Ok, I think I have a tentative itinerary mapped out for our trip (husband and I traveling to Japan for second time and without our kids), but I would love any feedback or changes you suggest. Thanks for looking!
Night 1- Arrive late in Osaka and travel to hotel in Kitahama, Chuo
Day 1-
* Owl Café Chouette
* Hozenji Yokocho
* Kuromon Ichiba Market
* Evening: Dotonburi Street
* Dinner reservations: Matsuzaka Gyu Yakiniku M Hozenji-Yokocho 7pm
Day 2-
* Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan
* Giant Ferris Wheel
* Professional soccer game at 5pm- my husband is really excited for this
Day 3-
Travel to Arashiyama to stay in Ryokan for 2 nights with onsen
* Stop at Fushima Inari Taisha temple on way to Arashiyama (does this make sense?)
Day 4-
* Bamboo forestÂ
* Iwatayama monkey park
* Philosopher’s Walk, Kyoto
* Onsen at hotel
Day 5- Travel to Gion for 1-night stay there
Can we take the romantic train from Arashiyama to Gion?
* Higashiyama
* Nishiki Market
* Night walk in Gion (geishas)
Day 6- Gion to Tokyo via bullet train
* Kinkaku-ji (golden) temple in the morning? Then train
* Train to Tokyo/Shibuya- 3.5 hours
* check into hotel in Shibuya
* Ninja Restaurant (Akasaka) for dinner
* Rappongi for nightlife (Billboard Live Tokyo bar)- worth it? or better nightlife elsewhere? we are not clubbers
Day 7- Tokyo
* Tsukiji and surrounding marketÂ
* Nakamise Market, Asakusa
* Kappabashi Street
* Disney Store Shibuya
* Sakarai Tea Experience?
* Don Quijote Shinjuku
* Omoide Yokocko (Shinjuku area with small omakase restaurants lined up)
* Nonbei Yokocho, Golden Gai, or Shibuya bars for nightlife
Day 8- depart at 8pm that evening
* Team Lab Planets
* Tokyo Skytree?
Please let me know if I’ve packed in too much or missed anything amazing. Thank you!!
3 comments
“Owl Café Chouette”
I’m going to personally recommend that you NOT start off your Japan trip by contributing money to the containment of 20 owls in a small room with their legs chained to a perch all day for the amusement of tourists.
> Stop at Fushima Inari Taisha temple on way to Arashiyama (does this make sense?)
It’s not exactly “on the way”, but if you don’t have any other plans for that day, it’s perfectly reasonable.
>Day 4-
> Philosopher’s Walk, Kyoto
Philosopher’s Path is on the complete other side of the city than Arashiyama. I would move it to Day 5 instead.
Day 7 seems a bit all over the place. I suggest you pick out 2-3 main things you want to do and then look for other things nearby.
If I were to move things around:
Day 6:
* Afternoon: Check into Shibuya hotel then visit Disney Shibuya Store & Shibuya Mega Don Quijote
* Evening: Ninja Restaurant then Akasaka or Roppongi nightlife
Day 7
* Morning: Nakamise Market, Kappabashi Street
* Afternoon: Sakarai Tea Experience (I’m not familiar with how long this takes), lunch/shopping in nearby Omotesando
* Evening: Either Shinjuku or Shibuya nightlife
Day 8:
* Morning: Tsukiji Market (& maybe Ginza)
* Afternoon: Teamlab or Skytree
I also agree with the other comment that you should avoid the owl cafe. Animal cafes in Japan have varying levels of animal welfare, but owl cafes are generally considered one of the worst. If you want to go to an animal cafe do a little research to see if the animals are given plenty of time and space to rest away from people, and whether the animals seem to be enjoying themselves or just tolerating it. (I could write a whole post about what I look at when considering an animal cafe, but this is the gist of it.)
Thanks so much! I really appreciate your thoughtful insight and will reconsider the owl cafe.