Completed a 15 day trip in Japan – Long read

Hi everyone,

Arrived back from Japan yesterday after a 15 day trip to Japan, and I used this subreddit a fair bit when planning and organising a trip with my wife. It was really helpful to plan etc, so thought I would leave a small essay – i hope it helps at least 1 person.

I have put put together a bit of list of what we did on each day, should you wish I have more of an in depth google sheets doc and around 175 pinned locations on google maps of key sites / restaurants, hotels etc.

We did the "usual route", Tokyo, Hakone, Kyoto, Nara, Osaka, cylying on the Shimanami kaido route, Hiroshima, Miyajima and then back to Tokyo.

Pre arrival information

– Pre booked a vast majority of hotels (left 2 days spare at the end in case we wanted to revisit anywhere).

– Arrange and install an esim – we went with Journey Japan esim, worked really well, had the 20gb package each and used around 14gb each on the trip.

– Recommend completing the Visit Japan Immigration Clearance and Customs forms along with the Tax Free declaration.

– Bring USB charging cables and 2 pin plugs (there were several hotels without 3 pin sockets and only 1 hotel with USB-C ports)

– Packing information, we packed relatively light, around half a suitcase each with the idea we'd wash our clothes every 4-5 days.

– Upload some local currency to a debit card / virtual card. I went with Revolut. One mistake was not having a physical card, so if you have time order one of those and then use the app to maintain funds etc.

– Google Maps was so useful for travelling in terms of which trains and platforms, made getting around super easy. We also hadnt pre booked any Shinkansen tickets, which worked out fine as we wanted to be pretty flexible. I was worried about this, but it was absolutely fine (late sept to early oct – this might change if going in the busy seasons.

– We found Tablelog much better than GoogleMaps for restaurant recommendations. Google reviews seem to over inflated with tourists being asked to give 5 stars, where tablelog seemed much better in our experience, a 3.5 out of 5 was typically great food.

Day 1 – Tokyo

Arrived in Tokyo around 3pm – took a bit of time to get through passport control etc, but all very easy.

Once outside of passport control, go to the left hand side of the stairs that are in front of you and purchase a "Welcome Suica" card for travel. You can use a debit card to purchase and top up, we went with a small amount – 2000yen and then topped up frequently.

Took the trains to Shibuya to our first hotel – Hotel Iyf. Hotel was exactly what we wanted for our first night, clean and easy. Short-ish walk from Shibuya Station.

Went for exploration around Shibuya, Parco Shopping, Pokemon Centre, Shibuya Crossing etc.

Had booked a restuarant for the first night, just so we knew where we were heading, tonkatsu.jp Omotesando. Great place and food, we actually went back when back in Tokyo for one of our last meals.

Back to Shibuya crossing, went up for a drink at Mag's Rooftop bar, then to LOST bar for a drink.

Day 2

Went for a short run around Yoyogi Park and then to Meiji Jingu., Coffee and pastries at Cafe 365 Days, great selection of baked goods, would recommend. Packed up, sent a majority of our luggage to Kyoto via the luggage forwarding service – left us with a medium sized north face backpack for a few days. Got the tube over to our next hotel in Shinjuku – Yuen Shinjuku.

Went to Teamlabs – Borderless, was cool to see and interesting, not sure its a must do if honest. Explored the area to visit the Tokyo Tower.

Headed to Omote-Sando Ave and Takeshita Street. Had first (of many) Family Mart chicken experience. Great for on the go food.

For dinner, went to Memory lane for drinks and yakatori at one of the many places, before deciding we were still hungry and went to another area for goyza and dumpings.

Our hotel had an onsen in, so had our first onsen experience. great way to finish the day and relax the muscles and feet.

Day 3

Early-ish start and headed over to Tokyo Skytree. Great to see the vast scale of Tokyo.

Walked over to Senso, did Senso-Ji and Nakamise Street, very busy, I'd recommend seeing early or late to avoid the vast number of people, but it was ok midday, not unbearable.

Over to Ueno, went down Ameyoko Street and had ramen. Up to Ueno Park and walked up to Yanaka Ginza for wonder and had a drink at one of the bars.

Left then and Akihanara area. Did the usual wonder in the area and shops etc before finishing at Yodabashi Akiba (superstore). Overall I'd say Akihabara was a massive let down, but maybe I built it up too much.

Day 4 – Hakone

Packed up and went to the Imperial Palace for a very quick walk around.

Went to Tokyo Station, grabbed some bento boxes for the train and got the RomanceCar train to Hakone.

Checked into a Ryokan – Matsuzakaya Honten, before getting the bus to the lake and seeing the torii gate and shine. Sadly Mt Fuji was clouded over.

Experienced the food, we are pretty fussy eaters, so make the evening and morning meals rather tough, but was an experience to say the least. The hotel also had a private onsen, which was lovely.

Day 5 – Kyoto

After a tough breakfast experience, got the train and Shinkansen over to Kyoto.

