Itinerary help 15 nights first timers

Hi all,
We are couple in early 30s and planning to visit Japan for the first time at the end of Nov. We have made a plan of what we are going to do for most of the days, some days are still left unsure. Also, being first time visitors, I don't know if our current itinerary would be too aggressive? So, if anyone could share their tips or inputs, we would be very thankful =)

25 Nov: arrive at Kansai airport 12.25 pm - go straight to Kyoto (stay here 3 nights), will visit Kyoto Imperial Palace, Kiyomizu-dera.
26 Nov: Fushimi Inari, Philosopher's Walk, Ginkaku-ji, Gion
27 Nov: Arashiyama, Monkey park Iwatayama, Ryoanji Temple, Kinkaku-ji and Nijo Castle
28 Nov: Nishiki Market then to Osaka (stay here 5 nights), Osaka Castle, Umeda
29 Nov: Shinsaibashi market, USJ
30 Nov: Nara
1 Dec: Hiroshima and Miyajima
2 Dec: Himeji Castle and Kobe
3 Dec: go to Takayama (stay 2 nights)
4 Dec: morning market, old town
5 Dec: to Tokyo (stay 5 nights), Asakusa, Skytree, Shinjuku
6 Dec: Disneysea, then go to Harajuku, Shibuya at night
7 Dec: Hakone or Nikko?
8 Dec: Doraemon Museum, Studio Shibli Museum, Odaiba
9 Dec: Tsukiji market, Akihabara, and last minute shopping
10 Dec: depart 10 am from Haneda

Should we cut down one night at Takayama and add to Tokyo part? I am not sure if combining two museums on 8 Dec will be too hectic plus Odaiba. Should we split those into two days? I was even thinking maybe we should not attempt Hakone day trip and spend the day exploring Tokyo instead? What do you think? We welcome any advises of places we missed out or we should let go on this itinerary.

Many thanks in advance! xx

Just about every day is over done. Some are okay. You will not get everything done on your full on packed days. Start trimming now. Day 1 is the best place to start.

Unrealistic to arrive at noon. spend one hour through airport. spend one hours getting to kyoto. possible 30 minute more travel and check in. Then attempt to see to locations. one of which can take up to three hours if you walk the surrounding higashiyama area.

Thanks for your input hakata14 :)
Yeah I have feeling we had dumped too many places in one day and you just confirmed that.
Day 1: maybe I should the Kiyomizu off and just Tokyo Imperial Palace and maybe Gion area?
Day 2: Fushimi Inari, Ginkakuji
Day 3: Arashiyama, Monkey Park and Kiyomizu - too much still?
Day 4: Nishiki market then Osaka
Day 5: USJ
Day 6: Nara
Day 7: Hiroshima + Miyajima (it would be full on day I think)
Day 8: Himeji Castle then Kobe (or maybe take Himeji Castle off as well?)
Day 9: Takayama
Day 10: still undecided whether to stay in Takayama or move to Tokyo.
Day 11: Asakusa, Skytree, Shinjuku
Day 12: Disneysea, Shibuya (if we still have the energy)
Day 13: most likely be Hakone
Day 14: Doraemon museum and Odaiba
Day 15: Tsukiji market, Akihabara
Day 16: depart 10am

If we stay in Takayama 1 night only, then we could do Studio Ghibli in day 11 and move Asakusa and Skytree to Day 10. And add Shinjuku, Shibuya, Harajuku after Studio Ghibli.

What do you think? Is it still too much?

To be frank. It just looks like you moves locations to different days in an attempt to improve it. But some locations aren't even close to each other, just making the days the same long length with the increased transport times.

Just wondering if you have already got your Studio Ghibli tickets, they should've been ordered about 3 months before your scheduled visit date. If you haven't done that, then you probably won't have a chance of visiting it.

I think for day 1, it would more reasonable to explore the hotel area and nearby places if they're still open, or even visit the Gion at night. Perhaps consider a walking night tour there if you won't be that jet-lagged. Then do Fushimi and Kiyomizu-dera, the next day along with Philosopher's Walk and Ginkaku-ji if you still have much energy left.

27 Nov: Arashiyama, Monkey park Iwatayama, Ryoanji Temple, Kinkaku-ji and Nijo Castle
too much in one day... Arashiyama and the Monkey park can take a whole day on their own. It's a fair amount of walking too. I think if cut out the monkey park you can do Kinkaku-ji and perhaps Ryoanji too.

Universal Studios takes the whole day, and the queues are long so what time do you plan to be there? Is it important to visit the market before going there?

Same for Disney Sea which will take a whole day, factor the travel time from Disney Sea to Harajuku and Shibuya and see whether you will be up to it at the end of the day or not.

