I have posted for initial advice about 2 months ago here. Now that I have returned, it is time to give back to the community. Sorry for the long post.
Things I booked beforehand:
- The Shinkansen tickets from Smartex, about 3 weeks before for Mt Fuji side seats on Golden Week
- auto-activating eSIM from Ubigi 2 days prior
- the tea ceremony (Maikoya)
- omakase (Tabelog)
- free guided walking tours (GuruWalk)
Things we booked while there:
- TeamLab Planets, Tokyo Skytree. Both are booked for the evening, as the days are limited with closing times of attractions.
Here is my advice:
- Kamakura was very pretty and worth taking a half day to visit.
- Kyoto was a lot! I would have wanted to have 1 more day there. The touristic places are not traps, but rather actually really pretty here. Don't buy the subway day pass, it is not valid on buses. Buses have a fixed price no matter how many stations you go to… Also buy Furikake from the famous shop, it was good, and they offer a tasting.
- The subway stations are overwhelming in Tokyo and Osaka. There are shopping malls on B1-B2 levels, and you don't know how to exit the station sometimes. Also, restaurants are located on random floors; it takes a little time to adjust to it.
- I booked free guided walking tours, which you pay for after the tour in cash, and I am happy with that approach, as we gave a fair price to our tour guides based on whether we liked it or not.
- I wanted to buy some items like knives and kitchenware, but I got very overwhelmed with options, so do your research if you are interested.
- I bought too many face masks and a lot of gifts in the end, I feel that the tax-free shopping took advantage of me… Also bought a lot of nail clippers… Don't get too influenced to buy everything like I did…
- We didn't book any restaurants except the Omakase lunch, and this gave a lot of flexibility. I saved a lot of restaurants from Instagram or YouTube, but we ended up mostly with local places around us instead. I had Tabelog, but it was not as easy to search for restaurants, so I used it only to double-check reviews sometimes. If you go to side streets, there are always restaurants on random floors that have no queues. Also, staying in an area that is not "hip" really helps with not wasting time. Try out restaurants with Japanese names only; they always had spots. Harajuku and Shibuya had a lot of queues; Ginza basically had none once the shops closed.
- We were very happy with the konbini coffee, I saved a lot of coffee shops, and we ended up going to only 1 of them… We also tried some konbini food, for the sake of trying, but mostly got stuff from shops around, like Daimaru or a random patisserie we saw on the street.
- Ryokan was excellent. I was unsure about my tattoo, but in the end, it was really not visible, and no one cared in the public bath; it was mostly empty anyway.
- Tokyo metro was very crowded, especially at rush hour, avoid if you can. Shibuya Crossing was also very crowded and not worth going to if you are not already in the area for some other reason. Harajuku was crowded but nice.
- In Tokyo, we stayed at the Daimon-Hamamatsucho area, and 100% would recommend it to anyone, very well connected to Haneda and central points. We used the Asakusa and Oedo lines a lot. Not sure why this neighborhood is not popular among recommendations.
- Hakone transportation was really difficult to find any information or timetables, so make sure to be prepared if you visit.
- Osaka was a food heaven! I already loved Takoyaki, but Yakisoba was a surprise favorite for me. Also, Rikuro was nice. I didn't wait for the fresh one, but if you love eggs, you will like this.
- We are happy we stayed overnight at Nara, the streets get so empty after the day-trip tourists leave, it was beautiful. Also, the hotel was so cheap!
- Most itineraries suggest starting early, but we failed at this every day. Don't squeeze your itinerary, but keep in mind that almost all museums or temples close rather early.
- Try Umeshu and Hojicha! My two new favorite drinks.
- Overall, the Golden Week was okay, more queues, more crowds, but if you plan around it, it works out. I am happy I booked Kyoto for later, as it was mostly empty since Golden Week was over. And you can always find quieter spots everywhere; there are so many hidden gems you can find on Google Maps. We didn't go to Arashiyama, but we found so many other bamboo areas that are emptier.
