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Narita
Home » Japan » Japan - Week Itinerary » NaritaDay 1 – Arrive at the Narita Airport and venture to your hotel in Tokyo, which is about a two-hour trip. It will have been a long flight, so take some time to recuperate from your flight. Get settled in and get a feel for the city. Finish the day with a meal in a traditional restaurant. Try to stay up as late as you can to adjust to the new time zone.
Day 2 – Depending on how you handle the jet lag, you may be wide awake very early, so get up and head for Tsukiji Fish Market. After a breakfast of fresh sushi, take the Hibiya Line to Ueno, where you'll find the Tokyo National Museum, the world's finest repository of Japanese art and crafts.
From Ueno, take on the Ginza Line to visit Asakusa and its famous Nakamise Dori Lane with shops selling traditional products and visit the Sensoji Temple. Time permitting, stroll down Ginza's fashionable shopping district or head toward Harajuku with its inexpensive clothing boutiques and Oriental Bazaar. Spend the evening in Shinjuku, Roppongi, or another of Tokyo's famous nightlife areas; or attend a Kabuki play.
Day 3 – Take a 40-minute ride on the Shinkansen bullet train to Odawara or a 90-minute ride in a Odakyu Romance Car to Hakone Yumoto. Both of these locations are gateways to the wonderful Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park (if possible, leave your luggage at Odawara Station and travel overnight only with a small bag). Here you can travel through some of Japan's most scenic countryside via a circuitous route that includes a two-car tram, a cable car, ropeway, and a boat, while seeing such sights as a wonderful open-air sculptural museum and, if you're lucky, the elusive Mount Fuji. Spend the night in the Fujiya Hotel or in a Japanese inn.
Day 4 – Complete your trip through Hakone, return to Odawara, and transfer to the 3-hour Shinkansen bullet train to Kyoto. Finish the night with a stroll through Kyoto's central shopping area and a visit to the Museum of Kyoto, topped with a walk through the Gion geisha district and the Pontocho nightlife area. Spend the night in one of Kyoto's many traditional Japanese-style inns.
Day 5 – Start the day with a self-guided walk through eastern Kyoto. Make sure you see Sanjusangendo Hall, Kiyomizu Temple, and the garden of Heian Shrine. Follow this with shopping at the Kyoto Handicraft Center. If you’re visiting in the summer, spend the evening watching cormorant fishing in nearby Arashiyama.
Day 6 – Visit Kyoto's other main attractions – Nijo Castle, Kyoto Imperial Palace, Ryoanji Temple with its famous rock garden and the Golden Pavilion. Those with a rail pass, should consider taking the 1-hour Shinkansen bullet train from Kyoto to Himeji, where you can tour one of Japan's most beautiful feudal castle.
Day 7 – Depart Japan from Kansai International Airport.
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