My family and I (two adults and an elderly woman in good shape) will be visiting Japan for 20 days. Ideally, we would like the trip to be relaxed because of our older companion, but there’s so much to see and we’re having trouble deciding how to distribute the days between Okinawa, Kyoto, and Tokyo.
Do you think this itinerary is reasonable, or would it be better to reduce our stay in Tokyo to 4 free days so we can have more time in Kyoto and see it at a slower pace? I’m not sure if the planned visits might turn out to be too demanding.
This is what I have planned:
Mon 20 – Kanazawa
Arrival at Narita (~1:00 PM) → Train to Kanazawa (overnight)
Tue 21 – Kanazawa
Full day in Kanazawa
Wed 22 – Takayama
Morning: Shirakawa-go → Afternoon: short walk in Takayama → Overnight in Takayama
Thu 23 – Kyoto
Early: Train Takayama → Nagoya → Ghibli Park (morning/midday) → Evening/night: train to Kyoto
Fri 24 – Kyoto
Fushimi Inari → Nintendo Museum (if we find tickets) → Kiyomizu-dera + Ninenzaka/Sannenzaka streets
Sat 25 – Kyoto
Arashiyama (morning) + Kinkaku-ji (midday) + Gion (evening/night)
Sun 26 – Kyoto
Nara (Todai-ji, Nara Park, Kasuga Taisha) → Return to Kyoto
Mon 27 – Osaka
Transfer Kyoto → Osaka → Full day in Osaka (Osaka Castle, Dotonbori, Shinsekai, Umeda Sky, shopping)
Tue 28 – Osaka
Day trip: Amanohashidate Viewland
Wed 29 – Osaka
Universal Studios Japan
Thu 30 – Okinawa
✈️ Morning flight to Okinawa → Half day in Naha (Shurijo Castle, Kokusai Street)
Fri 31 Oct – Okinawa
Full day in Okinawa
Sat 1 Nov – Okinawa
Full day in Okinawa
Sun 2 Nov – Tokyo
✈️ Morning flight to Tokyo → Afternoon: Shibuya, Tokyo Tower, Skytree
Mon 3 Nov – Tokyo
Tokyo DisneySea / Disneyland
Tue 4 Nov – Tokyo
Day trip to Nikko or Yokohama
Wed 5 Nov – Tokyo
teamLab Borderless, Nakano Broadway, Harajuku
Thu 6 Nov – Tokyo
Shopping & Tokyo districts (Ueno, Asakusa, Akihabara)
Fri 7 Nov – Tokyo
Free day to stroll, eat, and rest
Sat 8 Nov – —
✈️ Return flight
by FulleMi