Need assistance with trimming itinerary (solo trip)

3 comments

1. Only you can say your tolerance to being temple’d out. What is easily quantifiable is travel time. Plot out everything in Google Maps based on the order you put them in. You didn’t post the hotels (which is fine! Security and all) so only you can see how long it’d take to travel to… Minoh falls, which could take an hour or so from Osaka center just for the train. Or KIX, which is also an hour easy depending on where you are. You can quickly see what you can cut off if you put everything in Excel

2. Everywhere you have “drop bags at hotel” replace it with either a baggage service from the station or coin lockers. Unless the hotel is super convenient to your next destination.

3. 23rd – Very few hotels will be willing to accomodate you checking in during the morning hours, the standard for most places is 3pm onwards. Unless you’ve found the place that specifically allows that I’d suggest your first stop to be to find a 500yen locker in Shinjuku Station to deposit your belongings at, before you move on with the rest of your day. Besides that your first day is pretty packed, but not impossible. Suggest you save Shibuya for a different day if you end up feeling fatigued after your plane trip.

   24th – Not too bad, but keep mindful that if you lose track of time at Tsukiji to Asakusa you may do well to cut your morning exploration short to make it for you matcha class.

   25th – All the places you’re going in Shinjuku are dead and shuttered in the morning, unless that’s specifically what you want. I’d suggest you do just Kabukicho (and maybe shift Meiji Shrine from Day one here) in the morning (much safer) and then omoide and golden gai at night, after your observation deck view.

   26th – This day is fine, though if you ask me I think swapping Fushimi for Kiyomizudera on this day is better because of the proximity to the other places on your list.

   27th – I’d stick to cleanly exploring arashiyama on this day, and not doing any temples at night

   28th – Personally I think it’s a bit much to have a full Nara day trip then rush back to Gion for a guided tour. If the reservation is changeable I’d do it on the prior day instead then fully commit to Nara before heading back to kyoto straight to your hotel bed.

   29th – A lot of places in Osaka will start to close from 9pm onwards, so don’t expect much if your tour actually ends at that timing.

   30th – Minoh Falls on the same day as a 6pm flight is wild, personally I wouldn’t be brave enough to risk it. You can skip Kuromon market altogether if you’ve already done Nishiki and Tsukiji, it’s more of the same by now.

   Overall you definitely have a really busy itinerary, so expect to be rushing a lot and spending lots of time in public transport being nervous about not catching your next thing. 25,000 steps in one day is one thing, but 25,000 steps 8 days in a row is too scary to think about, but you know your own body best so go do what makes you happy 🙂

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