Itinerary Check - Two weeks in Japan at the end of March (cherry blossom season!)

Some friends and I are traveling to Japan for two weeks at the end of March (cherry blossom season) and I’d love some help with our itinerary. Mostly, I’d like to nail down the days we’ll be in each city so that I can start booking hotels.

I know we still need to do a lot more planning for what exactly we want to do for our two days staying in Tokyo and our two days staying in Kyoto. In particular, we need to figure out how to group certain things together based on location from each other. Currently, what I have listed for the days in Tokyo (day 2 and day 3) and Kyoto (day 7 and day 9) are just potential options for us to explore. I’m not trying to cram everything in! We certainly want to take our time exploring too.

Sun March 15 - Day 1: Tokyo (arrive 3pm)

• Easy night; just grab dinner somewhere
• Question: What neighborhood to stay in? Suggestion: stay near a metro station for quick access to the rest of Tokyo.
• Popular neighborhood options: Shinjuku; Shibuya; Asakusa; Ueno; Akihabara; Ginza; Chiyoda; Shinagawa

Mon March 16 - Day 2: Tokyo (stay in city)

• Yanaka neighborhood?
• Akihabara Neighborhood “Electric Town”: Center for anime, manga, and videogame pop culture.
• TeamLab (buy tickets for Borderless or Planets): This is an immersive, digital art experience unlike anything else.
• Borderless or Planets?

Tues March 17 - Day 3: Tokyo (stay in city)

• Asakusa Neighborhood: One of the best districts to experience historical Tokyo.
• Sensoji Temple: One of the oldest and most popular Buddhist temples.
• Meiji Shrine
• Shinjuku Neighborhood ?
• Tokyo Metro Gov Office building: This has a free observation deck on each tower for great view of the city.

Wed March 18 - Day 4: Tokyo

• Day trip to Nikko (1.5-2 hours by train north of Tokyo): This is a Unesco World Heritage Site. Described as a small town tucked away among forest-covered mountains with several grand ancient Shinto shrines and temples.
• Toshogu Shrine: Japan’s most lavishly decorated shrine and the mausoleum of Tokugawa Ieyasu
• Nikko National Park offers scenic mountainous landscapes, lakes, waterfalls, hot springs, wild monkeys, and hiking trails
• Consider: weather may not be great in March

Thurs March 19 - Day 5: Tokyo > Ryokan near Mt. Fuji

• Travel to Fuji Five Lakes region
• Stay in Ryokan nearby for 1 night

Fri March 20 - Day 6: Mt. Fuji area > Kyoto

• Morning: explore Fuji Five Lakes region
• Travel to Kyoto in afternoon

Sat March 21 - Day 7: Kyoto

• Split the following activities among two days (Day 7 and Day 9 and potentially Day 11)
• Arishiyama & Sagano Area: Bridge; Tenryuji Temple; Bamboo Grove; Monkey Park; Sagano Scenic Railway (This is a 25 minute siteseeing rail. Potentailly combine with Hozuwaga River Cruise)
• Kinkakuji & Ginkakuji Area: Golden Pavilion (tea garden & temple halls); Silver Pavilion
• Kiyomizudera & Higashiyama Area: Wooden Stage; Iron Spear; Waterfall; numberous shops; Kodaiji Temple; Yasaka Pagoda; Yasaka Shrine
• Maruyama Park: Popular destination for its countless cherry trees.
• Kyoto Ukiyo-e Museum: Permanent home of Hokusai’s Great Wave.
• Obubu Tea Farm Tour

Sun March 22 - Day 8: Kyoto

• Fushimi Inari Shrine: Thousands of bright red torii gates. Visit early in morning to skip crowds
• Day trip to Nara (about 1 hour and 15 min by train): Japanese temples, history, and countryside.
• Big Buddha: Nara’s most famous site.

Mon March 23 - Day 9: Kyoto

• Continue exploring Kyoto

Tues March 24 - Day 10: Kyoto

• Day trip to Himeji Castle (1 hour by bullet train): Japan’s best preserved and most beautiful remaining feudal castle.

Wed March 25 - Day 11: Kyoto > Osaka

• Another spillover day for exploring Kyoto if there’s anything else we didn’t get to on day 7 or day 9.
• Travel to Osaka in the afternoon.

Thurs March 26 - Day 12: Osaka

• Explore Osaka (obviously still need to do some research here)

Fri March 27 - Day 13: Osaka (leave 8am)

Notes/Questions:

• Our group had discussed potentially adding a 4th city and shaving some time off Tokyo and/or Kyoto. Perhaps stay 2 nights in a smaller, more traditional Japanese town. Some places we considered: Kanazawa, Hiroshima, Takayama. Thoughts?
• I wasn’t sure when or where we should do the Ryokan? I somewhat randomly picked doing it near Mt. Fuji in between Tokyo and Kyoto. I’m entirely open to suggestions here. Maybe we should do one closer to Kyoto? Perhaps in Hakone? I saw some people recommend there.

Thanks everyone for your help and recommendations!

Submitted November 19, 2019 at 04:44AM by MrBrightside1323 https://ift.tt/37huKo7