Hi,
My boyfriend and I are planning to travel to Japan for 18 days starting in early January and we’re currently working on an itinerary!
Day 0, Tokyo: Land at HND at 10pm, stay at hostel near airport (already booked)
Day 1, Tokyo: Move over to hotel near Tokyo Tower (already booked for our stay), explore the surrounding area, visit TeamLab Planets which is close to our hotel.
Day 2, Tokyo: Explore Harajuku, Shinjuku, and Shibuya. We want to visit Meiji Shrine, Shinjuku Gyoen, and some shops. Definitely want to try the street food around here!
Day 3, Tokyo: Not sure yet, we may potentially spend more time in the neighborhoods from Day 3. Might try to snag tickets for the Ghibli Museum when they’re available?
Day 4, Nikko day trip: Take the Nikko Pass and explore Nikko, start the day at Lake Chuzenji and Kegon Falls. Take the bus back to central Nikko, eat, and explore the shrines and bridge.
Day 5, Yudanaka: I’m a bit confused about traveling here from Tokyo. I’m debating if we should head to Kanazawa first, and use that as our jumping off point to Yudanaka. In Yudanaka, we want to have a relaxing day exploring the onsens and seeing the snow monkeys.
Day 6, Kanazawa: We would check into a hotel here, and explore the city. We want to see the Omicho seafood Market, shrines, gardens, and castle here.
Day 7, Shirakawa day trip: We’re also confused about transport here, will probably have to book a bus from Kanazawa here. This would be a chill day exploring the town and enjoying the snow.
Days 8 – 10, Kyoto: Check into hotel, and hang out in Kyoto for a few days. We want to spend a day exploring Arashiyama and another exploring temples and doing a tea ceremony.
Day 11, Nara: Take a day trip to visit the infamous Nara deer and return to either a hotel in Kyoto or Osaka (probably Osaka since it’s closer?).
Days 12 – 13, Osaka: Explore Osaka, including Dotonbori and maybe even a river boat ride.
Day 14, Hiroshima: Take the train over to visit Hiroshima and Miyajima island.
* Should we stay the night here or go back to Osaka?
Day 15, Osaka: Return to Osaka and spend another day enjoying street food, shopping, and nightlife.
Day 16, Hakone: Explore Hakone and take the ropeway to see Lake Ashi!
Day 17, Tokyo: Return to Tokyo for the Sumo tournament! We’re hoping to book tickets once they’re available, and super excited to be around while it’s going on.
Day 18, Tokyo: Have breakfast and head over to HND. I will be flying to Bangkok to start my solo trip and my bf will be flying back to the states!
Questions:
* Is JR pass worth it for our route? Booking trains feels a bit confusing to me, but I know it doesn’t cover everything that we have planned.
* To see Yudanaka, Kanazawa, and Shirakawa, which area would be the best to stay in to have the best access for these trips?
Thank you so much for advice and feedback 🙂
7 comments
Shirakawa is not a town. It’s a village and there isn’t a lot to see there. You’ll spend maybe a couple hours there tops and that’s it. It’s a bit underwhelming tbh but I guess it’s good for the photos
I would highly recommend staying a night in Miyajima. I really liked it there
For Day 1, Teamlabs is nowhere near Tokyo tower, it’s in Toyosu, around 45 min by public transport. But I’d say if you have the whole day, you should have time to visit it in the afternoon/evening. Roppongi and Shimbashi/Ginza are closer to the Tokyo Tower area.
In Tokyo I recommend Akihabara and Asakusa/Senso-ji temple for Day 3. You should be ok to do it in half day even if you get tickets to Ghibli museum. If you get tickets to Ghibli museum you could also visit Nakano broadway and the Kichijoji area.
For Osaka, don’t get me wrong, I really loved it, but I don’t think you need that long to see it. I see you have 3 full days dedicated to it (12,13 and 15). I think I would recommend staying over in Hiroshima/Miyajima on the 14 (also prioritise visiting Miyajima over Hiroshima in the morning as it’s more worth it and also some of the places close early). Then on the 15 day spend the morning at Himeji castle on your way back (as it’s way more worth it than Osaka castle), and then make your way from there to Hakone and spend the night from the 15 to 16 already there in preparation for the following day. The train ride from Osaka to Hakone is around 4h, so if you travel on the 16 day morning you won’t make it to Hakone until lunchtime the earliest, and most attractions there close in the afternoon as well, so they are better to visit in the morning.
