11 day First visit- 4 Families- Travel guide

Hi,

We are a group of 4 families coming on our first visit to Japan. This forum and the japan-guide provides you a ton of information for any visitor to explore the country. Thanks to the Japanese govt for providing this.

Entry city: Tokyo.

Our key interest are food, culture and Art. Visiting first week of July. Group includes kids ( Ages 4-11).
We would like to explore atleast 4 cities during our stay ( Tokyo-Kyoto-Osaka-Hiroshima). Is the weather going to be hard during this time ?

What areas are recommended to book a hotel in these places keeping in mind the amount of walk we take daily between Hotel-train station- tourism place ? Also, can you suggest the best places not to be missed here.

Appreciate all your help.

Thank you.

The short answer is to book near a train station. There is no real rocket science behind it. Before booking, just look at the hotels location and decide if it is suitable for you. Google maps etc.

Weather on July is hot. Maybe plan a day into a mountainous area to evade the heat for a day.

What are you doing in Osaka? It's 25 minutes from Kyoto. Do you need to actually spend nights there?

Weather will be hot and humid. Depending on where you are from you / some members of your group can find it close to unbearable. It�fs not so much the temperature (maybe around 30C) but the humidity that makes it hard.

For hotels, choose something close to a well connected train/subway station. In Tokyo I would probably go for something in Hamamatsucho/ Shinbashi or Ueno/ Yanaka area. But there are MANY other viable areas as well.
In Kyoto I�fd go for something close to a subway line and more to the Northern part of the city.

What specifically to visit, there are great suggestions on JG. So try to come up with a list and then people can provide input.

Hello, have a look at the suggested itineraries on this website : https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2400_tokyo_9.html (11 days).

How many people will there be in your group, exactly?

Regarding the weather, I personally found the heat and humidity terrible in July in Tokyo, and I believe it will be worse in Kyoto. Rainy days were a bit more bearable. If you have ever been to Singapore where it is hot all year round: summer in Japan is worse.

Now, 4 cities in 11 days leaves you with 2.5-3 days per city, which I think is a very ambitious plan for a large group with children. You did not mention the departure city, but if it is also Tokyo, I suggest:
- 2 nights in Tokyo
- 5 nights in Kyoto, with day trips to Hiroshima, Osaka, Nara
- 3 nights in Tokyo

Alternatively, if you arrive in Tokyo in the morning or early afternoon (roughly, before 3pm, so you can catch a train around 5pm):
- 5 nights in Kyoto (with day trips)
- 5 nights in Tokyo

Transportation (aka "should I buy a national JR pass?" (the answer is NO))
1) For the itineraries I suggested, the best option is to buy a round-trip ticket from Tokyo to Kyoto, and the Kansai Hiroshima train pass: https://www.westjr.co.jp/global/en/ticket/pass/kansai_hiroshima/ (17,000 yens)
2) If you skip Hiroshima, then the Kansai mini pass is a much cheaper option
https://www.westjr.co.jp/global/en/ticket/pass/kansaimini/ (3,000 yens)
3) And if you want to replace Hiroshima by Himeji and are willing to take slower (=non shinkansen) trains:
https://www.westjr.co.jp/global/en/ticket/pass/kansai/
4) get an IC card in Tokyo or Kyoto. In Kyoto you can get a special version that comes with discounts for foreign tourists (https://kansaionepass.com/en/about.html). Apart from that, the only difference is the design. I find the ICOCA cuter than the SUICA :)

Other tips:
- Buy your (e-)sim cards in advance, one per adult, so that you can split and stay in contact
- For Kyoto, forget about buses. Stay near Kyoto station (for day trips), or a metro station (for easier access to Kyoto's attractions). I have never been in your situation, but looking at the map, Tofukuji station looks like a good option. Maybe someone else might have a better suggestion.
- Were you planning to visit Miyajima? Miyajima + Hiroshima is doable from Kyoto, but it will be a long and tiring day. Maaaaybe book a night on Miyajima if you really want to see it (in which case you should book a round trip from Tokyo to Hiroshima instead, with a stop in Kyoto. That exact same train trip has been discussed here: https://www.japan-guide.com/forum/quereadisplay.html?0+179709)
- food: I love eel (unagi), it is a summer specialty, but some specialized restaurants will have a very, very, very long queue (outside, under the sun). Finding one in a department store should make the wait more bearable.

Japan-Guide is not provided by the Government, but is a personal website started and run by a guy called Stefan.

@JCT, not op but thanks for the info, I was trying to look on the website if it was somehow sponsored by the JNTO or something like that :)

(Correction to my previous post: not sponsored, subsidized)

Hi, if you come from a hot and humid country, then the cities will be fine. If you come from a more temperate place, the cities will be too hot unless you go way north.

For me (from Gold Coast, so pretty warm but not tropical) if I was going in July I would either be on the seaside (eg Kamakura and Enoshima) or in the mountains, eg Karuizawa, Kamikochi, Nikko.

It can cool down in July if you get rain, but it is mainly very hot, but as long as you can change tees a few times a day it is OK.

@Mellye - no problem. Just wanted to give Stefan the credit he is due. Japan Guide is a terrific resource with a huge amount of information. It doesn't cover everything. I do find the suggested schedules involve too many location changes.
For your trip, a few days in Tokyo at the start and then Hiroshima for two nights before three or four nights in Kyoto is a good option. If you wanted to detour through the alps, that is also possible, before ending back in Tokyo. Avoid the hotel change to Osaka unless there is a lot that you want to do there.
With your group involving kids, do focus on some kid friendly fun stuff as well like the Toei Kyoto Studio Park.

I think you are group of more than 10 persons including kids. For such a big group, it will be difficult not to lost each other. I recommend each family to have smartphone which can be used in Japan. Further you don�ft need to do the same course: For example in Kyoto, one group visits Toei Film Park while another group visits Ninnaji and Kinkakuji.

Osaka by itself is not so interesting, but Universal Studios, Dotonbori street and Umeda Sky building might be unique. If you want to visit these places at night, staying near these is not a bad idea. I am a former Osakan Japanese by the way.

As for hotels, you may better consider serviced apartments.There are some in Tokyo and Osaka and many in Kyoto. You can find them on hotel booking sites such as Booking.com.

Many thanks and appreciate each for their response. @Mellye @H @JapanCustomTours @LikeBike @frog1954. And thank you Stefan.

Our trip is scheduled as SFO-NRT-SFO.
Yes, our group includes 8 adults and kids. Its still an open schedule as now on what places to visit in the country. I agree with Mellye on if its worth getting a JR pass. For a family of 4, the pass averages $1100 USD.

If you are coming from San Francisco, the temperature/humidity levels will give you a shock. You will hopefully get used to it after a few days.

Friends of mine visited in August and thoroughly enjoyed their trip despite the heat. They did their must-see before 10am and after 4pm, went back to the hotel before lunch to have a quick shower, and left their schedule open in the afternoon.

Keep an eye out for the summer festivals! The small ones are not listed online but you might see posters/notices in the streets, or run into one by luck.
July 7th is Tanabata (in Tokyo at least), there should be pretty decorations in the streets, temples, etc: https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2283.html

This is just my 2 cents - but having less hotel changes makes a huge difference specifically if there are lots of people.

A option might be to have 2 major locations you stay at and then do day trips (probably Tokyo and Kyoto). I'd also have potential multiple trips in a day depending on interest. For example one trip (for smaller kids in Kyoto) might be the train museum and Toei Egomura. For the other trip - some of the olders might want to do temple hopping around Arashiyama.

A trip to Nara with the temples and deer has enough to keep everyone from young to old interested.