Long time lurker, thanks in advance for the review here. Travelling with my two best friends, all of us early thirties from Canada. Some days are pretty packed (Kyoto in particular) but overall we’ve tried to arrange a pretty unique timetable where we can without tooo many crowded tourist spots. That said, since some days are currently light, would be open to input about what we might be missing (from the common tourist spots, or otherwise; examples below). We are definitely foodies but are trying to follow advice about not getting caught up with tiktoks etc and just to explore tabelog when hungry.
- Day 1: Asakusa
- Land Narita 16:30h, take Keisei Narita Skyaccess to AirBnB
- Late night konbini snacks and/or explore Underground street
- Senso-ji at night
- Day 2: Asakusa / Saitama
- Jins for glasses (early in trip in case needs a few days to prepare?)
- Explore Tokyo during the day… TBD
- Takanaka concert in Sumida (5pm), with a bit of time to explore around the venue first
- Post-concert TBD depending on timing + jetlag/exhaustion
- Day 3: Asakusa
- Senso-ji during the day this time
- Asakusa shrine
- Head to Edogawa for bonsai museum
- Maybe Sky Tree and/or Hoppy Street?
- Anything else?
- Day 4: Day trip to Yokohama / Kamakura
- Kamakura station (morning)
- Hatoya Matcha by the station – less busy than Asakusa
- Kamakura daibutsu / Great Buddha
- Komachi dori – shopping street
- Enoden train to Enoshima
- Enoshima (day)
- Iwaya Caves
- Enoshima sea candle (from a distance)
- Nakamise street – shopping street
- Yokohama (evening)
- Minato mirai
- Chinatown
- Kamakura station (morning)
- Day 5: Central Tokyo / Akihabara
- Imperial palace
- Akihabara (super potato etc)
- Maybe a quick load of laundry at the AirBnB?
- Day 6: Flex day… maybe Odaiba?
- Tsukiji or Toyosu?
- Unicorn gundam?
- Open to suggestions/alternatives here
- TeamLab Borderless booked for 7pm
- Day 7: Shinjuku
- Check out of AirBnB; drop bags somewhere
- Meiji shrine
- Shopping for Onitsuka Tiger shoes
- Check in to capsule hotel
- Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building
- Golden Gai
- Day 8: Nakano / Kichijoji
- Sun mall
- Nakano broadway
- Harmonica Alley
- Inokashira park
- Explore Koenji?
- Back to town for omoide yakocho
- Day 9: Takayama
- Travel to AirBnB in Takayama
- Sub-hida folk village
- Showa-Kan museum
- Maybe good time for onsen?
- Day 10: Shirakawago
- Most of the day there
- Maybe laundry day at the AirBnB while walking around?
- Day 11: Kyoto
- Travel day; hopefully arrive by noon
- Leave bags somewhere +/- check in to hotel near Gion
- Kodaiji temple bamboo forest
- Kiyomizu-dera w/ Ghibli store and Ichinenzaka/Ninenzaka/Sannenzaka
- Yasaka pagoda
- Teamlab BioVortex booked for 6:30
- Day 12: Kyoto
- Fushimi inari
- Train back to hotel, maybe stop at Pontocho, maybe arrange luggage forwarding to Osaka for Day 14 arrival?
- Philosopher’s path, detour through Maruyama park
- Golden pavilion if we’re up for it; otherwise relax and find dinner
- Day 13: Hiroshima
- Early train to Hiroshima; wrap up anything outstanding in Kyoto first if needed
- Drop bags off +/- check in to hotel
- Shukkein garden
- Hiroshima peace park w/ atom bomb dome
- Stuff our faces with Hiroshima okonomiyaki and yakigaki oysters
- Day 14: Miyajima island
- Ferry to Itsukushima shrine
- Gondola up Mt Misen?
- Travel to Osaka hotel in the evening
- Day 15: Koyasan (day trip)
- How best to spend the day?
- Day 16: Nara (day trip)
- Maybe luggage forward to Tokyo… or do it tomorrow?
- Deer park
- Todaiji temple
- Kasuga taisha
- Mochi pounding at Nakatanidou
- Day 17: Osaka
- How best to spend the day?
- Day 18: Osaka -> Tokyo via Hakone
- Hakone open air museum
- Kiro store for yosegi-zaiku
- Friend wants to rent a car and drive around or go check out some car parts store / find a car meet or something idk; the other two of us might just explore Hakone randomly
- Head back into Tokyo at night (Ikebukuro)
- Day 19: Shibuya?
- Kind of a flex day, probably spend it in Shibuya but truly TBD
- We figure might be a good day to do some shopping for stuff at like 3Coins or Okashi no Machioka or something
- Day 20: Flex day
- One of the guys flies home this day, flight at 6:30pm
- The other friend and I are more into cooking so want to do Kappabashi street
- Anything else?
- Day 21: All good things must come to an end
- Pack up, head to airport for flight at like 6:30pm
- How best to spend last few hours?
- Outstanding ideas
- Onsen / Kashikiri
- A special meal or two, e.g. reservation for sushi omakase
- Buying a special knife… Kappabashi in Asakusa? Sakai in Osaka?
Again, thanks in advance for reading this essay. Would love any suggestions for how to rearrange things or fill some of our lighter days!
by HishaamSCB
1 comment
I just got glasses at Jins Ginza a few days ago and got them in 45 mins. They had the frames in stock, and I just chose the standard lens. They were still thin and light despite my high prescription (-4.00 in one eye). Very happy with them! They said if I wanted ultra thin or the more sense lens then it would take 7 days.
Also suggest you check out Nakano broadway (assuming you are looking for modern anime figurines like my kid was). They were way cheaper at nakano Broadway compared to akihabara. We saw figurines for 2000 yen or less at NB being sold for 4000+ yen at akihabara.
For imperial palace try to get the English tour online. We were lucky and got slots. We saw a lot of people lining up to try to get a spot and many didn’t get in.
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