Hello all, we are a couple going to Japan for the first time. We will be staying for 16 days, and we want to see/experience the maximum number of things we can, since this might be our only trip to Japan. We understand that his itinerary might be fully packed, and your more experienced opinion would be welcome to help us make sure that this is doable, or if we are exaggerating…
We are going in September, and we know it is summer and probably super hot. But we come from a hot/humid country, and we are counting on that to help us survive.
Day 10 is the closing day for Mount Fuji, so we have to be there before that.
On day 15, we will try to get tickets to the Sumo tournament, but we are wondering if it is worth it for us to go, since everything will be in Japanese, and we are afraid of not understanding anything, and that it might be better to just get a touristy Sumo experience somewhere else.
USJ has the Horror Nights in September, but they have not released the dates yet; that is why we left it for last, to be sure it will be happening by then.
Here is the itinerary:
OSAKA
Tuesday (Day 1)
13:00 — Arrival KIX
15:00 — Check-in hotel
17:00 — Walk around
18:00 — Kuromon Market
19:00 — Kuromon Market
Wednesday (Day 2)
07:00 — Osaka Castle
09:00 — Osaka Museum of History
11:00 — Katsuo-ji (Maybe)
15:00 — Back to Hotel
16:00 — Go to a drink bar
17:00 — Ebisu Tower Ferris Wheel
18:00 — Dotonbori
HIMEJI / OSAKA
Thursday (Day 3)
08:00 — train to Himeji
09:00 — Himeji Castle
11:00 — Koko-en garden
14:00 — go to Arima onsen (Maybe)
17:00 — Dinner Kobe beef somewhere
19:00 — Back to Osaka
NARA / OSAKA
Friday (Day 4)
09:10 — Aoniyoshi Train
09:45 — Arrive in Nara
10:00 — Kasuga Taisha Complex
15:00 — Back to Osaka
17:00 — Umeda Sky Building or Harukas 300
KYOTO
Saturday (Day 5)
09:32 — Kyo-train Garaku
10:15 — Arrive in Kyoto
11:00 — Nijo Castle
16:00 — teamlabs Biovortex
Sunday (Day 6)
06:00 — Fushimi Inari
09:00 — Tofuku-ji
11:00 — Sanjusangendo
14:00 — Sannenzaka/Ninenzaka
16:00 — Kiyomizu dera
Monday (Day 7)
07:00 — Heian Jingu Shrine
09:00 — Okazaki Shrine
10:00 — Nanzen-ji
14:00 — Philosopher's Path South Entrance (Maybe)
16:00 — Ginkaku-ji (Maybe)
19:00 — Gion / Geisha attraction
Tuesday (Day 8)
08:00 — Arashiyama bamboo forest (maybe)
09:00 — Adashino Nenbutsuji
10:00 — Otagi Nenbutsuji Temple
14:00 — Ryōan-ji
15:00 — Kinkaku-ji (Maybe)
18:00 — Train to Gotemba
GOTEMBA / FUJI
Wednesday (Day 9)
09:35 — Bus to Mount Fuji
10:35 — Arrive at 5th Station
11:00 — Start climbing
Thursday (Day 10)
03:00 — wakeup
04:00 — climb
05:00 — Sunrise
06:30 — go down
11:00 — rent a car in Gotemba
12:00 — go to Onsen (Hakone)
15:00 — Owakudani Kurotamago Kan (Maybe)
16:00 — Amasake Chaya (Maybe)
MATSUMOTO
Friday (Day 11)
08:00 — Hakone Shrine (Maybe)
09:00 — Drive to Matsumoto Castle
11:00 — Matsumoto Castle
14:00 — Narai juku (maybe)
16:00 — Hida Folk Village (Photo op, maybe)
18:00 — Shirakawa
SHIRAKAWA-GŌ / GOTEMBA / TOKYO
Saturday (Day 12)
07:00 — Shirakawa go
13:00 — drive to Gotemba
17:00 — bus to Tokyo
19:00 — check-in hotel
20:00 — Shibuya
TOKYO
Sunday (Day 13)
07:00 — Senso-Ji Temple
09:00 — Kaminarimon Gate
10:00 — National Museum (Maybe)
13:00 — Akihabara
15:00 — Imperial Palace (Maybe)
17:00 — Ginza (Maybe)
20:00 — Tokyo Tower
Monday (Day 14)
10:00 — Ghibli museum (if tickets) or Gotokuji Temple
14:00 — Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum (if Ghibli museum) or Nihon Minka-En Japan Open-Air Folk House Museum
17:30 — Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building (Maybe)
19:00 — Shinjuku
20:00 — Golden Gai / Omoide-Yokochō
Tuesday (Day 15)
08:00 — Meiji Jingu
10:00 — Takeshita Street (Maybe)
14:00 — Edo-Tokyo Museum (if Sumo tickets) (Maybe)
16:00 — Sumo tournament (if tickets)
18:00 — Train to Osaka
OSAKA
Wednesday (Day 16)
07:00 — USJ
Thursday (Day 17)
11:00 — Namba Yasaka Shrine
13:00 — Go to KIX
If there is an agreement that the Sumo tournament is not worth it for us, we are thinking of "flipping" this itinerary. Arriving in Osaka, spending one night, then going the next morning to Tokyo > Fuji > Car trip > Kyoto > Osaka
All advice is welcome, thank you very much!
Edit: I passed the wrong impression with the way I wrote the post initially. I added "(Maybe)" to the places which are not must-see/do for us. I have the time there to try and organise the schedule, know what the opening times are for some places, what has to be done during the day or night, and to later on fill up the details according to things that are booked for specific times. I based the time spent on each place on google average.
So, a few examples on how I am thinking this: Day 3, we are probably still on jetlag, waking up super early, so we make our way to Himeji Castle, which opens at 9:00. Google says people spend an average of 2 hours there, with some people spending 1 hour, and some spending up to 4 hours (as one of the comments here mention). We do not know how long we will stay there, but if we get out early, we will make our way to Arima; if we get out late, we might go back to Osaka.
The attractions are grouped geographically, and according to google most of them are either 15 minutes apart walking or by public transport (of course, there are exceptions to this)
Is this still crazy, or is it a bit better now?
by Hot_Eagle_8678