Help me with my Japan itinerary

[Anonymous]

Look into Nikko. This is a town high in the mountains two hours by train from Tokyo. We saw historical shrines and ate at a lakeside cafe, the scenery is glorious and very Japanese.
Don't skip onsen!! There is nothing like being up to your neck in steaming water while a light rain falls looking at trees and stars above you.

[Anonymous]

Ditto to Nara.
Would add Ghibli Museum
Asakusa Temple
Harajuku
Ride on Sumida River
Either Skytree or Tokyo Tower

Prefer Nara to Kyoto

Japan Rail is amazing. Be sure to buy your tix stateside.

Buen viaje

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Look into Nikko. This is a town high in the mountains two hours by train from Tokyo. We saw historical shrines and ate at a lakeside cafe, the scenery is glorious and very Japanese.
Don't skip onsen!! There is nothing like being up to your neck in steaming water while a light rain falls looking at trees and stars above you.

Was going to suggest Nikko too. Also Takayama with its old houses for a change of pace.

Also look at whether it is worth getting a Japan Rail pass. You have to buy before you arrive in Japan I believe.

[Anonymous]

Definitely recommend a Ryokan.

2-3 cities max for 10 days is good.

[Anonymous]

See a Giants game. I don’t even like baseball but it was the most memorable part of my trip. So much more fun than an American game.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Such a wonderful trip idea with your family. Your kids are going to love Japan!
Given your time limitation, I would personally stick with JUST Tokyo and Kyoto. You can't beat those cities and, IMO, given your itinerary, I can't imagine leaving Kyoto for day trips to Osaka or Nara (not worth it unless your staying in Japan for 14+ days!) If you must do Disney for the kids, I would do this Day 2. Leave precious time-adjusted days for pure Tokyo. This will be a wonderful introduction for your kids!

Stupid advice. If they already in Kyoto they should see Osaka and maybe even Kobe. Another beautiful city

[Anonymous]

Make sure you check out kabuki-Cho and go to a hosto bar

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One vote here for DisneySea, as it's unlike any other Disney park.

If you can splurge, stay in Hotel MiraCosta, which is inside the park. You'll save a lot of transit time.

As fellow Disney lovers who have been to Disney sea it is amazing, but we just stayed in Tokyo and took the train to and from. The train ride isn’t bad and we were there right at park open and stayed until park close. I think changing hotels is such a pain that it isn’t worth it for 1 night.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Definitely recommend a Ryokan.

2-3 cities max for 10 days is good.

I mean maybe if you can find a kid friendly one. We stayed in a great one that was highly recommended in the heart of Kyoto, but it was definitely a couples thing not for families. The food was amazing, but kids, even older kids, would have hated the whole thing.

[Anonymous]

Who does Disney when they visit Japan lol

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Such a wonderful trip idea with your family. Your kids are going to love Japan!
Given your time limitation, I would personally stick with JUST Tokyo and Kyoto. You can't beat those cities and, IMO, given your itinerary, I can't imagine leaving Kyoto for day trips to Osaka or Nara (not worth it unless your staying in Japan for 14+ days!) If you must do Disney for the kids, I would do this Day 2. Leave precious time-adjusted days for pure Tokyo. This will be a wonderful introduction for your kids!

Stupid advice. If they already in Kyoto they should see Osaka and maybe even Kobe. Another beautiful city

Well I think that your advice is actually stupid. lol.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Who does Disney when they visit Japan lol

Apparently Disney Sea is unique. Look, it's not my first choice, but sometimes you've gotta throw a bone to the kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The only things non-negotiable are the month of travel (August - yes I know, very hot) and amount of days spent there.

We are a family of five so moving from hotel to hotel is a pain too frequently will be a pain. We have 3 teen/tween boys who have never been to Asia. I really want to visit a traditional Ryokan with Onsen. I thought about going to Hakone for a Ryokan on our way to Kyoto but I am worried that is just too many moves for the five of us, but if someone tells me that the experience will be much better we could do that. Otherwise we are pretty open - I have one aquarium/zoo lover, one who is really into sports. We are not super into shopping - maybe this is a day too long in Tokyo?

