This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.
The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/Oxiclean4me on 2024-06-09 15:06:54+00:00.
Hey all, This subreddit was an indispensable resource in my planning my trip, so I wanted to return the favor with highlights from my trip and general experiences/tips. I spent 14 days (+ 3 travel days from/to the states), with 3 friends that joined me for different parts of the trip. Here's my itinerary with highlights/comments:
Number of nights per city: Tokyo(3), Kyoto(3), Takamatsu(3), Beppu(2), Fukuoka(4)
Day 1 - Tokyo (9.24 miles walked)
- Stayed in Roppongi, which I really enjoyed- great location with fun side streets to wander down.
- Rainy day so I hit up museums nearby: Suntory art museum, which houses classic Japanese art/artifacts; and the Tokyo national art center, which was hosting this massive juried exposition of contemporary art. Made for a cool juxtaposition.
- Checked out some specialty stores in Shibuya.
- Harukor for lunch- a small hole in the wall restaurant serving indigenous cuisine with friendly owners.
- Afura for dinner- low-key ramen/dipping noodle spot.
Day 2 - Tokyo (12.11 miles)
- Walked around Meiji shrine and surrounding neighborhood
- Shinjuku to check out some specialty stores (Sekaido stationary store, etc).
- Walked around Shimokitazawa neighborhood- very cute, young neighborhood with vintage stores. I wasn't planning on doing any clothes shopping because I'm tall by Japanese-standards and clothes shopping isn't generally my idea of a fun time, but I stumbled across an amazing 70's vintage dress here that is probably my most treasured purchase from the trip.
- Had an amazing kaseiki dinner at Ise sueyoshi. 100% recommend. Was the most expensive meal of my life to date (to be fair, I'm not much of a foodie) but it was such a great experience. They are also unusually accommodating for dietary restrictions, so vegetarians/vegans/gluten intolerant folks take note!
Day 3 - Tokyo --> Kyoto (9.66 miles)
- Stored our luggage at Tokyo station before a day of sightseeing.
- Walked around Imperial Palace grounds, then Kagurazaka neighborhood (this was ok, some nice little shops but I think maybe I was expecting a bit more?). My friends hit up a wood block studio that was located in a neighborhood east of Kagurazaka, they found some really great prints here. Sorry, don't have the name of the store.
- Walked through Ginza before hopping on the bullet train. There was an elevated highline-esque walkway over by the Miyazaki clock that was nice, but I otherwise wasn't super into Ginza. A lot of European designer stores, if that's your thing.
- Took a silly amount of time to find our stored luggage (air tags were helpful!) and then find the bullet train section of Tokyo station. I had read warnings to give yourself plenty of time to find the train platform after purchasing the shinkansen ticket, but the ticket machines for our line were immediately adjacent to the platforms so we ended up spending 40 minutes sitting on the floor of the station waiting for our train...seriously there are like no benches in that station!
Day 4 - Kyoto (11.68 miles)
- Rented an older home in a fantastic location- small quiet neighborhood just north east of Shosei-en garden.
- This was probably my favorite day of the entire trip. Got an early start at Murin-an garden, then headed over to Nanzen-ji, Saisho-in, Okunoin temples. Okunoin temple was a rec that I found on here, it's kinda hidden behind the Nanzen-ji complex. A hilly path leading up to a waterfall with altars(?) along the way. There was this man with some sort of instrument made from a turtle shell who was playing at each altar. It was hella enchanting. Walked north on the Philosopher's path, stopping at Honenin temple and Higashiyama jisho-ji. I was really worried about crowds but for a mid-week morning/early afternoon there really wasn't that many people around, except for Higashiyama.
- Again on a reddit rec, we wandered through the woods to find Mo-an, this somewhat hidden cafe with amazing desserts. The experience of forging through a forest unsure where we were going (took a wrong turn and stumbled into the Yoshida shrine) and finding this tree-house like oasis was incredible. The matcha chiffon cake was delicious.
- In the evening we checked out an antique shop in Gion and walked Pontocho Alley after dinner. Honestly, the alley was too crowded to enjoy.
Day 5 - Kyoto (12.00 miles)
- Got up early and hiked up Fushimi inari taisha. I think we made it back down by like 9:30 am which helped avoid crowds.
- Near our rental was Shosei-en garden and a lovely matcha soft-serve ice cream cafe (Walden woods- they also sold great candles).
