Japan Golden Route | Ultimate 7-Day Travel Plan (Not to Miss a Thing)

Japan Golden Route | Ultimate 7-Day Travel Plan (Not to Miss a Thing)

deciding idea of Japan can be a fun part but it can be also stressful There are lots of places to go like a big city scenai like Tokyo Osaka and also temples and sitting gardens in Kyoto and also nature factors of Japan like Mount Huji hot springs So you might come up with a who list of the places to go like a long receipt How do I put all of these in the itinary and it can take so much time of you to plan and also another issue coming is probably you’ve heard of that Japan has a over tourism and you might wonder if you should follow the golden path everyone takes or is it better to find a off the beaten path In this video I came up with a blueprint of my golden loot idea for seven days So I put all the major spot in this itinary so you don’t miss a thing but also have some of the beaten spot near the top spot and also I put importance on the easiness of handling luggage so you don’t have to walk around long distance with big suitcases without using delivery service or coin lockers As I travel myself in Japan a lot I focus on reducing a little stress that can affect big during the travel In case you really don’t have time to plan for Japan you can just follow it as it is because I put a sample hotels where you can get a ticket I put everything in this itinary and so that you can see in the written form I put in the website tooken.com I have usually don’t use much only this page is available So you don’t have to look around much but go back and see and maybe you can print out and change to your own way So let’s start from the day one So day one can be very different depends on what time you arrived at the airport But let’s say you arrive at Narita airport around 2:00 p.m and you can take the around 3:00 Narita Express to Tokyo city center When you arrive at the airport there are several things you can do If you don’t have the cash of Japanese yen you probably want to exchange here if you want to save time later in the city And another thing is you can secure the internet connection in Japan Usually there’s some public Wi-Fi in Japan but it’s always weak and not very secured So the best idea is have your own internet connection to your smartphone And one idea is to use your con carriers international plan and you can use get also eim and you can also consider pocket Wi-Fi And in case you make a reservation for pocket Wi-Fi you can receive at the airport or have it sent to your hotel And for this pocket Wi-Fi and travel eim I have the link in the description so you can check which is a good one for you And these are options And now it’s time to go to the city center And let’s say from night airport let’s take 314 night express Which train to take and where you get off in Tokyo is very different depends on where you stay in Tokyo And in this itinerary let’s stay at the Shimbashi’s Hotel Blossom as a sample I’ve stay in this hotel and it’s a really uh good middle class middle class hotel So to go there you need to get off at the Shimbashi station and it’s in a few minutes walk from station you arrive at this Rasam Hibia hotel and this day probably you’re very tired from the long travel and jet rock so let’s eat something really easy nearby as the hotel there’s a autoya under the sorted flesine hotel right in front of the hotel blossom and I put all of these map in the toky kenchan.com in case you use this in live Tokyo you can just open it and You can see where you are no GPS and where the store is So is a typical chain restaurant of Japanese food Really easy and good You don’t have to feel intimidated And usually you they have English menu and you can pay by credit card with 1,500 yen Usually you can get a good dinner Maybe this is too detailed and it’s not like you have to follow and follow this order Of course you can change as you like this day some people travel to other cities directly on this day but it’s I feel it’s a little bit risky in case airplane delays and also especially when you come to Tokyo for the first time probably you are overwhelmed by Tokyo and that is such a precious feeling when you see something really different that you haven’t seen kind of amazing how different things are and something really special moment a little by little fade away as you stay in Japan so to take advantage of that kind of fresh feeling I recommend to just walk out a little bit and explore the city called the convenience stores and enjoy the first night of Tokyo either and Shimba station or at the night airport I recommend to get the IC card in later in this itinary use IC card many times and probably you can get something like 3,000 or 5,000 yen which means 500 yen deposit So in case you get 3,000 yen 2,500 yen you can use And day two is a huru day of Tokyo This is the only huru day in Tokyo you have Let’s eat at the hotel breakfast at around 7:30 And this day I chose as a place to go fast in the morning Here you can enjoy see Toshogu temples kind of bent and shinik pond and Tokyo National Museum is also here and you can walk and go to the north towards the Yanaka quite residential area of Tokyo You can walk towards Yanaka Ginda Street and Nepoli station If this is too much walk you can go down to the other side to Okachimati side And this side is really different from the north side It will be very busy packed but it’s more vivid and for some travelers it might be a good idea for lunch If you have energy you can go to Tukiji There you can find a lunch place find some street food or the seafood If you are still full or you don’t are not the person eats lots of lunch you can can come back to Shimbashi and go back to the room and take a rest because you did enough walking in Reno Either you stay in the hotel or went to Tukiji at 2 p.m And let’s take Yurikam This is a elevated automated system train and it has a nice view of Tokyo So this is kind of the attraction of Tokyo and take you to DA and near DA you can see the beautiful view of the Tokyo Bay and Gandam statue If you are tired you can take a rest at this hood court right here on the Gandam statue On the first floor there are lots of Japanese food court