Going with a group of 9, we love to explore but our priorities are food and nightlife. We have unlimited energy (not really but we are all very very active people so gassing out won’t be an issue.)
# KYOTO
*TUESDAY Gion day*
2-3PM: arrive in KYOTO
* Machiya Starbucks near Gion district, grab coffee/food.
4PM: CHECK IN THE BNB
4:30 – 7PM : Explore Gion district,
* visit HANAMIKOJI-DORI (narrow street with fine dining and tea houses, good for pics at night)
* Gion Shirakawa area, (less crowd), walk along SHirakawa Canal
* Yasaka Pagoda,
* visit the Yasaka Shrine, a Shinto shrine located in the Gion district.
* Head to Pontocho
7PM: Pontocho
* Pontocho, a narrow alley filled with restaurants and bars
* EAT AND DRINK
9PM: EAT DINNER WHERE???
*DAY 7 – WEDNESDAY FUSHIMI INARI DAY*
10AM: Leave BNB
11AM: FUSHIMI INARI
* Arrive at the shrine early to avoid heavy crowd
11AM – 3PM: MAIN SHRINE
* Head to the main shrine area, there are a lot of food stalls here and restaurants so breakfast before exploring it.
3PM – 6PM: TORI TRIAL
* After the main shrine area, head to the torii gate trial – 3 hours average round trip. Take in the views and take lots of pics.
* In time for sunset
6-7PM: MAIN SHRINE
* Go back to the main shrine area to grab food.
* Sun would have been set by now so take some pics around the main shrine area.
8PM – 9PM: KYOTO TOWER
* Head to kyoto tower (closes 9pm) enjoy a full panoramic view of the city (need tickets)
9PM: EAT DINNER
* Honke Tankuma Honten – Yakiniku Motoyama – Gogyo Ramen
10PM+: CLUBBING
***DAY 8 – Arashiyama Bamboo Forest***
9AM:
* Leave BNB
10AM:
* Arrive at the Arashiyama
* head to the bamboo grove to explore
12 – 4PM:
* Head to Tenryu-ji temple – world heritage site
* Have lunch in Arashiyama – many traditional options
* Visit monkey park – short hike up a hill – very good view for pics – should finish around 4pm
4PM – 6PM: ARASHIYAMA STORES
* Explore Arashiyama shops and boutique stores
6-7PM: SUNSET
* If we have time head to Arashiyama Park for the sunset – grab drinks and snacks
7PM – 9PM: DOWNTOWN KYOTO
* Head back to downtown kyoto to hit up bars/food
9PM+: GION PART 2
* End the night back at GION district – very different at night – geisha shows and stuff.
*DAY 9 – NARA*
10AM – 6PM:
* NARA(CHECK TICKETS)
6PM
* MUBKA BANK
# OSAKA
***Day 1 Dotonbori and Umeda day***
1PM -2PM: KYOTO TO OSAKA
* Leave Kyoto and take a train to Shin-Osaka station.
1:30PM:
* arrive in OSAKA
1:30 -2PM:
* Shin-Osaka station train to NAMBA STATION
2 -4PM
* https://tabelog.com/en/osaka/A2701/A270202/27001276/
* Explore namba
* head to BNB
4PM – 4:30PM:
* Check-in and freshen up.
4:30PM – 7:30PM: Round1 stadium
* Massive multi floor arcade building with all kinds of things to do:
* **F1:** unlimited arcade,
* **F2-3:** every sport known to mankind, even go karting.
* **F4:** Karaoke
* **All for 10 dollars only and for 3 hours.** (BOOKING maybe)
8PM – 10PM: DOTONBORI
* head to Dotonbori, Street of food and all that
10PM:
* head to Namba for drinks – Great place for drinks and nightclubs.
***Day 11 USJ***
8AM – 6PM: ARRIVE AT USJ
* head to Universal Studios Japan – We gotta plan the day in correspondence with the events they have that day (BOOK)
7PM: Tempozan Ferris Wheel at night for vibes.