Checked into our hotel – Nol Kyoto Sanjo, lovely place and great room.

Walked around the Kyoto gardens, did the Samuari Ninja Museum, walked the general area, before heading to Nishiki Market and Pontocho Alley. Very busy areas with long queues. Ended up for dinner at Gyoza Hohei, great place would recommend, cheap and great food.

Day 6

Early morning run around the national garden.

got to Arashiyama Bamboo forest for 9ish, it was pretty busy on our way out, so recommend seeing it as early as possible. Walked around Tenryu-ji, before visiting the Monkey Park

Headed to Ryoan-ji, and up to Kinkaku-ji. This was busy around half 2, must be unbearable in peak season.

Visited the outside of Nijo Castle, before evening walk around Gion area and having dinner.

Day 7

Another early start where we went to Fushimi Inari Taisha for around 8am to beat the crowds, we took a side path to the top, which was much quieter. got to the bottom at around 10am and was very very busy.

Got the train to see Kiyomizu-dera, this was fab, but again very busy the time we got there.

Walked from here to Chinon-in Temple before having lunch at Ramen Nishiki – very good.

Walked to many other shines along the route, went to Nanzen-ji and Eikando Temple before walking along the Philosophers Path canal ending up at Ginkaku-ji.

Day 8 – Nara Day Trip and Osaka

Packed up, and sent our main luggage back to Tokyo, and got the train to Nara, left luggage in the coin lockers.

Saw the deer and had a good walk around the park, shines and temples. Todai-ji was great to see. Had a mochi at Nakatanidou before getting the train to Osaka at around 4ish.

Dropped our bags at the Hotel – HOTEL RESOL TRINITY OSAKA, before visiting America-mura and down to Dotonbori. Had takoyaki at Achichi Honpo Dotonbori, before heading for ramen at Human Beings Everybody Noodles, great place, was super busy, also nice being the only tourists there.

Day 9 – Onomichi

Relaxing morning, went to UTSUBO BAKERY PANENA and coffee near by and sat in the park for a bit. Headed over to the Imperial Palace after and walk around the area, before getting the Shinkansen and train over to Onomichi.

Stayed at Hotel Cycle, would recommend.

Day 10 – Cycling

Did the first leg from Onomichi to our hotel at Omishima Island – 42km. Went to good road bikes but no ebikes. Stayed to Hotel Wakka, in a premium room with BBQ dinner. Best experience of the whole trip. Expensive, but worth it. Went to the public onsen in the evening.

Day 11

Second day of cycling, did the short island loop, before heading to the final destination of Imbari, 57km in total. Sore bums, as hard seats and not big cyclists.

Arrived at Imbari for half 2, had several 7Eleven chicken bites and chocolate bars before getting the train to Matsuyama. Got on the tram over to the port and got the boat over to Hiroshima. Checked into HOTEL INTERGATE Hiroshima. Exactly what we wanted, good price, clean with an onsen like area.

Evening dinner at Smile Okonomiyaki

Day 12 – Hiroshima

Coffee and bakery good at MAPS BAKERY / CAFE, before seeing the Hiroshima Memorial Museum and Park. Very moving and would recommend seeing.

Great pancake at Melange de Shuhari Hiroshima Hondori Store, before heading to Miyajima in the evening.

Checked into Miyajima Kinsuikan and visited the amazing store of Miyajima Syouyu-ya for soy sauce and spices etc.

Day 13 – Miyajima – Tokyo

Morning hike / run along the mountain trail to see the island.

Left the island at 10ish to get the train back to Tokyo.

Stayed in Shibuya again as we liked the area first time – this time at Tokyu Stay Shibuya.

Went back to tonkatsu.jp Omotesando, before evening walk around Shibuya, visited the madness of MEGA Don Quijote, finishing with evening drinks at LOST bar again.

Day 14 – Shopping in Tokyo

Chilled morning, went to Jimbocho for a walk and see the shops, ramen for lunch.

Went to Kappabashi street for kitchen wares. We spent far too long here, so much choice!

Evening dinner at SG LOW and went to their sister bar for drinks after æ – ash. Waiters were fab and so helpful and things we should do or see the next morning.

Day 15

Morning coffee and back to bakery 365 Days, before last minute shopping and souvenir shopping.

Left Tokyo, for the airport around 3ish.

Overall a fab trip and managed to see and do so much.

Key take aways.

Food and going out was so cheap, but we are used to Switzerland.

Highlights was the cycling, try to fit this in if you can.

Lowlight was Akihabara.

Weather was great, around 28 degrees, only had a little bit of rain.

You really don't need to pack too much, every place we stayed at had a washing machine.

Getting around was pretty cheap I'd say, yes the Shinkansen is expensive, but the rest was pretty well priced.

We did a fair bit of shopping etc, overall very well priced and good selection of clothes and cosmetics etc

Happy to answer any questions.

Edit – several edits to grammar.

Also to add, biggest step day was 40k but average was around 25k.