Ambitious 27 day trip through Osaka, Kyoto, Nagoya and Tokyo
Hello!
I’m planning a big trip and could use some extra eyes to make sure I’m being fairly realistic.
I planned everything on google maps, so days are plotted by whatever is in waking distance, after a short 20/30 minute train/bus ride (excluding day trips)
I did a rough calculation and it seems like the rail pass still doesn’t make financial sense, but I may be missing something? Anyway, please see my breakdown below. Any feedback is greatly appreciated!!
Daily breakdown:
First day, we land in Osaka at around 3pm. I don’t have anything planned besides getting snacks and going back to the hotel to rest.
Day 1 is just the Osaka aquarium. We wanted to take it super easy to help us recover.
Day 2 is Nara – Feed the deer, visit Isuien Garden and Museum, get mochi from Nakatanidou. Visit the Naramachi historic district
Day 3 Shopping – Start at Shinsaibashi-suji, then Amerika-Mura and Dotonbori
Day 4 is Universal Studios for Super Mario world. After which, we’ll shop at Umeda station. That night, enjoy a night Tonbori River Cruise
Day 5 is Nippon Denden town, and the Tsutenkaku area/observatory
Day 6 is Kobe – Motomachi shopping street, Café&bar anthem, átoa art aquarium, and dinner at Kobe Portopia hotel. If we have extra time, we can go to Kobe Animal Kingdom
Day 7- Laundry day – half day trip to Minoh park, then Osaka Castle
Day 8 – Check out of Osaka hotel. Put baggage on hold and check out Kuromon Ichiba Market and Karahori shopping street. Leave for Kyoto
Day 9 – Self guided bike tour through Kyoto, roughly following this guide
Day 10 – Nanzen temple, National Museum of Art, Gion, Hanamikoji street, Pontocho park
Day 11 – Check out of Kyoto hotel and head to Nagoya
Day 12 & 13 are for visiting family, so no concrete plans, laundry day
Day 14 we check out and head for our Mt. Fuji hotel, no real plans besides relaxing
Day 15 – check out later and head to tokyo hotel
Day 16 – partner gets haircut & facial, Hiroo area, Mori art museum and Roppongi
Day 17 – Harajuku, Takeshita St. And Yoyogi park/ cat street
Day 18 – Laundry day – Koenji and Shimokitazawa
Day 19 – Kamakura day trip – Komachi-Dori shopping street, Hokouji temple, Yuigahama beach, Daikoku parking area for car meet
Day 20- Shinjuku station, Lumine EST, Omoide Yokocho alleyway, Okubo K town
Day 21 – Ebisu, Daikanayamacho
Day 22 – half day at work conference, odaiba seaside park, poop museum, etc
Day 23- Shibuya, Kamiyama
Day 24- Laundry day – Ikebukuro station, sunshine city mall, Sugamo
Day 25 – Shinjuku Gyoen garden, imperial palace, Nihonbashi, Ginza place – late check out and go to Tokyo hotel #2
Day 26 – Akihabara, Ueno
Day 27 – Check out day (flight leaves at 9pm) Nakamise-dori street
3 comments
Because you are going 1 way and not a round trip, JR pass isn’t cost efficient. Just buy individually.
Everything else seems good
Seems like (for once) a sensibly paced trip, lots of time to enjoy each place.
Only thing I can point out is that I personally wouldn’t spend 27 days in Japan with the trip entirely in cities, there are so many amazing rural places to visit which give more variety and a different feel.
It’s a very well spaced trip, you’ll have loads of time to just enjoy being in Japan.
I wouldn’t go to Osaka Castle but try to visit Himeji instead, it can be a half day trip.
Personally I prefer the Umeda area for shopping (there’s more than just Umeda station to shop at) but within Namba area there’s also Namba Parks you could check out. I’d also recommend Sennichimae Doyasuji which sells food replicas and kitchen/cooking tools, you might not buy anything but it’s pretty cool.
Tsutenkaku is one of the shorter observatories in Osaka. I’d go to any of the others over this, unless it’s for reasons of convenience. You could check out Spa World while in that area too