like takoyaki l and here you have about 1 hour and at 3:10 there’s a ferry deing for asaka This is not landing frequently So it’s better either to make online reservation or when you arrive diver maybe go to the pier first and purchase ticket Probably better to make online reservation So now let’s take the Tokyo cruise to Asakusa And this will be one of the highlight of this day You can just sit relax and see the scenery of Tokyo And in about 1 hour you start to see Tokyo sky tree and you arrive at Asakusa And here let’s enjoy the Senoji Temple and famous Nakamissa Street Lots of souvenir shop and crown And later we go to Tokyo Sky Tree But in case you like to see the sunset or twilight time in winter time we might want to go to Tokyo Sky Tree first and come back to Asaka later But later when you come back the all the stores and sa shops are closed already After your dinner let’s go to the Tokyo Sky Tree And it’s only one session to Tokyo Skytree You can also walk to Tokyo Skytree by the bridge called Tokyo Mizumachi and along the canal It’s a nice street to walk along [Music] After that you can go to Oshiagi station which is connected to Tokyo Skyree and take Asaka line direct back to Shimbasi station And day three is a day to go to see the nature And this time I chose a Hakon So the popular way to go to Hakon is actually taking Odaku’s romanca from Shinjuku But this day let’s take Shinkasen to Odawara as we are closer to Tokyo station You can take the train to Hakimoto station and head towards to K Mountain Railway to Gora station and you can check in your luggage at the hotel and you can start your day in Hakon You might want to make sure to get Hakon Fury pass which is 5,000 from Odawara station and choosing the hotel in Hakon is difficult One idea I came up is a hotel indigo in Gora This one has a shuttle bus from Odawara station So you get off the shinkasen and you can take this 10:00 hotel shuttle bus So it takes about 40 minutes to the hotel in Gora and after that you can just head out to the side thing And another idea is staying at this gora kilo which is a traditional Japanese dukam and the review by Japanese people tends to be lower like it’s very old uh too too old but review from the tourists are really good from international travelers really good like so it mean it’s more real Japan experience the new experience with Japanese room so this is depends on your favor if you it’s too intimidating to stay at Can you can go to the hotel indigo There are many many hospins hotel and this Indigo hotel has a private onen in your room by the balcony and there are so many hotels that has a private bus by the balcony But many of them are just a hotel and not hot springs But this Indigo Hotel by intercontinental group has a hot springs in each room So this is a great benefit of the hotel So after you leave your luggage at the gor hotel let’s explore Hakon cable Hakon lope You can see the kind of bal with lot of volcano steam and in good weather as you can see Mount T from there You might want to make sure to go back to the hotel by 4:00 especially when you’re including two meals in the hotel If you have the different favor of the food maybe it’s better not to But if you are open to try Japanese food this will be the most important part of the Dukan experience So I think it’s good to have the dinner and breakfast included in your plan It’s day going to Kyoto finally So let’s breakfast at the hotel in the really nice beautiful area of the Hakon And now let’s go down to the Odawa station Odawa station they have the local shinkasen but every two hours Hikari which is a faster one stops so let’s take that in this one probably it’s better to make reservation for this you can make reservation on the smart ex site of jail central or kuk or Japan bullet train or those agency site too this is probably the most difficult decision to make the hotel decision of the where to stay in Kyoto near the kyoto session is really good to handling the luggage age and city center has more atmosphere and I usually stay in city center but this guide is I try to make it easy for anyone like first time to go to foreign country or seniors so this time I decide to do hotel graia right above the station once you arrive the station you can leave the luggage at the hotel and let’s take the nar line to in station it takes only 5 minutes from Kyoto station and ride In front of the inner station you see the red to gates continue to above the mountain and hushim inner it can be very busy If you are tired you can skip this inner part And after that let’s go to the Kandimar station and go to Gon station And this is a private railway And I put on this uh itinary on the website uh pen mark and this pen mark means you can use sika actually And so you should still have just a balance if you don’t use too much for the buying drink or at the home stores but you can charge anytime at any station You arrive Gon and finally probably you feel like you came to Kyoto because there’s a open view of the Kamongawa river and you see the old building along the rivers and it’s a beautiful beautiful places that you feel so much more and here let’s enjoy strolling around the area in winter it might be already dark but uh if you stay around Gon Yasaka shrine along Gon shakawa you might find a really nice hidden spot that is very aesthetic And for dinner you can have a nice kaiski cuisine of Kyoto And also you can get a more casual dining with like a takoyaki too We went like a kur in the near ponto was very fun This uh travel guide I update time to time when in case I go to the new store and also if you know any good stores please comment in the below Now day five this is a hudu days in Kyoto But there’s also option of going to Osaka In the morning of day five let’s go to Kyom Temple and Ki Temple or those areas is has a lot of traditional buildings and traditional looking streets and also the famous Pawa and it can be very busy in daytime Maybe you can go in the morning and you can have so much more better time there In this day in case you stay at the Hyoto station you can take the Kyoto’s city bus number 206 from the bus stop D in front of Kalasma exit And this one take you to goa From there