Hi everyone, I've seen quite a few really good itinerary posts on this subreddit and I am very excited to say it's my turn to visit Japan!
I have 16 days mostly planned out but I would love some less touristy suggestions for places to visit / places to eat / things to do.
Day 1: Arrive in Tokyo via Haneda airport at 11am, take the Keikyū line to Shinagawa and get Tokaido Shinkansen to Shin-Osaka station. Then Osaka station and check into our hotel before enjoying some local dinner and sleep off the jet lag.
Day 2: Visiting Hiroshima for the entire day, doing the usual tourist things including Itsukushima Jinja and staying late for a baseball game (leave early if we need to so we can get the last Shinkansen home).
Day 3: Himeji Castle / Kokoen Gardens during the day, then Dotonburi / Osaka nightlife in the evening.
Day 4: Universal studios (mainly for Nintendo World) then another evening in Osaka (any recommendations for a good evening spot if we are doing Dotonburi the night before?)
Day 5: Transfer to hotel in Kyoto close to Kiyomizu-dera temple. But otherwise this is a FREE DAY! Do we visit Osaka Castle? Any other recommendations for daytime things to do in Osaka before we head to Kyoto?
Day 6: First proper day in Kyoto. Bamboo Forest & Temples & Tetsugaku No Michi. No strict plan here so any recommendations for one side of Kyoto to do first in one day would be great!
Day 7: Nara Deer Park & Fushimi Inari Taisha – Any suggestions for a great dinner or a rooftop bar in Kyoto would be awesome!
Day 8: FREE DAY – Anything we have missed etc. Suggestions again are very welcome!
Day 9: Staying at a Ryokan overnight in Hakone on our way back to Tokyo for the rest of the trip. So either go early and explore the area or spend time in Kyoto and head there later on.
Day 10: Lake Ashi cruise & Owakidani then heading back into Tokyo to check into hotel. Local dinner and drinks.
Day 11: Tokyo Disney Sea – No plans apart from that in case we stay late.
Day 12: Tokyo Disney Land – No plans apart from that in case we stay late.
Day 13: We are looking at doing some kind of road trip or tour package here, finding an interesting area to spend a day in that is less touristy than the mega Tokyo hotspots. Maybe Kamakura?
Day 14: Spa day and visit the temples we really want to see in Tokyo. Not necessarily in that order. Any suggestions for a good spa/massage package would be amazing!
Day 15: Last full day reserved for shipping, so Akihibara, Shibuya etc. Probably going to try and find some good Hard Off stores. Any suggestions?
Day 16: Early start to be tired on the plane, a morning in the imperial palace gardens or something then back to Haneda from Tokyo station.
So there we go! I'm deliberately not planning out every minute so we can be flexible and try to stay in the moment when we decide to.
That being said I am open to any suggestions or improvements I can make.
Thanks for taking the time to read all this, I'm super excited!
by SpaceHoppity