*Day 12 shopping day and Umeda and osaka castle*
10AM-1PM: Tenjinbashisuji Shopping Street
* one of the longest shopping streets in Japan.
1-3PM: OSAKA CASTLE
* Explore osaka park and visit the castle
* Takes around 2 hours, free.
3 – 6PM: UMEDA
* Head to UMEDA
* Explore the Umeda district:
6PM:
* Visit the UMEDA sky building
8PM+: Dinner and drinks
* Ganko Osaka Umeda – Yakiniku Jumbo Hanare – Tsurutontan Umeda
* Back to Namba if we fuck with it
* otherwise try out Umeda for new vibes
DAY 3 NARA?
8 comments
You’re technically arriving “late” to any of the major stuff after 9am. 11am there will be hordes of people. Try to get to the shrines and temples well before 11am. I went to Fushimi Inari one time at 6am which was perfect as there was only a few people meandering about. Was there for about an hour or 2 and it started getting busy. This was in the summer. Also arrive at USJ before 8am if you don’t have express passes.
You’re not going to beat the crowds arriving at places at 11am. They will be in full swing by then. Either visit super early in the morning or late evening. The first time I went to Fushimi Inari I went in the evening and saw the sunset. It was me and maybe six other people. It was cool. Also, you may want to rethink spending an entire day at Fushimi Inari. It’s cool but doesn’t really need an entire day.
The monkey park is pretty fun.
I’d recommend adding these to Kyoto: Kiyomizu temple, sanjusangendo, Kodaiji.
Nara is definitely worth a visit.
As other people have mentioned 10/11AM is definitely not early. If you are looking to beat crowds I would recommend being there before 8:00 at the latest. The massive tour buses generally show up at around 8:30 to 9:00. When we were there about a week ago we were arriving to places between 7:00 and 7:30 and there were still dozens or hundreds of people around, depending on the weather and day of the week.
In Nara you should visit Toudaijin tempel.
In Osaka you should take some time to just walk about, there are always some nice places that you just stumble upon (maybe visit “The Drunken Clam” 😉)
A restaurant I always visit is Shiawase Ramen close to Namba.
Osaka Castle is also nice so go with that.
Would recommend to check out both the north end and the south end of town, It’s different!
Go to Tsutenkaku tower maybe and and Kaiyukan aquarium.
And some advice. I never by stuff at the busy streets. Often you can find both food and souvenirs that are the same just down a side street (if you want to be a bit economical).
Basic words for items and “where is” makes it a lot easier, the English varies and many restaurants don’t speak English (but they are nice and will try to understand what you want.
Have a really nice trip!
Very detailed plan. I plan to go to Japan in the near future, your post may be useful for me
I’m in Osaka now. Nara was great, not just for the deer! Don’t miss Great Buddha hall (Todaiji temple) and the 5 story pagoda (Kofukuji.) Great food and shopping too. I was able to pick up nice Japanese yukatas for gifts (less formal than kimonos) for around 5000 Y ($40ish)
Another gem city you may consider is Minoh. They are known for a lovely waterfall (beautiful hike and monkeys if you are lucky,) and momiji tempura, which is battered and fried maple leaves 🍁 (sweet.) You will pass several street vendors frying them up live. And the third and maybe coolest thing is the Minoh Beer Warehouse (craft brewery and tap room, which is rare in Japan.) Really great beers and swag, good pizza and sandwiches too
This is too detailed, expect a lot of changes along the way.
For day 7 I doubt you have enough energy for clubbing lol
You need to leave around 7 to beat the crowd. I went around 8 and it is already jam packed with people, either normal tourists, local tourists or tour (tour is the worst, I saw 3-4 tours in arashiyama, that place is not worth visitting)
Day 11 USJ, maybe doable with their pass, but I am not counting on being able to finish it at 6PM.
Tldr: you wake up way too late and add too many things in your schedule ?
I know everyone’s saying u have to go to fushimi inari at 6am but I just went a couple days ago around 1pm. Sure there’s a lot of people at the base and beginning of the gates. But if you keep climbing up, you will have MANY opportunities for photos without anyone in the background. And the shops will be open then too. Just my thought!