Hello everyone! My wife and I [30] are from Mexico and will be traveling to Japan for the first time in December 13 – 28 [15 hrs unscaled flight]
We are interested in the culture, shrines, anime/ manga, food and because the season, Christmas decoration!
The flights and hotels are already booked, but we are open to suggestions about the itinerary, specially the days with the *** mark. Also, we’re getting the 14 days JR pass.
Day 1. Wed 13 [Tokyo – Kyoto]
– Arrive at Narita Airport at 06:00 am
– Get suica card, pocket wifi, activate JR pass
– Take narita express to tokyo station
– Take shinkansen to Kyoto
– Check in at Keihan Kyoto Hotel near station
– Explore Gion and Higashiyama area
– Pontocho, Kamo river
Day 2. Thursday 14 [Kyoto]
– Fushimi Inari
– Kiyomizu-dera
– Nishiki market
Day 3. Friday 15 [Kyoto] ***
– Arashiyama bamboo forest
– Kinkaku-ji
– Nijo castle
– Ginkaku-ji
– Philosopher’s path
* Send luggage to Osaka hotel by Yamato transport
Day 4. Saturday 16 [Hiroshima – Miyajima] ***
– Take first shinkansen to Hiroshima
– Planning to stay the least possible in hiroshima, only seeing Peace memorial park/ museum.
– Go to Miyajima
– Itsukushima Shrine
– Stay at Iwaso Ryokan
Day 5. Sunday 17 [Osaka]
– Go to Osaka, stay at Forza Osaka Namba hotel, near Dotonbori
– Nipponbashi
– Kuromon market
– Shinsaibashi
– Amerika-Mura
Day 6. Monday 18 [Nara – Osaka]
– Half day trip to Nara ( Nara park, Todaiji)
– Return to Osaka
– Osaka temple
– Umeda Sky building ?
– Teamlabs botanical garden
– Visit what is pending
* Send luggage to hotel in Tokyo
Day 7. Tuesday 19 [Osaka]
– Universal Studios Japan + Express pass
Day 8. Wednesday 20 [Tokyo]
– Check in at Royal Park Hotel Shiodome near Shimbashi station
– Tokyo tower
– Hibiya park Christmas market
– Roppongi area
Day 9. Thursday 21
– Tokyo Disneyland
Day 10. Friday 22. ***
– Asakusa / Senso ji
– Tokyo Skytree
– Take the Tokyo Cruise in Sumida River to Odaiba (~70 min trip)
– Diver City
– Teamlab planets ??
Day 11. Saturday 23
– Ginza
– Tsukiji market
– Pokemon cafe / Center
– Nipponbashi
– Teamlab planets ??
Day 12. Sunday 24
– Ueno park / zoo
– Akihabara
– Dinner at some fancy restaurant 🙂
Day 13. Monday 25
– Check in at Keio Plaza Hotel at Shinjuku
– Ikebukuro
– Golden Gai
– Shin-Okubo
Day 14. Tuesday 26
– Shibuya
– Meiji Shrine
– Nintendo store
– Yoyogi park ?
– Harajuku
Day 15. Wednesday 27
– Nakano Broadway
– Kabukicho
– Probably what we missed in shinjuku and shibuya
Day 16. Thursday 28
– Travel back to Narita to flight back home
Questions:
– Are the *** mark days doable? Maybe rearrange or cut out some things from these days
– About food, we don’t have any specific restaurant yet, we plan to eat at konbinis or local restaurants during the rush days. We would appreciate any recommendations, specially on Christmas evening.
– On day 3 and 6, planning to send luggage via Yamato Transport. Is it easy to do?
– I’ve seen other post about using the lockers at stations for luggage… Don’t hotels have the option of storing luggage until check-in time?
Thanks in advance!
2 comments
* You sure you want to do stuff on day 1? You might want to take jet lag into consideration.
* Day 3 is looking a bit too packed — not the locations themselves, but rather you need to factor in traveling between the points. It could take 30m up to 1hr getting from one location to the next on the list as you’ll mostly be taking a bus.
* Hiroshima / Miyajima can be done in one day. Especailly if you’re staying there.
* Disneysea > Disneyland 😀
* Day 10 seems pretty doable, lots of walking tho.
* Most supermarkets have a deli section with prepared food. Those are usually superior to Konbini meals, and if you go late, they’ll start discounting the leftovers.
* Never sent luggage, but bringing luggage on the Tokaido / Sanyo Shinkansen is quite a PITA these days.
* Hotels usually do have luggage storage service for use before check-in, and after check-out, yes. However, that would depend on the hotel itself being at an easy-to-access location. Station lockers are almost always easy to access, and its easier to estimate time when your luggage is already at the station.
Day 1 sounds very tough. A 15-hour flight followed by a train ride. Keep in mind it takes a lot of time and energy to get from airport (and do all the admin stuff) to train station to hotel. Could you stay in Tokyo first for a few days to acclimate to new time and place? It may be less stressful for you both and reduce the risk of getting sick from fatigue.
I am doing a similar trip with my wife in September. We are doing Tokyo (3) – Hiroshima/Miyajima (2) – Kyoto (3) – Osaka (2) – Tokyo (3). Also booked Iwaso ryokan for our visit to Miyajima.
We gave ourselves 3 leisurely days in Tokyo at the beginning of the trip to get settled in.