Hi guys!
Will be heading to Japan next month with my wife and would like to get some feedback on the feasibility of our itinerary, as well as suggestions on how to make it better.
I’m trying to keep the days not so packed so we have some time to explore and perhaps wander into a hidden gem
We will be utilising the JR Pass from day 5 onwards 🙂
Thanks in advance for your responses!!
Day 1 – Narita / Tokyo
– Setting luggage down at Narita Airport, heading down to Narita Town
– Back to Narita Airport and JR to Hotel
– Stroll around Ginza area
Day 2 – Tokyo
– Sushi Dai (intending to reach at 3am for this)
– Tsukiji Outer Market
– Seiko Museum Ginza
– Ghibli Museum
– Stroll around Shibuya area / dinner
Day 3 – Tokyo
– Teamlabs (first slot to avoid the funk)
– Small Worlds
– Mipig (Micropig café)
– ??? still thinking of what to do today, any suggestions would be great
Day 4 – Mt Fuji
– Shibazakura festival
– Fugaku Fuketsu Wind Cave
– Narusawa Hyoketsu Ice Cave
Day 5 – Nagano / Yudanaka Onsen & Snow Monke
– Shinkansen to Nagano (Sending luggage to Osaka hotel, backpacking in the Nagano leg)
– Yudanaka Onsen Seifuso
– Explore snow monkey park
Day 6 – Nagano / Shinbu Onsen
– Transfer to Shinbu Onsen Kanaguya
– Whole day at Shinbu Onsen and ryokan
Day 7 – Nagano / Obuse
– Obuse
– Check into hotel near Nagano Station
– Dinner at Shinshu Soba
Day 8 – Toyama / Tateyama-Kurobe Alpine Route
– Tateyama-Kurope Alpine Route (one day to Toyama)
– Enjoy Toyama bay sushi
Day 9 – Osaka
– Shinkansen to Osaka
– Umeda Sky building
– Osaka Castle
– Shitenno-ji
– Dotonburi Kani Doraku
– Hozen-ji Yokocho
– Round One
Day 10 – Osaka
– Kuromon Market
– Takoyaki Tamaya / Harukoma Sushi
– Cup noodle museum
– Shinsaibashi / Doguyasuji
– Isomaru Suisan Namba
– Dotonburi
Day 11 – Osaka / Day trip to Hiroshima
– Miyajima
– Anagomeshi Ueno unagi
– Hiroshima Peace Memoral Museum & Park
Day 12 – Osaka / Day trip to Himeji Castle & Kobe
– Himeji Castle
– Kobe Lunch
– Kobe Nunobiki Herb Gardens
Day 13 – Kyoto
– Deposit bags at Kyoto hotel
– Fushimi Inari Taisha
– Nishiki Market
Day 14 – Kyoto / Amanohashidate
– Amanohashidate (day is not really planned yet)
Day 15 – Kyoto / Arashiyama
– Sagano Bamboo Grove (as early as possible)
– Kakura koisenyen
– Stroll around arashiyama for street food
– Arashiyama Randen Station
Day 16 – Kyoto / Nara day trip
– Nigatudo
– Sangatsudo
– Todaiji Temple / Yoshikien Garden
– Nakatanidou Mochi
– Nara Park
– Dinner @ Kamameshi Shizuka Kouen-ten
– Send Luggage to Narita hotel
Day 17 – Hakone
– (day is not really planned yet. Intending to do the Hakone loop and stay in a ryokan)
Day 18 – Transit to Narita
– Thinking of spending the day in Hakone, or if there are any other suggested day trips before heading to Narita Airport hotel
Day 19 – Flight back home
7 comments
Aw I did my student exchange in Toyama. So happy to see this on your plans, it’s a beautiful place (especially the yuki no otani!)
I’d avoid the micropig cafe or any similar “exotic” animal cafe, if you have a look through other posts on this sub you’ll see a fair bit of agreement that they’re not the greatest in terms of animal welfare. AFAIK there are some cat cafes run by shelters that are more legit if you are looking for some kind of animal cafe experience.