- In the afternoon we headed north to do some shopping: the Kyoto Handicraft Center and some small antique stores between there and the Kyoto Gyoen national garden. We were pretty exhausted at that point so we didn't venture very far, just walked along the southern edge.
- Went to a curry restaurant that was veg-friendly: Koisus curry and tempura.
- Taking a rec that I read on here, we waited until later in the night (~8:30ish?) to check out Sannenzaka and Ninenzaka neighborhoods. Very few people around that late so that was a success.
Day 6 - Kyoto --> Himeji --> Takamatsu (8.22 miles)
- Hopped on the bullet train to Takamatsu with a stop to tour Himeji castle. It's one of the few original castles still standing and considered one of Japan's best so it seemed foolish not to check it out. While we were there the city was having a parade/festival so that was fun to watch.
- We picked Takamatsu as our home base for touring the art islands. The ferry ride is shortest here (compared to Okayama) and the port is walkable from downtown. Many of the restaurants here turned us away with out dinner reservations (hard to tell if that was the actual policy or if they didn't want to serve 4 Americans?) but we had a great time watching the chef at the grill of this small izakaya, Kuishinbo.
Day 7 - Day trip to Naoshima island (9.71 miles)
Oh man, this island is jam packed with amazing art. We ran out of time to see everything, but with the aid of e-bikes we managed to check out the Art house project, Chichu art museum, Benesse museum. People who really want to see everything may want to budget 1.5-2 days for this island. This was also one of my favorite days of the trip. Really unique art work in a beautiful setting.
Day 8 - Day trip to Teshima island (12.07 miles).
If you are going on a Monday, beware: most of the museums on Naoshima are closed so everyone is hitting up Teshima.... our ferry got sold out while we were waiting in line, forcing us to take an alternative route by detouring to a different island first. By the time we got to Teshima, most of the e-bike rental stores were out of stock. Despite those hang-ups, we were able to see the Teshima art museum, Teshima Yoko House, and ride around part of the island. We were worried about the return ferry getting sold out so we staked out the office for like a solid hour before the ticket counter opened. Although we didn't have a full day, we felt pretty content with what we saw/what the island had to offer.
Day 9 - Takamatsu --> Beppu (5.91 miles*)
- Before hopping on the train to Kyushu, we checked out Ritsurin garden. They have lockers for luggage and an impressive giftshop.
- In Beppu, we stayed in a ryokan that had private onsen rentals which was nice for the naked-squeamish. Had dinner at an izakaya (Robata Jin) that was another reddit rec. Pro-tip: when we showed up, the hostess told us they were full but when I pushed about later availability ("atode?") she conferred and was like, we can sit in 30 minutes. So don't be afraid to ask instead of accepting defeat, haha.
*hey, we spent like 4.5 hours on trains that day
Day 10 - Day trip to the Kunisaki peninsula (6.96 miles)
- Rented a car to drive up to Kunisaki peninsula. Was a really unique experience driving through rural mountainous terrain, visiting ancient temples (Futagoji) and ruins (Kyu sento ji) and an amazing panoramic view from a cliffside temple (Itsutsuji Fudou). I had a couple other potential sites on my list, but we ran out of time/steam to check them out. Restaurants are a bit scarce up there so we packed snacks to tide us over.
- On the way back to Beppu we stopped and had a soak at an onsen in the middle of a bamboo grove (Yoyama no sato). There were like 6 or so different outdoor pools next to a waterfall/stream- such a cool experience.
- In the evening, took a walk along the beach front.
Day 11 - Beppu --> Fukuoka road trip (7.75 miles)
- Decided to hold onto the rental car and make the 2 hour drive across Kyushu to the last city of the trip, Fukuoka. Stopped in Hita to check out Onta pottery village- this community still produces their clay and fires their ceramics without electricity- was a cool experience watching that. There was maybe 10 studios all in close proximity of each other. I was really excited to get lunch at Ohara Chaya, but they were closed for the day, but there were plenty of other options in the area- we settled for a cute Italian pasta restaurant (Luciano?) run by a single guy. Also stopped at Ukiha inari shrine. We opted to drive to the top instead of doing the hike.
- Stayed in Tenjin neighborhood in Fukuoka- very vibrant nightlife/restaurant/shoppi...
Content cut off. Read original on https://old.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/comments/1dbvv69/mid_may_trip_report_2_weeks_in_tokyo_kyoto/