[Itinerary Check] 15 days, Unknown Date, Tokyo -> Hakone -> Kyoto -> Osaka -> Nara -> Hiroshima -> Miyajima -> Tokyo

10 comments

1. Too much things to do in so little time, and you burn through what little time you have by commuting to different places. Just the Shinkansen legs alone (Tokyo – Osaka, Osaka – Hiroshima, and back) would eat up at least half a day, and you only have IDK, 28 half days to burn.

   Stay in Kanto for two weeks, you won’t run out of things to do and explore. If you’re the kind of traveler who wanders around like a JRPG player in a new dungeon you’re vastly under-estimate the time needed for the places you mentioned. A museum is easily two to three hours. A big shrine, at least one. Fushimi Inari? Maybe three hours especially if you climb up to the top.

2. I haven’t been to himeji, but I don’t think you can fit it with Hiroshima and miyajima in just 2 days. I’d either add an extra night in Hiroshima, or go there on one of the days you’re staying in osaka

3. Hi, as others have said, you’re probably trying to fit too much in.

   Just as a small detail, I Don Quixote is awesome but I find the Shibuya one really too busy. The one in Asakusa can be much quieter, and overall a better experience. As you’re planning to visit both places, you could give the one in Shibuya a miss.

4. I’ve planned an itinerary for my family that is very similar to yours. Some people will say it’s rushed but I prefer to pack as much as possible into our trips and keep moving. Hope it goes well.

5. Day 1:

   Samurai Museum is for the time being closed and it may take considerable time to re-assemble the collection (95%+ were loans from society’s members).

   Robot Restaurant is closed and whether it will re-open somewhere somewhen – it’s unclear.

   Day 5:

   It’s not physically possible to do your itinerary and go to Mt. Fuji area (assuming 5th station) as a day trip.

   Day 7:

   If by Imperial Palace, you mean the park open 24 hours to the public, then it’s possible, otherwise no.

   Day 10:

   It’s not possible to visit Himeji-jo, Koko-en, Engyo-ji and Hyogo Prefectural Museum of History on a single day – let alone visit them and then not arrive in Hiroshima before 6-7 pm.

   Day 14:

   Unless you are visiting during cherry blossom season, or other specific flowers in Nishinomaru, skip Osaka-jo and visit Shinsekai or perhapse Tenjinbashisuji (or Shitenno-ji, or Sumiyosha Taisha, or Minoh Park, or Expo 1970 Park) instead.

6. Day 1 : As far as I know, both the samurai museum and Robot restaurant closed. They might re-open in the future, but for now it will not be possible. Out of curiosity, you don’t have Ikea where you live ? Regardless, I guess you won’t buy furniture in Japan.

   Day 2 : Depending on the time, for me Yoyogi park can be a skip. The good reason to go are for cherry blossom or on the weekend during the warm months to do some people watching. Otherwise, it is just a park and not a garden, so Shinjuku Gyoen that you already have listed is better for that and if you want one more, I would suggest Koishikawa Korakuen.

   Day 4 : the imperial palace is obviously not in Asakusa, but yes you can realistically go in the morning before Asakusa.

   Day 8 : You will obviously get on Nene’s path, I just find it fun you mentioned it. Did you know that Nene was the wife of Toyotomi Hideyoshi ? After he passed away, she took the name Kodai-in and established a temple called Kodai-ji that was funded by Tokugawa Ieyasu. While in the area, do not miss taking a picture of the pagoda of Hokan-ji, that is sometime called Yasaka pagoda.

   Day 11 : I personally prefer to take the train at the end of the day rather that in the morning, as a lot of attraction close at 5pm. So on that day you can realistically get on the train to Osaka. Yes, this might make you do a slightly late check-in at the hotel depending the time you leave Hiroshima, but next morning you can realistically be at the aquarium when it open a 9:30 without having to wake up super early to reach Osaka.

   Day 14 : I guess you will hear it a lot, but Osaka castle is a concrete reconstruction and the inside is just a modern museum, so some people hate it. If you are into Sengoku era history, then the museum in the castle focus around Toyotomi Hideyoshi and some battles that took place at the castle. I think I would do either Umeda Sky ore Abeno Harukas, not both (as they are both observation deck, and on opposite side of the city)

   Depending on how much shopping you think you might do in Tokyo, you might want to consider moving some of the shopping heavy days at the end, so you do not have to carry your stuff all the way to Hiroshima and back.

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   In general, yes I think that you might have a bit too much in some days, but I totally agree about having too much options and just making decisions during the day. As long as you do not try to do everything at all cost, it should be fine.

7. That is.. you packed too many in such little time, trust me, at max you can go to 4 places in a day unless they are very close to each other (like shrines in kyoto. Even then you are just throwing money for entrance fee and you won’t be enjoying it). You want to enjoy the view, the food, the wacky feeling, serene feeling. Right now it looks like you are just trying to check boxes.

   Ditch hakone if you want to be there only for a day. definitely not gonna be enough, all public transport shuts down at 6pm. hakone is very huge and the transportations there moves very slow. You will gonna spend like 3-4 hours on transport

   I think you also greatly underestimate how long it takes from one place to another. Japan is big. And their transportation is not always the best. Sometimes you need ti rely on bus, slow tram, gondola which is not as fast as shinkansen or subway

   How abiut pick few that you really wanna go and keep the rest as reserve. If you have enough time, then go. But if not then, maybe next time

8. Please don’t fly into and out of Tokyo! I feel like many travelers forget you can book open-jaw roundtrip tickets and they’re usually not more expensive.

   Fly into Tokyo and fly out from Osaka and that will save you a ton of headache.

9. You plan to spend 220¥ at Akiba?

10. That is almost our exact itinerary only it was 10 days, and we did Hakone on the way back.