day Three**
*Tokyo Sky Tree
*Kirby Cafe
*Misc shops around the area
**Day Four/Five: Travel To Central Tokyo**
*Check out of hotel
*TRAVEL FROM OSHIAGE STATION TO CENTRAL TOKYO
*Check into new hotel/explore area
*Imperial Palace
*Pokemon Cafe
*teamLabs Planets
*Akihabara
**Day Six / Seven: Shibuya/Harajuku/Shimokitazawa**
*Either stay at current hotel or get a new one in Shibuya
*Shibuya Crossing
*Harajuku
*Shimokitazawa
**Day Eight / Nine / Ten: Osaka / Universal Studios Japan / Nara**
*Shinkansen to osaka
*Dotonbori nightlife
*Nara deer park
*Universal studios japan
**Day Eleven / Twelve: Kyoto**
*Shinkansen to Kyoto
*Arashiyama Bamboo Forest
*Fushimi Inari Taisha Shrine
**Day Thirteen / Fourteen / Fifteen: Tokyo / Flight Back Home**
*Shinkansen back to tokyo
*two days to do take care of loose ends
*Flight back home
So generally for the formatting I wrote down 2-3 days in a specific location and then below, I wrote all the things we’d want to do during that time frame. For example, with Osaka, we think we can check out all the night life, do a day trip to Nara, and USJ all in 3 days. Again, I want to plan this kinda loosely so we have time to explore, The only things on the itinerary that will be strict are things like USJ, teamLabs, kirby cafe, tokyo skytree, where we have to reserve tickets in advance.
I’m open to suggestions on things we could add to this itinerary (as it stands, we have 2 days at the end of the trip where nothing is planned). Oh and also none of the activities are solidified as of yet. We have only purchased the flight tickets at this time. So we just have the dates locked in, but nothing more. Thanks!
2 comments
I wouldn’t worry about getting your JR Pass at Narita airport, unless you are immediately activating it and using it. You can always exchange at a JR office elsewhere (like Tokyo Station). It saves the hassle of getting into that super long line.
I would suggest just staying in one hotel in Tokyo as there’s really no reason to be switching. we stayed near Tokyo station and hit up all the other areas. Most of the places were within a 20 to 30 min train ride, sometimes faster if you take the express or rapid express trains (vs local train, where they stop at every single stop).
Days 11 and 12 are very very light. Shinkansen from Osaka is 15 minutes, bamboo forest is 30 minutes, and Fushimi Inari is 15 minutes – 3 hours (depending on how long you want to spend there). So there is nearly 1.5 days with nothing planned.
Kyoto is very spread out, you should plan out a bit more which temples or at least areas you want to spend time in so that you can efficiently use your time there.