Traveling with my family of 4 (me, two kids 8 and 10, their mother) to Japan first week of June. Want to know if I’m being too ambitious (or not ambitious enough), and would appreciate suggestions for Tokyo, which is wide open at the moment.
Also if anybody has any kid-friendly restaurants to recommend, it’d be appreciated. Kids have only been to Japan once when they were younger, but although it’s the third trip for their mother and I, we’ve also only been in Tokyo previously.
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June 31 – Flight into Osaka
* Land in Osaka in the morning
* Get JR passes
* Check into AirBnB
* Dotonbori in the evening for dinner
June 1 – 2 – Osaka
* Universal Studios Japan
June 3 – Osaka
* Shinsekai
* Nipponbashi Denden Town
* Kuromon Ichiba Market
* Shinsaibashi PARCO
June 4 – Osaka
* Osaka Castle
* Tower of the Sun
* Umeda Sky Building
June 5 – Day trip
* Naoshima Island (having second thoughts, suggestions for other day trips?)
June 6 – Day trip
~~* Tottori Sand Dunes/Camel riding~~
~~* Conan Town/Hokuei (kids are fans of Detective Conan)~~
* Nara Park
* Tōdai-ji
June 7 – Kyoto
* Train from Osaka to Kyoto
* Check into AirBnB
* Nishiki Market
June 8 – Kyoto
* Kiyomizu-dera
* Honkan-ji
* Yasaka Shrine
* Honno-ji
* Nijojo Castle
* Tenryu-ji
* Arashiyama Bamboo Forest
June 9 – Kyoto
* Fushimi Inari Shrine
June 10-12 Tokyo
* Train from Kyoto to Tokyo
* Check into AirBnB
(Suggestions welcome)
June 13 – Flight home
* Flight out of Narita in the afternoon
7 comments
So for a day trip from Osaka it’s over a 3 hour trip from Osaka to Tottori Sand Dunes and that’s on the fastest transportation mode the Super Hakuto which is not (edit: entirely) a JR train so the JR pass (edit: will still have an additional cost). If you’re going full JR it’s about a 4 hour trip each direction. Quite the trek for a day trip, especially with two young kids.
The camels are currently not giving rides and there’s no ETA on when they’ll start allowing rides again.
It’s a long haul out to Naoshima Island, you’re bound by ferry times from the mainland, and it’s rural – very much a place you’d benefit from having a car while visiting.
Absolutely worth considering a day trip out to Nara on that day instead, catch the express train (~35 mins from Kyoto.) Could easily spend a day wandering around shrines, museums and eating festival food.
I’m not sure what your plans are for June 7th? It’ll be a short journey from Osaka to Kyoto. If you leave early, you could easily fit in a whole day of sightseeing. Might be worth fitting Arashiyama or Fushimi Inari into that day as they’re further out of the city and will demand 3-4 hours each.
When in Kyoto, go for Gion in the morning, and work your way back via Nishiki Market and Pontocho Alley in the evening.
Hello! Feel free to DM as I’m not sure comments like this are allowed but how did you go about selecting your airbnbs? I am planning a similar trip and feel a bit overwhelmed
So depending on where you’re travelling from and how long the flight is, I’m not sure I’d schedule an amusement park on the very first day when you’re still jetlagged. Might be a recipe for tired/grumpy kids.
I recently travelled with an 11 year old and 15 year old, and we were all off schedule for at least the first couple days,
Also my kids at least were excited to experience some local culture (food, shrines, etc..) on the first day or two, rather than immediately jumping into a western theme park like USJ.
Super Nintendo Land is REALLY cool though!
Are you sure the JR pass is actually good value for your trip?
Hi!
If your kids like ninjas at all, it is a surprisingly easy day trip from either Kyoto or Osaka to Akame 48 Falls. (You will need to take a bus from the Kintetsu Station) We did ninja training there. It was a lot of fun and I sucked which my daughter thought was hilarious. I would do that over Naoshima. From what I remember, Naoshima didn’t have a lot of kids bicycles (or maybe had none) and taking a bus that runs hourly around the island I think is going to have limited appeal.
[https://www.akame48taki.com/en/](https://www.akame48taki.com/en/)
We went in June 2019. The sweet potato ice cream for sale there is delicious.
My tween really liked Miyajima.
Though you could also just add more time elsewhere.
I think June 8th looks a little full.
My tween loved Yunessun. It’s cheezy and a bathing suit onsen, but she gets shy easily now. It’s in Hakone not too far from Tokyo. My tween did not like Team Lab Planets outside of the ramen we got there.
Kamakura is always a nice visit (also near Tokyo.)
In Tokyo we do a lot of shopping and visiting with friends.