What to do in Japan for 2 weeks?

Raymond Lin

Raymond Lin

Raymond Lin

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I plan to go to Japan this year, have enough holidays for a 2 week trip, BA has a sale on right now for £700 return but flying in and out of Tokyo only, as opposed to out of Osaka or Fukuoka which would make the exploring easier. It means if I were to leave Tokyo I have to go back again to get to flight back.

With that in mind, how should I break it up? I want to see more than Tokyo but also don't want to spend most of the time on the train.

I am thinking Tokyo for 5 days, to Kyoto for 3 days , Osaka for 3 days, then back to Tokyo for 1 day and then fly out.

Is that too rushed? I would be going from Saturday and leave 2 weeks Saturday.
 
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I can definitely recommend Kyoto and Osaka, 3 days each would be enough to see a fair bit of stuff.

I recommend picking up a Japan Rail Pass (https://www.japan-rail-pass.co.uk). It may seem a little expensive up front but it can cover your Shinkansen (bullet train) trips which are expensive on their own, as well as give your access to the Japan Rail lines in Tokyo and other cities.

The trains are pretty quick to be honest. We took may 5 or 6 trips and you don't feel like you're wasting time.
 
Kyoto and Osaka with three days each is a good amount of time. With Osaka you can go a bit further around the bay to Kobe too - that'd be a day in itself. Spend the other two around Osaka, and be sure to check out the Sky Building. Fantastic views when you get to the top!

Kyoto itself is worth at least two days, but don't be afraid of venturing just outside. There's the beautiful area of Arashiyama just outside (10-15 minutes on a train) which has bamboo forests and boat trips etc, and then go a little further afield to Nara - this is the national park with all the free-roaming deer that come up to you and bow for food.


EDIT: Obligatory check out a couple of my naff photos from these areas.
 
shiver said:
I can definitely recommend Kyoto and Osaka, 3 days each would be enough to see a fair bit of stuff.

I recommend picking up a Japan Rail Pass (https://www.japan-rail-pass.co.uk). It may seem a little expensive up front but it can cover your Shinkansen (bullet train) trips which are expensive on their own, as well as give your access to the Japan Rail lines in Tokyo and other cities.

The trains are pretty quick to be honest. We took may 5 or 6 trips and you don't feel like you're wasting time.
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Thanks, thinking about it, the flight would land early in the morning there, I could actually take the train straight to Kyoto first for 3 days, then Osaka and finish my time at Tokyo. Saving possibly having to stay at Tokyo for 1 night again just to get up and get the flight back.
 
Kyoto is awesome, I recommend calculating your costs for trains. It was cheaper for me to not get a rail pass.

I went Kyoto, Hiroshima and Tokyo in about two weeks. Loads to do in Kyoto.

Tokyo, well there is more than enough to do for a week! Get all the food, so much food.

Miyajima is worth visiting, if your in Hiroshima.

Raymond Lin said:
Thanks, thinking about it, the flight would land early in the morning there, I could actually take the train straight to Kyoto first for 3 days, then Osaka and finish my time at Tokyo. Saving possibly having to stay at Tokyo for 1 night again just got the flight back.
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It's worth taking a train, just for the train experience.

Also I recommend getting a data sim, wifi believe it or not is quite scarce.
 
Raymond Lin said:
Thanks, thinking about it, the flight would land early in the morning there, I could actually take the train straight to Kyoto first for 3 days, then Osaka and finish my time at Tokyo. Saving possibly having to stay at Tokyo for 1 night again just got the flight back.
Click to expand...

Yep, you might get away with just a 7 day rail pass then too.

If you like steak, head to Hafuu in Kyoto!
 
Begbie said:
Kyoto is awesome, I recommend calculating your costs for trains. It was cheaper for me to not get a rail pass.

I went Kyoto, Hiroshima and Tokyo in about two weeks. Loads to do in Kyoto.

Tokyo, well there is more than enough to do for a week! Get all the food, so much food.

Miyajima is worth visiting, if your in Hiroshima.



It's worth taking a train, just for the train experience.

Also I recommend getting a data sim, wifi believe it or not is quite scarce.
Click to expand...

Where would you get a data sim from? any local phone shops? I think my phone is unlocked.....
 
Raymond Lin said:
Where would you get a data sim from? any local phone shops? I think my phone is unlocked.....
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When I went, April-May this year, we managed without any data sims. Maybe just a throw-away email address for the odd wifi you need to sign up for (and a VPN service if you fancy being careful).

We got along ok by downloading areas of Google Maps offline. Oh and I recommend downloading Japanese language off line on the Google Translate app too, very handy for some OCR translation :)
 
Raymond Lin said:
There are no awful restaurants in Japan :p

I am happy eating food from 7-11 in the far east lol
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I honestly think this is true. I want to go back for food alone. TBF it was probably more useful for me because me and my friend would often split up to do our own thing. So it made meeting up a lot easier.
 
Begbie said:
Use this to calculate costs, I worked it out and it was so much cheaper to not use it.

I had a spreadsheet of rough costs, but I can't remember where it is now.

http://www.hyperdia.com/en/
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Just had a look, a single 1 way ticket from Tokyo to Kyoto is £60. Without looking in further, I would guess may be if I get a 7 day pass for £200 should work out same ish as buying separately.
 
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