Here is the detailed what was planned and what happened table if anyone is interested:
| Day / Date | Places | Plans | Actual | Notes & Opinions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 / May 1 | Tokyo | Haneda arrival in the late evening and check in to the hotel. Grab some kombini food for dinner. | As planned, got ramen nearby instead of konbini food as they are open until pretty late. Hotel in Hamamatsucho. | Welcome Suica from Terminal 3 Haneda (Android phone) |
| 1 / May 2 | Tokyo | Take it easy due to jet lag. Tsukiji, Ginza, imperial palace gardens, Yushukan Museum | Slept until 1 pm due to jetlag… Started with Tsukiji, but many shops were closed already. Got a SIM card from Bic Camera for my partner, then went straight to Imperial Palace Gardens, no time for Yushukan Museum as it closes at 4.30. Passed in front of the MOMAT (museum of art), which was open until 8 pm that day, so we went for it. Wagyu yakiniku dinner at Ginza. First Matsukiyo shopping late evening. | We learned later that there was a free audio guide app for the palace gardens, which would have been good to know before. |
| 2 / May 3 | Tokyo | Asakusa-Sensoji-Ueno | Not as planned. Booked an Omakase lunch at Shinjuku, visited the Tokyo metropolitan government building for views, Meiji Shrine, and Harajuku shopping while my partner was at the gym nearby. Shibuya Crossing. | We had omakase lunch at Sushi Takahiro, and it was wonderful; it was also reasonably priced compared to many alternatives. Shinjuku Station was pure chaos, took us a long time to get out of the station. I loved Meiji Shrine! The greenery was so refreshing among all the high buildings. Harajuku was nice for shopping and people watching. Shibuya Crossing was unnecessary as an attraction, overall ridiculously crowded, with queues everywhere in restaurants. We ended up going back to the hotel area and had dinner at an izakaya nearby, which was a great meal, and we were the only tourists there. |
| 3/ May 4 | Tokyo – Shinkansen to Osaka | Either spend the morning in Tokyo or take an earlier Shinkansen to see more of Osaka. | First non-jetlag day. Took the Shinkansen to Osaka from Shinagawa at 10.30 am since hotel checkout was at 10 am. Hotel check-in near Higobashi, then Kuromon market for some food sampling. Booked a guided tour for Dotonbori area. We had okonomiyaki and yakisoba with egg dipping for dinner. | – Got to see Fuji from the train and took some nice photos. – We didn't try everything at Kuromon, as it is quite touristy, but it was good to sample try some food you wouldn't buy otherwise (like the octopus stick with egg inside). – Our guide said Dotonbori was 40% more crowded than usual due to Golden Week that day. – The guided tour was not very historical unfortunately, but it gave us some insight into the city's culture and Dotonbori. Also, our guide recommended some good and less crowded food spots. |
| 4 / May 5 | Osaka | Osaka Castle in the morning. Kuromon market and Dotonbori to eat a lot of quality food! Namba Yasaka shrine, and maybe some lightweight shopping for clothes. Go to arcades? | Started the day with Glitch coffee and Rikuro cheesecake (the queue was longer due to Golden Week). Then Osaka Castle, Osaka Museum of History, also visited Shitenno-ji because we read about it in the museum (although it was closed already). Then visited Namba for food, takoyaki, onigiri, gyoza, some otoro sushi, udon and soft serve ice cream. Visited a bar in Amerika-mura where you can play arcade games. | Loved the castle park and all the food of Osaka was amazing. Museum was also pretty nice and you can view the castle from glass windows. |
| 5 / May 6 | Osaka-Nara | Train to Nara. We stay at Nara during the peak Golden Week time in Kyoto. If enough time, do the Nara Park hike. | We decided to cut some time from Nara and give more to Osaka. Visited Namba Yasaka Jinja, had some curry in a restaurant that looked like someone's apartment, and it was a great curry. Did some clothes shopping, got some Japanese cakes as dessert, visited Amerika-mura for a pinball arcade. Then took the train to Nara in the evening. | This day was great, until we realized we lost one passport when we arrived in Nara… |
