5 nights - What two cities and how long?

Hello,

I will be traveling with 3 of my girls (all late 20s and early 30s) and will hit Japan after Korea. We will only be in Japan for 5 nights and need some recommendations on how long we should stay in Tokyo and perhaps another city. Everyone says Kyoto is a must!

Is it worth traveling to another city with only 5 nights?

If we stay 5 nights, is the JR 7 day pass worth it? We will be staying in Shinjuku near the subway station.

What are the top 5 best places to visit in Tokyo and Kyoto?

Any advice will be appreciated.

If it is only 5 nights. I would just go for one city, and day trip from that city. Tokyo or Osaka/Kyoto. Pick whichever appeals more to you.

When you say you will be staying in Shinjuku near the subway station, does it mean that you already booked the hotel for 5 nights in shinjuku? Do you plan to go to Kyoto in the morning and return at night? A day trip to Kyoto from Tokyo is impossible. you need to spend at least a night in Kyoto.

Anyway places i personally like to visit in Tokyo:
Asakusa/sensoji temple
Tsukiji fish market
Tokyo skytree
Shibuya/Harajuku/Shinjuku area (Including Meiji shrine)
Imperial palace east garden
Odaiba

And in Kyoto:
Kiyomizu dera
Kinkakuji
Fushimi Inari
Gion area

Thank you all for all your input!

Yes, we are staying in Shinjuku but if we decide to go to Kyoto, we would stay there one night. I guess 5 days should be spent in just Tokyo.

Thank you for the suggestions, I plan to follow it!

Definitely stay in Tokyo & do day trips. Kamakura/Yokohama & Nikko spring to mind. There is more than enough to see in Tokyo to fill a week. The Tokyo city guide on this site should give you enough to start from :)

A day trip to Kyoto from Tokyo is impossible. you need to spend at least a night in Kyoto.

Well, Kyoto is where a lot of Tokyo-ites go for day-trips, though, thanks to the Shinkansen.

Anyway, "Tokyo and Kyoto" is the typical route. You don't even bother to ask. But if you're looking for something slightly different, I can think of places like Kanazawa. Or why cities? You can visit places like Hakone to enjoy the countryside. Your girls are old enough. Let everybody list up, not city names, but their preferences such as "history" "mountain" "sea" and so on, and come back to the thread.

But if you do insist in cities, I definitely suggest Hiroshima and the A-bomb museums, because you can't find that anywhere else in the world except for Nagasaki. In fact, I hear that Hiroshima is the most popular site among foreign tourists in Japan.

It will depend on what airport OP flies into. I wouldn't recommend travelling all the way to Hiroshima if they fly into Tokyo - with only five days, that's way too much time spent travelling!

I love Hiroshima, but it's just too far away from Tokyo for a day trip/two-day trip in a five-day itinerary.

Greatly appreciate everyone's input!!!!

Im going to share all of these suggestions with my girls and hopefully we can decide on a set plan!

Does anyone know if we should purchase the JR pass for $277 when the only city we visit outside of tokyo is going to be Kyoto?

Does anyone know if we should purchase the JR pass for $277 when the only city we visit outside of tokyo is going to be Kyoto?

Not really, because the fare using Shinkansen non-reserved seat from Tokyo to Kyoto and back is 26,160 yen, while a 7-days Japan Rail Pass in yen is 29,110. So unless you use a lot of JR trains to move around elsewhere, it won't be worth it. By the way, the cheapest JR train fare is 140 yen which is for a one-way trip within 3 kilometers (which is like one subway ride).

But the 7-days Pass has been extremely popular, and a great bargain, among foreign tourists who do the very typical Tokyo-Kyoto-Hiroshima route. And while it is feasible to make a day trip between Tokyo and Hiroshima (hey, look how short Obama's stay was), the typical itinerary is to stay overnight in Kyoto and do a day-trip to Hiroshima from there.

Also, if you do decide to visit Kyoto, be sure you do your homework first. Many people, including locals, just go there just because everybody says you should, and end up not seeing the right places. Kyoto is a vast city, and the surroundings of the Shikansen station is not very romantic. Decide the area you wish to walk around, head straight there, and spend your precious time there. Don't waste your time on a subway.

Just to give you a thought :)

Thank you, Uco!!! This is all very helpful!

Japan-i-can or similar return shinkansen+hotel deals are around 24,000 yen.

It depends on whether you go to Shinjuku from narita airport (assuming you land in Narita and not Haneda) with Narita express which is covered by JR pass and vice versa or not. return trip with Narita express to Shinjuku station will cost you about JPY 6000. So if you add that to the return trip to Kyoto it will already exceed the price of 7 day JR pass.

Oh, that's true! Sorry about that. And you should definitely use the Narita Express if you're landing on Narita with a pass, because the other transportation is either about the same price or much cheaper but less convenient.