Advice on itinerary

[Chrysanthemum Tea]

One of the priorities is to enjoy the cherry blossom season. I know I might be a bit late to the full blossom dates, so I tried to fit as much Hanami into the first few days as possible. There are also somedays planned for shopping.

2 April Sunday Day 1 Tokyo

• Arrive at Narita at 9am
• Head to hotel in Ginza to deposit luggage
• I know that we will be quite tired from the redeye flight, so the first day is just going to be walking around Ginza
• In the evening, we hope to catch a Kabuki show at the Kabuki-za. I understand that we can buy tickets in advance on their website.

Are there any good spots around Ginza that we can catch some cherry blossom on the first day?

April 3 Monday Day 2 Tokyo

• Hanami at Shinjuku Gyoen in the morning
• Meiji Shrine
• Takeshita St and Omotesando
• End at Shibuya

April 4 Tuesday Day 3 Tokyo

• Ueno Park
• Lunch at Akihabara + some light window shopping
• Asakusa (Senso-ji)
• If time allows, take the Sumida water bus from Asakusa to Odaiba

April 5 Wednesday Day 4 Tokyo

• Tsukiji Outer Market
• Tokyo Tower
• Mori Tower Tokyo City View

This day currently feels quite light, appreciate again any good photo spots in the area

April 6 Thursday Day 5 Enoshima

• Check out of hotel
• Journey to Enoshima in the morning
• Spend the rest of the day exploring Kamakura (Kotoku-in) and Enoshima, and that train crossing spot in Slam Dunk
• Hotel in Enoshima

April 7 Friday Day 6 Gotemba

• Shopping day at Gotemba Premium Outlet
• Hotel back in Enoshima

April 8 Saturday Day 7 Kyoto

• Check out of Enoshima hotel
• Shinkansen to Kyoto
• Kyoto - Kiyomizu-dera

April 9 Sunday Day 8 Osaka

• Osaka day trip from Kyoto
• Slow walk from Shinsekai to Dotonbori

April 10 Monday Day 9 Kyoto

• Kinkaku-ji
• Philosopher's Path
• Fushima Inari Shrine

Thinking if we can rent some Kimono on this day since its quite light

April 11 Tuesday Day 10 Choice: Himeji or Hiroshima

I'm not sure if the Hiroshima plan is too ambitious, which is why I left Himeji as an option

• Hiroshima day trip from Kyoto
• Peace Park
• Miyajima using ferry from Peace Park

April 12 Wednesday Day 11 Tokyo

• Shinkansen back to Tokyo
• Light activity day: Antique shopping in either Nishi-Ogikubo and/or Shimokitazawa (or any other recommendations, particularly for vintage wares like boxes)

April 13 Thursday Day 12 Tokyo

• I plan to book a Klook day trip to Mt Fuji for cherry blossom viewing. Can't find too much info on the blossom period for that area, but I hope its not too late
• If Klook is sold out I will just plan to go Fujiyoshida myself

April 14 Friday Day 13 Tokyo

• I have no plans for this day yet, but I'm thinking of either more shopping or to go to an onsen/bathhouse somewhere
• Appreciate if there are any interesting neighbourhoods to explore as well!

April 15 Saturday Day 14 Departure

• Our flight from Narita is in the late afternoon, so I plan to spend the morning getting gifts/food products to bring back home

Is there anywhere along the way to Narita Airport that we can buy all of this? Like a large mall or supermarket?

 

[dilphinus]

Things are cheaper at the airport.

Narita is worth a day trip.

 

[Chrysanthemum Tea]

Things are cheaper at the airport.

Narita is worth a day trip.

you mean for branded stuff?

which part of Narita?

 

[rrr2015]

u may like to try shin-okudo? Tokyo's korea town

 

[evilerniex]

https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2011_where.html
for mt fuji, cherry blossom is around mid april for kawaguchiko and chureito pagoda

 

[Chrysanthemum Tea]

is the hiroshima + miyajima day trip from kyoto doable? or will be too tiring

 

[evilerniex]

is the hiroshima + miyajima day trip from kyoto doable? or will be too tiring

is doable, and many ppl do that.
but personally i prefer to stay a night or 2 at hiroshima. 1 day for hiroshima city, 1 day for miyajima. so that have time in miyajima to go up mt misen, and also got time to wait for low tide to walk to the torii date

 

[Hisashiburi]

2 days in Kyoto feels a bit short to me.
There are a lot to see in Kyoto esp if first time.
Lots of walking too
Maybe remove one day from Tokyo or skip the Hiroshima part and add 1 or 2 more days to Kyoto.

For the last day, can take your time and check out the shopping at Narita airport.
It might also be worth visiting Narita Town (Temple/shopping street/Gardens) and eat at their Unagi shops.
But might be a little tight schedule if u are coming from Tokyo

On the last 2 days, instead of Tokyo, maybe spend it in Hakone.
Hakone is very pretty and has very nice cherry blossoms
From Kyoto, go to Hakone(stay 1 or 2 nights in onsen ryokan), then to Narita
U can send luggage direct to the airport from Kyoto using luggage service and bring just daypacks to Hakone.

