Hello!
My husband and I will be going to Japan in December for the first time. I created a rough draft of our itinerary but would really appreciate any feedback. Any days look too packed or not packed enough? We are fairly active and already live in a walkable city so we are used to walking around a lot. I think our priorities for this trip are to experience the food and the culture/history. We don’t want to be beholden to a schedule and want to be able to play it by ear each day, but would rather have something that is a little ambitious and we can cut things out as needed, although we want to make sure we’re hitting all the “must-sees”, so please let me know if there is something I’m definitely missing. I have a small list of restaurants I’d like to visit, but I haven’t begun to slot them into the itinerary yet (I want to finalize the general area of where we’ll be each day first), so I’m very open to suggestions based on our current itinerary.
**Day 1 -Tokyo (Staying at The Knot Shinjuku)**
Arrive, travel to shinjuku
Check in at hotel
Wander Shinjuku and find a walk-in spot for dinner. Check out Golden Gai and Kapukicho.
**Day 2 -Tokyo**
Tosoyo Tuna Auction
Tsukiji Market
Team Lab Planets
Explore Ginza and grab lunch
Ueno Park
**Day 3 -Tokyo**
Senso-Ji
Nakamise St
Explore Asakusa, Sumida Park, Kaminarimon
Explore Akihabra
**Day 4 -Tokyo**
Yoyogi Park
Explore Harajuku
Meiji Jingu
Explore Shibuya (Shibuya Scramble, Takeshita St, lunch)
Shibuya Sky, Dinner
**Day 5 -Tokyo**
Mt Fuji/Hakone Day Trip
**Day 6 -Kyoto (Staying at Dhawa Yura in Higashiyama Ward)**
Train to Kyoto
Check in to hotel
Kiyomizu Dera
Kenninji
**Day 7 -Kyoto**
Fushimi Inari Shrine
TTofuku Ji
Nishiki Market
Ginkaku-Ji
Philosopher’s Path
Teramachi Dori
**Day 8 -Kyoto**
Explore Higashiyama District
Hokanji Temple Pagoda
Explore Gion
Kamo Riverside
Yasaka Shrine
**Day 9 -Kyoto**
Travel to Arasiyama, visit bamboo grove and monkey park
Kinkaku-Ji
Ryoan-Ji Temple
**Day 10 -Osaka (Staying at Zentis Hotel in Kita Ward)**
Travel to Osaka from Kyoto
Check into hotel and grab quick lunch
Explore Umeda and Kita
Umeda Sky
Hep Five Ferris Wheel
**Day 11 -Osaka**
Day Trip to Nara
Namba Yasaka Shrine
**Day 12 -Osaka**
Osaka Castle
Shinsekai Market
Explore Dotonbori
**Day 13 -Osaka to Tokyo (Staying at Hotel New Otani The Main in Chiyoda City)**
Train to Tokyo
Check into hotel
Imperial Palace
Tokyo Station Area
Eat at hotel or something casual and quick
**Day 14 -Tokyo**
Either Free Day or Disney Sea for a half day
**Day 15 – Travel Home**
4 comments
These are great spots, happy to see Ueno park on here, was staying next to it on my trip in March and walked through it everyday. It’s also great that you’re walking around since you can find a lot of nice hidden gems. Definitely recommend the Sanshiro pond at the University of Tokyo, it’s a short walk from Ueno Park
Fantastic itinerary. Not too busy. And you’ll have lots of free time to just walk around.
Make sure you explore the back streets of Japanese cities. Especially kyoto. Some sights are so busy but just walk 2min away to a side street and you’re completely alone.
Thanks for sharing OP, saving this for my own travel plans.
I’d love a trip report when you get back, my sisters and I are thinking to do a similar itinerary around the same time in 2024.
I will be flying to Osaka and will be traveling between Osaka – Himeji – Nara – Kyoto – Fukuoka.
Since the train ticket from Kyoto/Osaka > Fukuoka already expensive, so I thought l’ll just get 7 days of west JR pass to cover my entire trip, which I thought it was the cheapest way to travel around.
However, upon searching on google map for the routes, it seems that most of the recommended routes are not covered by JR pass.
Is there a way to find which nearest station from departure to arrival transport is covered by ir pass? Understand the main ir pass website has the search function for the schedule, but that I will need to enter the exact station name. I am hopeful for a function that would recommend the nearest station to and fro my destinations.
Thanks in advance!