How to plan your trip to Japan

Who knows when we will have the chance to visit a fantastic place like Japan again? This awareness pushed us to plan a clever itinerary, in order to see and experience lots of places, but also rest and enjoy our time in Japan. Let us inspire you to organize your trip!

TIME IT RIGHT
We started by choosing clever dates according to our work schedule. Luckily, with two national holidays close to each other, we got two weeks with only 7 days of leave! We chose October because we love the autumn foliage, and the blossom season in spring is more crowded and expensive.

FLYING CHOICES
We searched for flights on Skyscanner and for comfort we chose a return ticket from Tokyo. Perhaps another route could have been more clever, but we were in a rush to book before prices would increase. After flying cheap for many years, we realized that saving money was costing us in terms of energy and mood: waking up at 4am was not worth the price difference of a more convenient flight! Now that our jobs allow a little more comfort, we try to choose flights that will not drain our energies for the next couple of days.

LIKE A PUZZLE
Darek had already been to Japan, so he had some ideas on what he wanted to show me and what he was not interested in. So the three main cities were chosen: Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto.
Major research started in a variety of forms: YouTube, TripAdvisor, Instagram, Facebook groups, friends recommendations. I bought the Rough Guide to Japan as a source of trustworthy information. One by one, many attractions caught our attention, from shrines to onsens, restaurants, museums and parks.

A few of these became fixed points in the trip: Halloween in Tokyo obliged us to be there on October 31st; Universal Studios and Harry Potter world are less crowded on week days, which made us go to Osaka on a a Monday-Thursday period. Consequently, all pieces started to fall into place: Osaka, then Kyoto, then Tokyo.

We placed day trips or one-nighter cities according to geography: Kobe when in Osaka, Nara between Osaka and Kyoto, and Hakone between Kyoto and Tokyo. Our first stop was chosen both on geography and comfort: an onsen village to relax after the long journey, at a reasonable distance from Tokyo.

SAVING INFO
Everything we find is saved in YouTube’s history, in a shared OneNote notebook, and in Google maps. I screenshot pictures and Facebook posts - but I recently found out about Collections, the Instagram function to save pics you like or want to reference to later. Cool blog post? Food tips in a video? WhatsApp advice from a friend? Text and links saved in OneNote, locations starred on Google Maps.

Ultimately, what I aim to have is a Google Map with everything I am interested in, and a notebook with details about them, opening hours, tips and practical details. This way we can plan some highlights, but also follow our spontaneous exploration, and have alternative ideas if the weather changes.

READY TO GO!
Together with the itinerary, we booked accommodation in every city, alternating traditional ryokan, cheap guest houses, quirky capsule hotels, and the occasional hotel. We focused on the location, near public transport and in the centre, as our budget allows us to spend a bit more money instead of more time.
Here is our itinerary!
Day 0 - departure and night on the plane
Day 1 - arrival to Tokyo, train to Shibu
Day 2 - onsen and relax in Shibu
Day 3 - train to Osaka
Day 4 - Osaka sightseeing or Universal Studios
Day 5 - Universal Studios or sightseeing :)
Day 6 - Himeji castle and Kobe, night in Kobe
Day 7 - train to Nara, sightseeing, night in Nara
Day 8 - train to Kyoto
Day 9 - Kyoto
Day 10 - more Kyoto
Day 11 - train to Hakone, sightseeing, night in Hakone
Day 12 - train to Tokyo
Day 13 - Tokyo
Day 14 - full day in Tokyo, night close to the airport
Day 15 - early flight back home, night in our bed :)

How do you plan a long itinerary? How hard is it for you to choose what to see? We look forward to learning your techniques :)