 

[Chrysanthemum Tea]

2 days in Kyoto feels a bit short to me.
There are a lot to see in Kyoto esp if first time.
Lots of walking too
Maybe remove one day from Tokyo or skip the Hiroshima part and add 1 or 2 more days to Kyoto.

For the last day, can take your time and check out the shopping at Narita airport.
It might also be worth visiting Narita Town (Temple/shopping street/Gardens) and eat at their Unagi shops.
But might be a little tight schedule if u are coming from Tokyo

On the last 2 days, instead of Tokyo, maybe spend it in Hakone.
Hakone is very pretty and has very nice cherry blossoms
From Kyoto, go to Hakone(stay 1 or 2 nights in onsen ryokan), then to Narita
U can send luggage direct to the airport from Kyoto using luggage service and bring just daypacks to Hakone.

where else do you recommend for Kyoto? I think the major site I left out is the bamboo forest

I thought about Hakone as well, but the time I'm going is super expensive to book a ryokan (and all the decent ones are fully booked already hahaha), maybe can make a day trip out of it

 

[Hisashiburi]

where else do you recommend for Kyoto? I think the major site I left out is the bamboo forest

I thought about Hakone as well, but the time I'm going is super expensive to book a ryokan (and all the decent ones are fully booked already hahaha), maybe can make a day trip out of it

Bamboo forest, Gion area w the temples n walking streets
Palace(?)
Nightscene in Kyoto Gion area is very nice.
Can see Maikos around too

 

[s7460597]

where else do you recommend for Kyoto? I think the major site I left out is the bamboo forest

I thought about Hakone as well, but the time I'm going is super expensive to book a ryokan (and all the decent ones are fully booked already hahaha), maybe can make a day trip out of it

Kiyomizudera?

 

[Chrysanthemum Tea]

Kiyomizudera?

have already included that on Day 7!

 

[chengwei]

where else do you recommend for Kyoto? I think the major site I left out is the bamboo forest

I thought about Hakone as well, but the time I'm going is super expensive to book a ryokan (and all the decent ones are fully booked already hahaha), maybe can make a day trip out of it

just chipping in.

if you are going to the bamboo forest, you could also add in the arashiyama monkey park (in the same area).

There's also this hyped/famous omurice restaurant (Kichi Kichi Omurice) in Kyoto that you might want to consider for your checklist. [disclaimer: never been there]
https://kichikichi.com/
Another checklist place would be nishiki market.

If you are keen for some art stuff, there's this non-verbal theatre show (GEAR) that you can check out.
I quite like it (watched it in 2015) and they are still around, so probably they are doing something right.
https://www.gear.ac/en/

 

[purpleberry]

Is it your first time to JP? If yes, it is too ambitious and I can imagine that you will be rushing here and there while getting confused at the same time.

Enoshima is not well-connected, especially if you want to visit Gotemba and Kyoto from there. Perhaps a better place is Yokohama with easy trips to Kamakura and Enoshima itself. If you intend to visit Fuji, you can include Gotemba also but its rather wasted to travel there just for shopping.

 

[Chrysanthemum Tea]

Is it your first time to JP? If yes, it is too ambitious and I can imagine that you will be rushing here and there while getting confused at the same time.

Enoshima is not well-connected, especially if you want to visit Gotemba and Kyoto from there. Perhaps a better place is Yokohama with easy trips to Kamakura and Enoshima itself. If you intend to visit Fuji, you can include Gotemba also but its rather wasted to travel there just for shopping.

ah maybe its not clear, we only staying in Enoshima for two nights, afterwards will move on and stay in Kyoto. The day trips to Osaka and Hiroshima will be from Kyoto as well.

My parents want to go shopping, and Gotemba seems to be the best place for it (its about the same time to go there from Enoshima than from Yokohama, I checked the Jorduan website).
I know its a bit of waste as well but at least can let them do all the shopping on one day then use the rest for sightseeing. Open to any other suggestion for a good shopping location like Gotemba

we have been to Japan before but that was ages ago and with a tour group, but thats also the reason why i left out places like Nara and Kawaguchiko since we went alr

 

[Chrysanthemum Tea]

is it possible to check if a hotel can send/receive luggage via Taqbin?

 

[Hisashiburi]

is it possible to check if a hotel can send/receive luggage via Taqbin?

Most major hotels can do that or using similar service.

Can call/email hotel n ask too.

Also have to take into account the delivery timeframe.
For us, it took 2 days for bags from Kyoto to Tokyo.

 

[Hisashiburi]

Enoshima to Gotemba seems a bit far.

Day 5, send bags from Tokyo to Kyoto hotel.

On day 7, after Gotemba shopping, instead of backtracking to Enoshima, maybe stay at a hotel near Mishima station where there is Shinkansen to Kyoto.

Mishima seems much closer to Gotemba than Enoshima.