Two week trip to Tokyo/Kyoto/Osaka in March/April – In progress/almost there itinerary!

Hello! So my wife and I are planning to go to Japan at the end of March/ beginning of April and I was hoping to get a little bit of feedback on our itinerary and just a few questions we have.

**Flight:**

We’ll probably look to book our flight this week, we’ll arrived March 26th and fly out April 8th. We’ll be flying into Japan and out from Osaka.

**Travel:**

So I’ve heard since we’re not going back to Tokyo that a JR pass might not be worth it. I checked out a JR Pass calculator and it does seem like we’re almost breaking even on a 7 day pass, a 14 day would probably not be worth it. It’ll be Tokyo -> Mt. Fuji – > Kyoto -> Osaka and we may do a round trip from Osaka to Hiroshima near the end of our trip.

We’ll also get a suica card for other purchases and public transport.

For phone usage we’re looking into which sim to use for the two weeks. I am on T-Mobile which I heard works out there but I am a little suspicious about it especially if we’re further out away from the city.

**Hotel:**

So I do have a couple of hotel questions but I’ll break this up into each area.

Tokyo: We plan on getting something not too fancy in the southern part of Tokyo and then the northern part for the second part. We figured taking the morning to change hotels and be closer to where we would want to be would be worth it.

Mt Fuji: So we were thinking of spending one night near Mt Fuji at a traditional Ryokan with an onsen on our way to Kyoto. That’s an experience we would really like to have. I started looking into those a little but does anyone have any experience with that? Recommendations?

Kyoto: We found a few potential spots around there but we were also curious about renting a Machiya for the few days we’ll be there. Is that a simple enough process or should we stick with a normal hotel?

Osaka: We’ll stay somewhere not too far from the airport so this should be pretty straight forward. We found one with a dinosaur receptionist and that seems pretty fun.

**Our map:**

https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewer?mid=1z6VtntbNNmQ7Vt3a72my59hrXnmitDw&ll=35.2703611465563%2C135.83584825000003&z=5

Here is a map of some of our points of interests while we’ll be there. I thought it was really convenient to have everything there and to see how far everything is from one another. I should note that we don’t plan on seeing everything listed there but we add things as we find them and if we’re able to get to them we’ll do it. But I’m always adding and changing it so I do take recommendations!

**Itinerary:**

And here’s the itinerary! If there’s any day that needs explaining I’ll do it there. I picked a few highlights and main activities we would like to do those days but we may not do some and I have plenty more on the map I listed above.

**—– Tokyo: 6 days —–**

Day 1:

– Get to hotel
– Chill around hotel area

Day 2:

– Odaiba – The Gundam Base Tokyo
– Odaiba – teamLab Borderless
– Harajuku – Laforet
– Shibuya – Bodyline on takeshita dori
– Shibuya – Meiji Jingu Shrine
– Setagaya City – Shimokitazawa
– Explore the street food (applies to every place)

Day 3:

(May need more for these days)

– Shinjuku – Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building if we think we won’t get to the Tokyo Skytree
– Shinjuku – Robot restaurant
– Nakano – Nakano Broadway – for anime (instead of akihabara?)
– Kichijoji – Inokashira koen
– Mitaka – Ghibli museum

Day 4:

– Akihabara – themed cafes
– Akihabara – shopping
– Ueno – Ueno koen
– Chiyoda – Kanda Shrine
– Bunkyo City – Nezu-jinja Shrine
– Bunkyo City – Koishikawa korakuen

Day 5:

– Get to Asakasu early
– Asakusa – Check out the local stores, temples, streets (Dempoin, Nakamise, Sushiya, Orange, Nishi-sando)
– Asakusa – In Kimono
– Asakusa – Magic trip – is it worth it?
– Sumida park – For cherry blossoms
– Sumida park – Tokyo Skytree
– Sumida – Local stores/food

Day 6:

– DisneySea
– Chill the rest of the time, stay near the hotel

**—– Mt Fuji and Hakone: 1 day —–**

Day 7:

– Hakone – Stay at a Ryokan with an onsen
– Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park
– Hike in the area / Find some nice trails

**—– Kyoto: 3 days —–**

(Stay at a restored traditional Machiya?)

(So I haven’t really sorted what we plan on doing each day so this will probably shift around. Also wasn’t sure if this is too crowded, too light?)

Day 8:

– Yasaka shrine and Maruyama park
– Machiya Starbucks Kyoto Nineizaka Yasaka Chaya
– Hanamikoji
– Kiyomizu-dera
– Tofukuji Temple*
– Fushimi-Inari*
– Uji (maybe)

Day 9:

– (Early morning) Kiyomizu-dera -> Sannenzaka -> walk along the river -> Gion -> Shinkyogoku Shopping Street Union + Pontoncho Alley -> Nishiki Market and Teramachi
– Higashiyama – Temples (including Kiyomizu-dera and Kodaiji)
– Ginkaku-ji
– Philosopher’s Path

Day 10:

– Nara
– Mount Miwa
– Mount Kasuga

**—–Osaka: 4 days—–**

(Osaka I think I have the least amount of things so far so I will take recommendations! I have heard Hiroshima is a nice trip to take but I haven’t really looked into what to do specifically in the area just yet.)

Day 11:

– Dotonbori
– Pokémon Cafe
– Kuromon Market
– Hozenji Yokocho
– Rikuro-Ojisan no mise

Day 12:

– Universal Japan
– Explore in the evening / Dinner

Day 13:

– Hiroshima

Day 14:

– Explore (Depending on time to flight)
– Go home

So that’s what I have so far. If you’ve read this far thank you for taking the time! Let me know if you have any advice for us, see anything that should be changed or any recommendations. Thank you!