Itinerary check: 5 days in Tokyo in Early November

4 comments

1. Just a quick heads up, if you’re going to Uniqlo at Ginza for the custom embroidery, my fiancé was hyped for this but when we got there, it’s a 7-day turn around for all embroidery orders (custom printing was same-day).

2. I’d suggest tweaking your first day/arrival plans.

   First off, are you arriving in Tokyo from somewhere else in Japan? Or directly off a lengthy international flight?

   If you’re arriving at NRT airport, I’d budget at least 3 hours to deplane, go through customs&immigration, get your bearings, buy necessary tickets, and take transportation into the city.

   Realistically, I think you may want to start having planned events starting day 1 in the afternoon.

   The morning should be a buffer in case there are any delays, or if anything goes wrong. If you have extra time, explore around your hotel, get a feel for the place, figure out how to get to relevant transportation, etc.

   **For later on:**
   If there are certain activities you want to do that require pre-booking(TeamLabs, Shibuya Sky, etc.), book those ASAP, as there may not be a lot of availability left. Then work your schedule from there.

   For 5 days, I’m assuming you’re staying in just one hotel for the entire trip? That’s probably the best bet, although staying in 2 hotels in different areas would not be a bad idea either.

   If you’re doing a lot of activities, hotel choice is very important. You’ll want a location that is quite close to a major subway/rail line.

   Lastly, be flexible. Don’t be afraid to cancel/change plans. If you feel like you’ve been visiting too many shrines/gardens, maybe you want to instead do a day at DisneySea. Or if you’re out late at night having a great time, maybe you’d rather stay out, even if it means cancelling your early morning plans the next day.

3. your first day is not going to be that productive. you will be tired and you can’t even unpack because hotels don’t let you check in until like 1pm at the earliest (or even 3pm).

   I would do like one point of interest and one shrine at most on that first day.

   Also I would leave day trips for later in the trip so you have more time to figure out travel logistics and buy tickets. Honestly with such a short trip I personally would not do any day trips that require 2 hours of travel one way. I could spend a month in tokyo and not run out of things to do.

   Also, maybe its just me but after like 3-4 major shrines there’s not a whole lot different about the smaller ones. for such a short trip maybe spend more time wandering the cool neighbourhoods instead of rushing to different shrines (unless you have a specific reason to do so)

   Your day 3 and day 4 are very doable. I don’t really think you need to “beat” the crowds in meiji temple because it’s so spacious. tsukiji i found to be extremely touristy and there were better things to do elsewhere and cheaper eats too.

4. Manage your expectations- we arrived 3 days ago and have only managed half of the things on our itinerary that we planned. Prioritise 2-3 things each day but leave your self breathing room.

   Your day 4 was similar to the day we had today, but we only managed Metropolitan bldg (literally opposite our hotel), Meiji Jingu / Yoyogi, Harajuku and Red Tower. Spent the entire day walking and only really stopped for lunch, dinner and a coffee break.

   You’ll drive yourself mad trying to cram everything in. Would definitely recommend taking it slower.