Himeji and Kobe on the same day...mmmm

I think you need to plan your day activities better, most days are jam-packed to the degree of exhaustion.

Yeah I keep forgetting how huge Kyoto is and all those places I have in my list are spread across :(
Day 1: Explore around airbnb (I was tempted to do Kiyomizu after check in because our airbnb is not too far from Kiyomizu and it opens til 9 - but probably better resting and preparing for next days)
Day 2: Fushimi Inari, Kiyomizu
Day 3: Arahiyama, Monkey Park (hopefully we can make it here) and Kinkakuji
Day 4: Kyoto imperial palace, Nijo castle, Nishiki market, then Osaka

I had always thought to go to USJ as early as possible, then few friends who went there multiple times suggested we should go there around 11. By then all the entrance queue would most likely be not too long. And we are getting the express pass too, so hopefully we will not waste too much time queuing for some of the popular rides. That's why we thought to squeeze in market in the morning before USJ, but who knows we might be sleeping in :P

Maybe we drop Himeji Castle and do full day Kobe instead.

Ah yes you are right, whole December dates are sold out for Studio Ghibli =( In that case, we could either stay two lazy days at Takayama (but really full 5 days in Tokyo) or one night at Takayama (but more flexible in Tokyo).

Well, I guess an important factor in deciding whether you stay a night or 2 in Takayama depends on what you want to there..do you just want to explore Takayama or also have a day trip to Shirakawa-go?
Another thing, are you satisfied that 5 days in Tokyo is enough for you to do most of what you want to do there including day trips to nearby places?

Also given that your trip is next month, have you sorted out your accomodation in each city yet?
You mentioned that your accommodation is sorted in Kyoto, what about Takayama and Tokyo?

Another advice, if your purpose of visiting Hakone is seeing Mt Fuji and enjoying the activities there, then keep your Tokyo schedule flexible and go there on a day with nice weather and a cloud count less than 20%. Otherwise you won't see Mt Fuji, and some of the attractions there maybe closed.

If I were you I'd put in the travel time on the days you are moving between hotels. For example: 1/2 day at Nara, three hours by train to Hiroshima for Day 6 (just guessing about the time). Then you can see how much actual sight-seeing time you have on that day.

To be fair, a lot depends on how you sightsee as well. Are you spending 2 hours at a temple? 1? 30 minutes? or 3 hours? There is no correct answer and different people will spend different amounts.
Personally, we spent less time at say Kinkakuji then we spent at Byoudoin. These all can make a difference on whether your plan might work or not though.

So for example you have Himeji and Kobe the same day. Well, whether that works depends on what you plan to do in both and when you plan to try to arrive in your first destination. I personally tend to be the sort of person who prefers to be up and out early in the morning and be in bed early. But I don't know how you like to travel and that can play a huge role. I could visit Himeji Castle and possibly Koko-en and Kobe in one day, but I'm also not overly into Kobe and just tend to go there for shopping. I could not do the castle, the garden and Mt. Shosha and Kobe, unless I was just going to Kobe for dinner.

I think Hiroshima and Miyajima as 1 day returning to Osaka/Kyoto is 1 very long and exhausting day. We took a 7:40 Hikari from Kyoto to Hirohima, caught a train to Miyajimaguchi within minutes of getting off the shinkansen and by the time we got back to Hiroshima Station it was 3ish. But again, it depends on what you count as visiting both and how you spend your time.

If you have express passes for USJ, yes it makes a huge difference, but they can sell out during busier times unless you can buy them in advance. When I was there on a "quiet" day, outside the kiddie rides most rides still had 1 hour+ lines by lunch time. We rode Jaws first thing in the morning and had no line, but by noon or 1 the line was over 1 hour. I personally didn't think the wait to get in was that bad. I want to say we were out there by 8:30 for a 9:00 opening?

I personally find DisneySea gets even more crowded than USJ and lines very quickly get very long.

I also agree with previous poster in terms of Takayama it partially depends on what you want to do there how much time you need there. It also depends on when you plan to arrive.

In terms of the Ghilbli musem... you will be paying a HUGE premium for the "tour" but if going is a super high priority for you and you don't mind paying much more than the cost of doing it on your own, you can book a tour via Japanican for December still.

http://www.japanican.com/en/tour/detail/F601/

December 8 is still available. But it depends on how important this is to you. I am 99% sure Japanican is a subsidiary of JTB, so they are reliable and you will get your tickets.