Are you sure that there’s much street food in Harajuku, Shinjuku or Shibuya? There are about a zillion restaurants in these areas, but I can’t recall seeing any street food (which isn’t really a big thing in Japan – and when it exists it’s usually snack type food rather than meals).
I’d suggest not splitting your stay in Osaka into two bits to save some time. There’s lots to see in Osaka.
Why are you not just going into your hotel in Tokyo on arrival?
For your Yudanaka day, its pretty easy to get there from Tokyo. You’d take the shinkansen to Nagano, and then a local train all the way to Yudanaka. There’s even a pass in Nagano that gets you free trains and busses for a few days (for the specific company, whose name escapes me right now) as well as 1 day free entrance to the snow monkey park. I highly recommend trying apples or apple products (assuming no allergies of course) while in Nagano prefecture. I swear they somehow perfected the apple up there! I should also note that the train from Nagano to Yudanaka takes like an hour one way so plan accordingly.
My main pieces of advice here, aside from having reasonable expectations about what you can and can’t achieve in this time:
Hakone – everything opens and closes much earlier here than the cities, so either plan to get there early in the day (ie 9am) if you want to be able to get lots of stuff done, or consider staying there 2 nights. A big part of the experience for me was spending the evening enjoying the onsen hotel I was staying in, after sightseeing until late afternoon.
Secondly – not sure where you’re flying from but since you arrive late but not too late, I’d recommend saving yourself the headache and going straight to your hotel on arrival. Tokyo tower won’t be too hard to get to and the airport limousine runs late. Don’t underestimate how much jet lag will hit you like a bus and the last thing you’ll want to do the next morning will be to get up and check out of a hotel, and wait around until you can get into the next one.
If you do think you’ll have jet lag then I recommend doing things that are open really early for the first few days – shrines and temples at 6am like Senso-Ji are a really special experience and you can skip the crowds.
Your itinerary looks well-planned and exciting! Here are some thoughts on your questions:
1. **JR Pass:** Considering your itinerary, especially the trips to Nikko, Yudanaka, Kanazawa, Shirakawa, Kyoto, Nara, Osaka, Hiroshima, and Hakone, a JR Pass could be cost-effective. It will cover the majority of your long-distance travel. Be sure to activate it on a day that aligns with your major inter-city travel.
2. **Yudanaka, Kanazawa, and Shirakawa Stays:**
– For Yudanaka, consider staying in Nagano or Yudanaka itself. Nagano is a major city with good transport links.
– Kanazawa is a great city to stay in for your planned activities.
– For Shirakawa, since it’s a day trip, staying in Kanazawa seems practical. You can take a bus for the day trip.
3. **Hiroshima Stay:** Depending on your preferences, staying a night in Hiroshima might be worthwhile. It allows more time to explore Miyajima without rushing. However, if you prefer to return to Osaka, that’s feasible too.
4. **Transport to Shirakawa:** Buses are a common way to reach Shirakawa-go from Kanazawa. Booking in advance is recommended, especially during peak travel times.
5. **Day 3 in Tokyo:** You might consider exploring Asakusa or Ueno, both offering unique experiences. Asakusa is known for Senso-ji Temple, and Ueno has Ueno Park and museums.
Overall, your itinerary seems diverse and well-distributed. Enjoy your trip to Japan!
You’ll need JR passes imo. It’s around 3 and a half hours with the Shinkansen from Tokyo to Osaka. Then from Osaka to Hiroshima and Kyoto, you’ll also have to take the train.
You’ll absolutely need a suica card for the subway, busses etc.
Miajima is amazing, please take the lift and go see the scenery – absolutely beautiful, so maybe it’s worth it to spend the night there. You’ll see the cycle of the tori submerging and emerging from the water too. (deers are also nibble-y, so protect your bags, maps, food etc. )
Kasuga Taisha and the temple with the big Budha were also nice (but we only managed to visit the latter). Beware of the deer, they can litter bite your butt and harass you if you have the crackers.
There was that temple whose tori looked like a lion’s head on Osaka, but I forgot the name of it (also could visit), Kuromon.
You can visit the Senso-ji in Tokyo, the Imperial palace,Sky tree, Metropolitan government building (if you like seeing cities from a high point). If you want to go to the top deck at Tokyo tower, it’s better to book before, because you might have to wait a lot for a free slot. The main deck you can visit at any time.