Wife and I are going to Japan for the first time – 13 days, friends made us an itinerary but I think we're over-stuffed. Looking for advice on what to cut.
Quick background: we're both mid-30s, enjoy city life and countryside/nature equally. We want to experience food, culture, and generally just see this country everyone keeps raving about.
The itinerary tl;dr:
| Day / Sleep | Plan |
|---|---|
| D1 / Tokyo | Arrival at NRT 5:30pm, evening in Shinjuku |
| D2 / Tokyo | Tokyo west – Meiji Jingu, Omotesando, Shibuya, Shinjuku Golden Gai |
| D3 / Tokyo | Tokyo east – Senso-ji, Ueno, Akihabara |
| D4 / Matsumoto | Nakameguro, train to Matsumoto |
| D5 / Matsumoto | Matsumoto Castle, Kamikochi |
| D6 / Takayama | Bus to Takayama, Sanmachi Suji, Takayama Jinya |
| D7 / Takayama | Higashiyama, Hida no Sato |
| D8 / Nakatsugawa | Train to Nakatsugawa, Magome-juku |
| D9 / Kyoto | Nakasendo walk, transport to Kyoto |
| D10 / Kyoto | Arashiyama, Tenryu-ji, Okochi Sanso, Monkey Park, Togetsukyo Bridge, Nishiki Market |
| D11 / Kyoto | Fushimi Inari + Gion |
| D12 / Naoshima | Naoshima Island – art, art, art |
| D13 | Naoshima, train to Hiroshima (memorial + museum), train Osaka, flying out of KIX 11:45pm |
Breakdown: 3 nights Tokyo, 2 nights Matsumoto, 2 nights Takayama, 1 night Nakatsugawa, 3 nights Kyoto, 1 night Naoshima, no time in Osaka
Things I'm reconsidering – would love input:
- Nakasendo walk – How intense is it physically? I have back problems, so 4–5 hours of walking might be too much. Is it a must-do, or can it wait for next time?
- Cutting Nakatsugawa entirely – It feels like an in-and-out stop with a single overnight, and thinking we can keep this for our next trip
- Matsumoto vs. Takayama – both two-days each, and while I'd love to do both it seems they're quite similar in scenery and location (the Alps), so if you had to choose only one and leave the other for next time, which would it be?
- Hiroshima on the last day – quite far and it makes the last day intense and basically leave us no time in Osaka, is it "against the rules" to skip it for a first-time visit?
- Same thing for Naoshima – I understand it's a "gem", but it's quite a detour that if removed could potentially makes things more relaxed and give us more time (e.g. in a place like Osaka or Nara (wife really wants to do the deer park thingy).
Would appreciate any other suggestion/idea you have, we're open to change pretty much anything.
Bonus qs while I have you:
- Best area to stay in Tokyo for first-timers? I've been reading through so many posts here and I'm still unclear what's a good area for us to stay for our first time in Tokyo – Shinjuku, Shibuya, Asakusa? I'd prefer an area that is close to what we're going to do, feels like "a city", not too residential but also not too noisy from nightlife etc.
- We have the possibility of flying out of Osaka, but does it make sense for whatever reason to go back to Tokyo and fly out of HND/NRT?
- We'll do a combo of hotels and Airbnbs throughout the trip, but we'd love a ryokan stay for one night – which places would be best for it during this trip?
by moishr