25NOV I would not plan anything on this day as there could be delays and you might be tired from the plane ride.
26NOV A little busy here. I would probably drop Ginkaku-ji if your planning to see Kinkaku-ji anyways.
27NOV Again pretty busy. You can spend half a day in Arashiyama. Probably will be able to do Arashiyama and Kinkaku-ji.
28NOV Doable.
29NOV USJ will be all day as the lines will be long.
30NOV Good!
01DEC Will be long day but it is doable
02DEC Going for Kobe Beef? This will be doable.
03DEC Nice relaxing time in Takayama
04DEC Nice relaxing time in Takayama. Suggest going to Shirakawa-go. https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e5950.html Recommend this tour. http://tour.j-hoppers.com/shirakawago_tour.html
05DEC Doable.
06DEC Disneysea will be all day as the lines will be long.
07DEC This is two different areas. If Mt Fuji, I recommend go early to Lake Kawaguchi
08DEC You need Ghibli tickets ahead of time, you can not get it on location.
09DEC Sounds good.
10DEC Come back again!

I would probably drop a few things or a few places so you don't rush too much.

Hope this helps!

Thank you so much posters for your advises.
Totally right, whether we can do as many activities in a day will depend on how long we plan to stay in one place. As at now, we both have no idea what sort of time we should allocate to each place. The original plan as I posted before, that was done using Inspirock trip planner and that was the time it allocated to each place on default.

Reading on people's travel blog, you can spend just short time at Ginkakuji, right?
Also, I was thinking if we go to Himeji Castle, we would just take pictures outside and not bother going inside the castle. That is why we planned to go there quickly before Kobe. But yes, I should weigh in the travelling time whether it will be worth doing so. Yes, the main reason to Kobe is for the famous Kobe beef =D

Now I am thinking of whether we should do Hakone day trip. Was thinking of getting the Hakone free pass and visit Lake Kawaguchi, but as previous poster said it really depends on the weather - maybe we should not buy the pass in advance. Should see how the weather is during the time we are in Tokyo. And hopefully we could get a glimpse of Mt Fuji on the shinkansen. Oh wait, is it even visible on the shinkansen from Takayama - Tokyo? At least, if we cannot make it to Hakone, we'll just do Nikko day trip then. Is Nikko trip the kind that you will need to spend a whole day?

Oh yes, accommodation is all sorted. In Osaka, we are staying close to Nippombashi; Takayama - 2 nights at ryokan; Tokyo - close to Akihabara. At this point, I am still considering to cancel 1 night at Takayama to spend extra night in Tokyo. My husband thinks we should stay 2 nights in Takayama and use it as a nice break. Shirakawago seems nice too and it is actually not too far from Takayama, maybe we should look into it.

Ok so we should go back to original plan to get to USJ early rather than later. And even earlier for Disneysea then?

I am sure we will be back again to Japan after this trip and maybe do the other places next trip. And hopefully then we'll have better idea of how to navigate/plan itinerary.

Depends on the route you take between Takayama and Tokyo. Technically, there are two options. You can go back the way you came, Takayama to Nagoya and then change there for the shinkansen to Tokyo. In that case, yes the tracks from Nagoya to Tokyo go right past Mt. Fuji. If you do Takayama to Toyama (much less frequent trains) and then in Toyama transfer to a shinkansen to Tokyo you probably won't see Mt. Fuji, though to be fair I have seen Mt. Fuji plenty of times from Tokyo itself. Heck, I saw Mt. Fuji as a pale outline from Tokyo at the end of June this past Summer. Other years and seasons I've gotten a very good view from Tokyo. One memorable trip, I saw a snow capped Mt. Fuji from the Yurikamome line with Tokyo in the background.

Okay, got it - will take the shinkansen from Nagoya then and hopefully can catch a glimpse of Mt Fuji on the way. Wow that's nice the snow-scapped Mt Fuji, it would be a dream for us to get that view. I was so looking forward to the Hakone trip, but hey what can you do if mother nature doesn't agree. Will see how everything plays out when in Tokyo =)

It is a dream. You need to be one an early shinkasen going past the mountain before 10-11am. Otherwise it is a one in three day chance to see it.

I have gone past it on the shinkansen 8 times. Never seen it once from the shinkansen. Clouds, clouds, more clouds. haha

I... just saw Fuji from the shinkansen around June 21, 2017 at 6 at night. I was honestly shocked. I never expected to see Mt. Fuji in June and so late in the day, but there it was. I... honestly don't know how many times I've gone past Mt. Fuji on the shinkansen because I honestly can't remember all the times I've been to Japan. I have seen Mt. Fuji many many many times from the shinkansen and a surprising number of times from Tokyo. I want to say it was '07 that was a particularly stunning year since I lost most of my pictures from '07. ~.~

I like Hakone. I love all the hydrangeas there and if I could fit it in my schedule I would definitely go back. However with 3 or 4 trips to Hakone, I've only seen Mt. Fuji once and as a faint barely visible outline from the Obake ropeway station. I've never had luck there. I've not really been interested in going to Kawaguchiko. Outside of an amusement park and climbing Mt. Fuji (which I am not ready for yet!) I don't really want to spend the time or energy trying to get there, just to maybe see Mt. Fuji.