| 6 / May 7 | Nara | Plan a day hike (Mt. Yoshino?) | Took the train back to Osaka in the morning to retrace steps, filed a police report, and found the passport in the shopping mall, luckily… Had okonomiyaki for lunch and went back to Nara to hike up the deer park. Visited Todaiji temple, unfortunately, no time for other temples as they all close at 5 pm, just visited the gardens of shrines nearby. Hiked up to Mt. Wakakusa and interacted with deer on the way. Unagi restaurant for dinner. | This day did not start off great, as we both thought our trip was ruined at this point, and we would need to be in the Osaka area for many days due to temporary pass applications, etc. But once we had the passport again, it turned out to be one of the best afternoons we had in the whole trip. Deer were cute, as long as you had no food with you. Todaiji was a massive temple, nothing like it elsewhere. Mt Wakakusa was an easily doable hike with a great view, would definitely recommend. |
| 7 / May 8 | Nara- train to Kyoto | If not enough time earlier Nara Park in the morning before the train. Nishiki market. Maybe get an evening guided tour. | Visited the famous mochi place in Nara, then took the train to Kyoto from Kintetsu Nara station. Hotel check-in near Kyoto Station. Visited Higashi Hongan-ji Temple and the Imperial Palace. Tempura rice bowl for an early dinner. Went to the hotel early to do some laundry and rest. | Mochi place was a disappointment, could not watch anything because the shop is so small, and the taste of the mochi is mediocre. Try the nearby shop Daibutsu Ichigo, much better in taste! – The size of the imperial palace gardens was crazy… There is an audio guide app for imperial palaces (which we didn't know until here), highly recommended, beautiful gardens in the palace, and the palace was free. |
| 8 / May 9 | Kyoto | Kiyomizu-dera, Gion & surroundings | Guided tour of Gion, Higashiyama, Yasaka Shrine, Chion-in Temple. Small lunch and coffee break, Yasaka Pagoda, Ninnenzaka, Sannenzaka, Kiyomizu-dera. Bus to Ginkaku-ji (silver pavilion) for the last admission time, hike to Mt. Daimonji for sunset. Ichiran ramen, Donki shopping late evening. | Our tour guide was amazing, learned a lot about the historical culture, the religions, and locals' points of view, plus some Geisha information. Walking around Ninnenzaka to Kiyomizu-dera was great. Don't miss out the cheap soft serve ice cream spot right next to Yasaka Pagoda. Kiyomizu-dera was a big highlight. We walked to the Seikan-ji Temple, and there is a small bamboo forest on the way. – Ichiran was pretty nice, but had a huge queue that is not visible from outside and not worth the queue in my opinion. |
| 9 / May 10 | Kyoto | Fushimi Inari, tea ceremony (maybe with kimono? is kimono worth it if you don't do a photoshoot?) | Booked a tea ceremony with a kimono in the morning, then headed to Nijo-jo Castle. We took the bus to Kinkaku-ji (Golden Pavilion), and caught the last admission time again. Then we split for a while, my partner went to the gym, I went to the patisserie court of Daimaru, and shopped for matcha snacks and hojicha from Ippodo. We met up for a night walk to Fushimi Inari, went until the viewpoint and not until the top, then went to an izakaya near the hotel. | I was slightly worried that my partner may not enjoy the tea ceremony, as you sit on the floor and dress up, but we both had a lot of fun! It was pretty funny to dress up. You can also keep the rental for the day, but we didn't, as we planned a busy day. Tried an egg sandwich in Songbird coffee near Nijo-jo, delicious! Daimaru shops were so cheap and great for dessert tasting! Fushimi Inari was beautiful at night and still had a lot of people going up even though it was 8-9 pm. |
