JJapan Trips

Itinerary Review and Opinions/Questions for Month-Long First-Time Trip in Nov/Dec

  • January 29, 2026

Hi everyone,

My boyfriend and I are planning on going to Japan in November/December of this year for about a month. I would love for anyone to give their opinions/answer some questions for me.

Nothing is set in stone so any days can be re-worked and re-arranged, but here is my current plan:

Day 1 (Nov 14) – Flight from Toronto

Day 2 (Nov 15) – Arrive in Narita airport around 4-5PM

  • Basically just check into hotel/AirBnB and get dinner

Day 3 (Nov 16) – Shibuya

  • Shopping (PARCO Mall – Pokemon Centre/Nintendo Store; One Piece Store, etc)
  • Harajuku
  • Meiji Shrine

Day 4 (Nov 17) – Asasuka and Akihabara

  • AM: Senso-ji shrine (and Nakamise Street)
    • Walk over to Tokyo Skytree (and Pokemon Centre underneath)
  • PM: Ueno Park
    • Walk around main shopping area (Animate, gachapon hall, etc)

Day 5 (Nov 18) – Gotokuji temple and Chuo City

  • AM: Gotokuji temple
  • PM: Chuo City
    • Character Street, etc
    • Shiba Park/Tokyo Tower

Day 6 (Nov 19) – Fuji Five Lake District day trip

  • Can be moved to a different day depending on visibility/weather

Day 7 (Nov 20) – Mount Mitake/Okuatama trip

Day 8 (Nov 21) – Day trip to Izu Shaboten Zoo

  • Capybara onsen

Day 9 (Nov 22) – Minato (chill day)

  • DECKS Tokyo mall

Day 10 (Nov 23) – Shinjuku City/Toshima City

  • AM: Shinjuku City –
    • Kabukicho
    • Shinjuku Gyoen Garden
  • PM: Toshima City
    • Sunshine City
  • My bf has also gotten into Umamusume and there is a race on this day in Tokyo, so we could also switch some days around and do that instead

Day 11 (Nov 24) – Hakone day trip

Day 12 (Nov 25) – Kamakura/Enoshima day trip

Day 13 (Nov 26) – Travel to Nagoya

  • Spend the day just around Nagoya (Meijo Park, maybe down to Atsuta-jingu shrine, etc)

Day 14 (Nov 27) – Day trip to Gifu

  • AM: Gifu Park, Gifu Castle
  • PM: If we're feeling up to it, over to Inuyama

Day 15 (Nov 28) – Day trip to Toyokawa

  • Toyokawa Inari shrine

Day 16 (Nov 29) – Travel to Kyoto

  • Depends where we stay, but probably a more chill day just around our neighbour.
  • Maybe visit Gion this evening

Day 17 (Nov 30) – Arashiyama

  • Bamboo Forest
  • Gioji Temple
  • Adashino Nenbutsuji Temple
  • Otagi Nenbutsuji Temple

Day 18 (Dec 1) – Day trip to Osaka

Day 19 (Dec 2) – Southern Sakyo Ward

  • Mostly just visiting temples in the area
  • Maybe up to Enkoji and down towards Heian-jinhu Shrine and Tenjuan temple

Day 20 (Dec 3) – Day trip to Nara

Day 21 (Dec 4) – Fushimi Ward

  • AM: Fushimi Inari Taisha, walk along Kamo River
  • PM: depending what we do day 16, go to Gion area (would like to go up to Kiyomizu-dera at some point) or go to To-ji Temple

Day 22 (Dec 5) – Day trip to Minoh Falls

Day 23 (Dec 6) – Kifune Shrine

  • AM: Kifune Shrine
  • PM: Open to return to other areas for anything we've missed or other temples farther south (Mimuroto-ji, Byodo-in Temple, or Daigo-ji)

Day 24 (Dec 7) – Travel to Kanazawa

Day 25 (Dec 8) – Day trip to Nagano

  • Togakushi Shrine

Day 26 (Dec 9) – Day trip to Fukui/Katsuyama

  • Echizen Daibutsu temple
  • Heinsenji Hakusan Shrine

Day 27 (Dec 10) – Travel to Tokyo

  • Last minute shopping

Day 28 (Dec 11) – Tokyo

  • Last minute shopping cont.
  • Christmas markets in the evening

Day 29 (Dec 12) – Flight home

  • Flight leaves in the evening

Some general questions I had:

  1. Is this ridiculous or somewhat reasonable? I didn't list everything specifically we'd do in each location, but my boyfriend is more into chill days where I'd like to be running around doing anything I can so I tried to balance it a bit but I don't know if I succeeded. This is a once in a lifetime trip for us so I want to do/see a lot but I understand it might be too hectic.

  2. Is there anything I'm completely missing out on that I should add? Or anything super overrated that's not worth the time/money? I love both being in the city and walking through nature so I'm really open to anything.

Some more specific questions:

  1. I had thought have going to Izu Peninsula overnight, but I was trying to limit how many hotels we transfer to. Is it reasonable to try a day trip? I really want to go to the Izu Shaboten zoo for the capybaras in their hot baths but their website kind of confuses me. It lists their "special baths" all on weekends/holidays so not sure if they have them in the baths all other days? Does anyone know?

  2. Is it a bad idea to be in Kanazawa/Nagano area in early December? I live in Canada, so I don't care about seeing snow. It just seemed reasonable to travel in a circle that way.

  3. Is there anywhere in the north central part of Japan (day trip from Kanazawa) that would be really interesting to visit?

  4. Would it be worth spending one less day in Kyoto to take a day trip to Hiroshima/Miyajimacho? According to Google Maps, the Shinkansen tickets were like $115CAD one way per person so I kind of dropped it so I've also seen a lot of people talk about how much they loved it there.

Thanks in advance for all the help/info! I have been using this subreddit a lot to get good ideas of where to go and it's been super helpful!

by brynamon