Thats is what we did the first time to see Mt Fuji at Lake Kawaguchi side. We still had a plan for the Tokyo days but also left it open that we can swap days if we needed too. Which we did because our planned day to go to Mt Fuji was raining and then the next day was amazingly sunny! Do recommend leaving early and try and get there by 10am to get the best view. After that the clouds roll in and you might not get a clear Mt Fuji until later at night or none at all!

All four times I been to Mt Fuji was the Lake Kawaguchi side. Have never been to Hakone side before. BTW the Hakone Free Pass does not get you to Lake Kawaguchi. Although there is the local bus at Lake Kawaguchi, it is better to rent a car at Lake Kawaguchi, more flexible.

For Himeji, yes it is possible to do just the photos on the outside in the park. If you do this, then you only need 60-90 minutes in Himeji. Walk in Himeji and you will need 2-3 hours to enjoy it.

For Kobe Beef, it is cheaper at lunch time! There is good lunch sets however you should get there by 1000am or there will be a long wait. First time we showed up around 11am and had to wait till 1pm. We went to Steakland and order the highest grade. Yummy!

In general, you can do most temples and shrines within 60 minutes. Larger ones will need 90 minutes. Ghibli can be more than 2 hours. USJ and Disney is all day. Specific day trips outside the city to curtain areas like Mt Fuji is also all day. You can plan something like that but keep in mind about travel times to get to locations and then also be flexible. Be prepare to drop things from plans if you want to stay at some place longer or running behind schedule.

Hope this helps!!

Thanks a lot for your guides everyone, much appreciated!

We decided to do two nights at Takayama and do the Shirakawago. Then in Tokyo, if we could not make it to Hakone, we'll just do in next time (probably stay there one night or something). Fingers crossed we would be getting a glimpse of Mt Fuji, at least once =D

As for Kyoto, I trim out a lot of places (smaller shrines and temples), I guess we'll see how our energy level on the arrival day. If we are being super energetic (that's usually how it is on first day of travelling for us, but will see) then maybe we could do Kiyomizu. Otherwise, just an easy stroll around Kyoto station, Gion and airbnb area. And if we happen to explore some places faster than anticipated, maybe we could try to add in something nearby; or vice versa.
Just dug out all the Japan brochures and maps from travel expo months ago, that will be handy for sure =)

We are most likely to drop Studio Ghibli plan as well. Oh, by the way which restaurant did you refer to at Kobe that has a good lunch set?

I notice a few responses back you mention getting a Hakone pass and slipping over to Kawaguchiko for view of Mt Fuji.

I'm not sure what you current plans are. So sorry if this has already been addressed. But they aren't really that close. Depending on which bus or buses you use. They are 90 mins to 3 hrs apart.

They really cannot be done on the same day unless you omit lot of sights.

I did Hakone last week as a day trip from tokyo. Arrived at Odawara at 9am. Was struggling go get done by 5pm (for the express buses back to Odawara) at the Hakone Checkpoint side of the Lake. We did the loop described in the Hakone pages of this sight. If I was to do it again. I'd aim for a 8am arrival at Odawara.

Hi hakata14, thanks for checking again. Yes, my mistake - mixed up Lake Kawaguchiko and Lake Ashi! We are most likely dropping the Hakone day trip (depending on weather and time when we are in Tokyo). Probably do this in next trip, stay a night either in Hakone or Lake Kawaguchiko area and maybe have better chance of seeing Mt Fuji. Geez it really takes a whole long day, isn't it? Did you spend much time in each check point? I saw a youtube vlog, some people did that Hakone day trip then to Odaiba for dinner (they probably started super early and probably rushing, would you say so?)

Had about a 30 minutes walk around at Gora. Not much to see there though. Another 30 minutes a Owakudani. 30 minutes waiting for the boats at the bottom of the chairlifts, due to 45 minute between services. Around 90 minutes walking the checkpoint area.

The Owakudani area someone without kids could spent a lot more time there. There are shops and fancy restaurant that aren't really small child friendly. So we past through quicker than most would.

We didn't stop at the open air museum either, due to children. but the 30 minutes we wasted at Gora could be use for that instead.

And I;d add another 30 minutes to walk to the tori gates and temple the checkpoint side of the lake.