| 10 / May 11 | Kyoto-Shinkansen to Hakone | Send big luggage to the last hotel in Tokyo. Stay at a Ryokan close to Gora/Yumoto/Sengokuhara (see question below). Visit Owakudani if arrived early enough. | Shipped luggage to Tokyo. Shinkansen at 10.30 to Odawara. Arrived at Hakone Open Air Museum around 2 pm, stayed until closing time and checked in to our Ryokan at 5.30 as the dinner was at 6 pm. Relaxing in onsen in the evening. | The open-air museum was amazing! We stayed near Gora station, with a public onsen and tatami mat + futon bed. They converted one open-air bath to private in the evening, which we booked, and it was great! It was a very interesting experience and quite relaxing. |
| 11 / May 12 | Hakone | Day hike to Mount Ashi? or Old Tokaido road checkpoint? Maybe just walk around Lake Ashi? | Started the day with the loop around 10 am, Owakudani as first stop, we read about hikes at the Hakone Geo Museum (100yen entrance fee only), thought we could go to Mt. Komagatake and take the pirate ship back, but unfortunately everything closes at 4.30 including the cable car… So we took the cable car to the top of the mountain, then my partner hiked down, I took the ropeway back and we decided to meet at Togendai at 4.30. The last pirate ship that can catch the cable ropeway was at 15.55, and I caught it, but he had to take a bus to Gora… The ryokan had a very nice dinner again and onsen. | We didn't book the Freepass, and this is our biggest regret; everything about transportation is overpriced in Hakone. 1000 yen for just the one-way ropeway… 5000 yen for the return trip with the pirate ship. We were a bit annoyed at our mistake of not buying the Freepass. – The walk from Togendai to Hakone-en was really good and quite empty. Mt. Komagatake would be even more amazing if the weather were sunny. – Unfortunately, the weather was cloudy, so Fuji was shy this day, so we didn't see it from the top of the mountain. – Huge queue in front of the Tori gate at the water, just skipped it. Motohakone was also just meh. We had no time to go see the checkpoint. |
| 12 / May 13 | Hakone-Tokyo | Check out of the Ryokan and head back to Tokyo. Stay at a capsule hotel for the experience. | We decided to go to Kamakura on the way to Tokyo. Visited Kotoku-in and Hase-dera. Got a matcha latte from an Instagram spot, visited Eisho-ji temple, and then returned back to Tokyo. Wanted to try conveyor belt sushi, but the Sushiro branch was closed for that day for renovation, ended up at the udon chain Marugame Seimen. Team Labs Planets in the evening. | Hase-dera ended up being my favorite temple, and the hydrangeas were not even in season yet. Eisho-ji had no tourists and an empty bamboo forest that was beautiful. We booked Teamlab Planets only when we arrived in Tokyo and we're glad we did, as it was really fun, especially the "water" and moss garden part was our favorite. |
| 13 / May 14 | Tokyo | Meiji Shrine-Shinjuku-Shibuya-Harajuku + some shopping | Yushukan Museum & Yasukuni Shrine. Tokyo Skytree in the evening and one last sushi+unagi dinner as our favorites. Visited Tokyo Tower as it was close to our hotel. | I had a bad sleep in the capsule hotel, so not much done this day. Skytree was pretty impressive. We didn't manage to go to Asakusa or Sensoji. If you like war history, the Yushukan museum was pretty good at explaining the wars of Japan, the perspective was a bit nationalistic, with a high focus on battles and little to no focus on the atomic bomb. |
| 14 / May 15 | Tokyo | Last shopping & food, head to the airport after lunch & depart. | As planned. | Bought a couple more last-minute things from the nearby pharmacy, had a chicken ramen near the hotel and then headed to the airport. |
TLDR: Visited Tokyo, Osaka, Nara, Kyoto, Hakone for 14 days. Food was great, don't get scammed at Hakone transportation, and plan beforehand. Onsen Ryokan was great, stay 2 nights if you can. If I could, I would have added 2 more days, 1 for Kyoto and 1 for Tokyo. Beware of jet lag while planning. Things close early all over; be aware of it while you plan.
by baykusumsu