Hakone is lovely (just did three nights there), I also did a day trip to Kamakura which was great too. I you’re into exploring temples/shrines I would give it a look, Hasedera and Daibutsu are amazing sights IMO.
Hi!
None of this is meant to be rude.
I just want to make sure you are aware of the G7 Conference in Hiroshima in May since you don’t have your dates listed. I expect it is going to cause a lot of trouble in Hiroshima for regular tourists.
I hope you have your Ghibli Museum Tickets already.
Personally, I can’t imagine the snow monkey park being as interesting in May since it’s not snowy then. The monkeys don’t exactly want to go in the onsen when it is warm and often need to be bribed to do so.
I do really like Nagano though. I’ve been multiple times.
BTW you’re not actually taking a shinkansen most of the way to Osaka. From Toyama, the fastest way to Osaka by far is taking the shinkansen one station (or the Tsurugi shuttle shinkansen) to Kanazawa (about 20 minutes) and then taking a limited express to Osaka about 3 hours to Osaka Station, though there might be transfer time. I guess you could also take a Limited Express Hida to Nagoya and then switch to a shinkansen, but there are only 4 Hidas a day and the trip is going to run you like 3.5 hours without even taking into account then catching a shinkansen in Nagoya. The only way to do the trip almost entirely by shinkansen would be backtracking to Tokyo from Toyama and then taking the shinkansen from there to Shin-Osaka but that would take more like 5 hours just in train travel not including any transfer times and is the slowest method.
Good luck!
I just came from the Tateyama Alpine Route – it’s so nice up there!
Just a note, I think it’s better if you book your tickets directly from the website or along the route itself instead of joining a Klook group – so you have control how long you want to stay in each section.
Also I can suggest to swap Hakone with Nikko – it’s a wonderful there, almost like a slightly less touristy version of Kyoto.
A thought on the Hiroshima/Miyajima day: it’s quite full for one day especially factoring in the fact that you’ll be riding the Shinkansen to/from Hiroshima (roughly 90 minutes each way on the faster Sakura line). If you go to the peace park and ride transit to Miyajima, it’ll take about an hour to get back to Hiroshima station, take a local train to Miyajimaguchi, and riding the JR ferry to the island. Add about the same amount of time to get back to Hiroshima so you can catch a Shinkansen back to Shin-Osaka and that’s a lot of transit time for one day.
On the Himeji/Kobe day, you can definitely get back to Kobe by lunch but you’d need to get there around when they open at 9 and generally move quickly. We did a guided tour (free English speaking tour guide volunteer) and while a little slower than we otherwise might’ve gone through the castle, it really made it a special experience. I also recommend the gardens adjacent to the castle (Kokoen). Castle with tour took us 2 hours. Garden took another hour plus we had a nice lunch at the restaurant in the garden. Then you have to deal with the less frequent train schedules so you might not get a Shinkansen to Kobe exactly at the right time (roughly hourly departures, plus slower local train options) We got to Kobe around 2-3 and opted for dinner instead of lunch. If you do Kobe beef it’ll be more expensive than lunch, but I think that’s worth it to take a bit more time in Himeji.
Strongly suggest spending the second day in Hakone. We went to a private onsen and loved it!
Definitely check out zenko-ji temple in Nagano, maybe over the snow monkeys. I was most pleasantly surprised by this part and nagano is known for oyaki which are sold all over the street leading up to it. I found it to be a quieter, more enjoyable version of senso-ji in tokyo. We also stayed in Yudanaka and debated going to the monkey park, but ultimately canned the idea. Instead, we stored our bags at nagano station after arrival, walked around nagano for a few hours, then caught the train to Yudanaka closer to the end of the day.
Day 3 TeamLabs funk is unavoidable. We were there at open today – every soft surface (there are a lot) has absorbed the smell and it permeates those areas. The places where you get relief are the water areas (chlorine smell) and the mirrored floor areas. I suggest you wear a mask in here even if you aren’t for the rest of your visit to Japan as it definitely helps a bit with the smell.