We are looking at hiring a guide to take us to some places since we do not speak Japanese and we want to make sure to have a good experience.

Here is what I am thinking:

Day 1: arrival mid-day, go to Tokyo and go to bed!

Day 2: Explore Tokyo

Day 3: Explore Tokyo

Day 4: Explore Tokyo

Day 5: Go to Disney Sea (somewhat non-negotiable, the kids love Disney and this is our nod to our typical Disney vacation...should we stay overnight there or just stay in our Tokyo hotel TBD?)

Day 6: Bullet Train to Kyoto. Explore Kyoto in the afternoon and stay at a Ryokan

Day 7: Kyoto sightseeing, overnight at Ryokan again

Day 8: Day trip to Nara, overnight in Osaka

Day 9: Explore Osaka, to the aquarium, take late evening flight - we are meeting extended family at a resort so will have several days of R&R to recuperate from our Japan adventure!

As you can see I don't have specifics laid out as what to do in Tokyo or Kyoto, but I am interested if Japan experts think this is an overall good amount of time to spend in these places, if I should rethink our movements, spend less time in Tokyo?

Thank you for any input!

Are you planning to travel on your own or as part of a group?

Japan is not the easiest country to navigate if you don't know the language/ culture.

[Anonymous]

We went with our teenage boys (15 and 17) and had a blast. We arranged everything ourselves and found it perfectly manageable.

Ghibli Museum was awesome - tickets can be tough to get, so plan ahead
There is an impressive Anime museum in Tokyo if your kids are interested in that.

Like others suggested - spend less time in Tokyo and more time in Kyoto area. Nara is really lovely and there is much more to do in Kyoto. It would probably be hard to go to more than two areas in your time frame. Better to do day trips.

We also hiked part of the Kumano Kodo trail https://www.tb-kumano.jp/en/kumano-kodo/
and stayed in a ryokan along the way and it was totally worth it. The kids loved it and the dinner and breakfast were the best meals of the trip. Where we stayed, there were men and women onsens and then a small family onsen as well that opened out onto the mountains.

Have fun!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The only things non-negotiable are the month of travel (August - yes I know, very hot) and amount of days spent there.

We are a family of five so moving from hotel to hotel is a pain too frequently will be a pain. We have 3 teen/tween boys who have never been to Asia. I really want to visit a traditional Ryokan with Onsen. I thought about going to Hakone for a Ryokan on our way to Kyoto but I am worried that is just too many moves for the five of us, but if someone tells me that the experience will be much better we could do that. Otherwise we are pretty open - I have one aquarium/zoo lover, one who is really into sports. We are not super into shopping - maybe this is a day too long in Tokyo?

We are looking at hiring a guide to take us to some places since we do not speak Japanese and we want to make sure to have a good experience.

Here is what I am thinking:

Day 1: arrival mid-day, go to Tokyo and go to bed!

Day 2: Explore Tokyo

Day 3: Explore Tokyo

Day 4: Explore Tokyo

Day 5: Go to Disney Sea (somewhat non-negotiable, the kids love Disney and this is our nod to our typical Disney vacation...should we stay overnight there or just stay in our Tokyo hotel TBD?)

Day 6: Bullet Train to Kyoto. Explore Kyoto in the afternoon and stay at a Ryokan

Day 7: Kyoto sightseeing, overnight at Ryokan again

Day 8: Day trip to Nara, overnight in Osaka

Day 9: Explore Osaka, to the aquarium, take late evening flight - we are meeting extended family at a resort so will have several days of R&R to recuperate from our Japan adventure!

As you can see I don't have specifics laid out as what to do in Tokyo or Kyoto, but I am interested if Japan experts think this is an overall good amount of time to spend in these places, if I should rethink our movements, spend less time in Tokyo?

Thank you for any input!

Are you planning to travel on your own or as part of a group?

Japan is not the easiest country to navigate if you don't know the language/ culture.

For a trip like theirs (Tokyo and Kansai with shinkansen between, largely sticking to tourist destinations), they should be fine. There will be English or romanji almost everywhere (although the Tokyo subway is better at this than Kyoto: be warned), and if you're obviously foreign and start at a map long enough, someone will come up and offer to help you. Japan is very friendly to tourists.