you can walk up the hill and it takes about 15 minutes from Kyoto session to this goa and you can use suika If you have the hotel breakfast you can come back to the hotel after that But in case that sound a little bothering and there’s a famous Starbucks in Ninaka and they are opening from 8:00 a.m So you can grab some coffee and bread there too After that let’s explore this Higashiyama area which is a very beautiful part of Kyoto There’s a famous shrine at Chin Temple Hanjingu Nanzen Temple the little tsugi continue to the Gaku temple This will be a long walk from the morning So after lunch maybe you can go back to your hotel and take a rest Especially in midsummer your travel still continue and you might want to avoid to get too tired And when you have energy you can enjoy things or scenery so much more And after this either you relax in Kyoto and go to your favorite place places you like to see like Golden Pavilion And I also prepared a plan going to Osaka And Osaka is a definitely a great city but in this puran I don’t push it into the schedule but you are there and only 1 hour away from the Osaka So if you are curious about Osaka or if you like to see even for a few hours if you stay near the jail cyto station you can take J train to Osaka station it’s only like 30 minutes and from there you can take Osaka Metroids line to Namba where there’s a dom and famous liba cruise so that is if you are interested in eating takoyaki and seeing more vivid town of Osaka you can try this option usually lands almost close to the mid tonight As long as you don’t miss the last train you can come back to Kyoto Now it’s day six and one day before you leave Japan And still let’s see who of Kyoto And there are still one place that are very popular part of Kyoto but we haven’t seen yet And that is Arashyama From Kyoto station let’s check out and leave the luggage in the hotel and let’s head to the Saga Arashyama station by Sagano line If you take 816 K train you arrive Saga Arashyama 834 and you can take the first to train and this one do round trip come back to Sagarashimama station but you can get off at one station before the Tooko Arashyama So you can save a lot of walking to explore Arashyama Right there there’s a Joa C temple which is known for the autumn leaves but also beautiful for the fresh green leaves in early summer throughout the year It’s a beautiful temple to visit and you can have a nice view over Kyoto After that you can walk through the bamboo forest towards Tenduji and also you can walk through the Rashyama park and go to the observatory that you can overlook the Hosugawa river After going down to the river you will see toko bridge which is a symbol of Arashama It’s a walkable area so you can complete it in two hours and 30 minutes but it can be very busy So you might want to be careful not to miss the train go back to Kyoto In case you like to see other places I prepared the option to go to N to see Das Na is about 35 minutes away from Kyoto and you have about 3 hours and 30 minutes in this plan Now is also a walkable place and you can see enough before you go back to Tokyo and you can take 130 Shinkansen noi to Tokyo So you have the three train line of Shinkas in this trip from Tokyo to Odawa to Kyoto and Kyoto to Tokyo but only the first part of Kodama from Tokyo to Odawa is I chose non-resable seat to get on this train Let’s buy the lunch box This day I booked a hotel in Shinjuku near Shinjuku station the area you didn’t see in this itinary yet After you arrive at Tokyo station you can take J two line and go to Shinjuku station Today I have the century southern Tower in new near new south exit It’s about 3 to 5 minutes walk on pedestrian deck So you don’t have to worry about the car and it’s very easy walkable place So you can check in around 4:30 p.m And once you get to the room you can take a rest or you can start exploring the city because probably this day will be the last day to do shopping And next day many stores open at 11:00 a.m or so After you check out the hotel it’s probably it’s kind of difficult to open the suitcases In Shinjuku has a lots of store like a Doni Hotel Uniqlo flagship store the store department store like Isetan There are lots of places to purchase If you don’t have shopping to do you can go to Kabuko and you can see the famous God statue on the building You can see the Kabuk show Tokyo Tower And also you might not want to miss the Omo Yoko the little drinking alleys and the golden guy and Hanosine There’s the LGBT towns and there’s also Korean town Sinjuk is very dear by towns and you can enjoy the last time in Tokyo before you leave Japan next day And day seven is finally the day you leaving Japan I hope you enjoyed your trip by this time and in the morning maybe you can walk to Maj Shrine M shrine is walking distance from this century southern Tower It’s about 10 15 minutes walk and you can arrive the big forest of the Majingu shrine It’s really nice air there So I recommend you to go there before the breakfast time and go back to the hotel eat breakfast If you like to explore more of Shinjuku there are several choices You can go to the Tokyo Metropolo buildings observatory You can go to Shinjuku National Garden And if you don’t want to eat the breakfast at the hotel you can also stroll Harajuku or Monando area too And now it’s time to leave There’s a night expressing Shinjuku 1138 And this arrive night airport 1258 And in case you use Han airport there’s a direct bus from Shinjuk bus terminal right above the new south exit of Shinjuk station So this is all of the seven days itinary Thank you for watching Again this is a just a blueprint with my ideas you can arrange as you like depends on your budget favor and length of a trip This whole itinary if you like to see more in details or if you want to follow this itinary I put a link to my site tooken.com that page I I like to update as I find a new store or new things and again this site is still under construction and only that page is available right now So you don’t really have to look around but some page is available So thank you for watching If you have any ideas of good restaurant good hotels you stayed or better please let me know in the comments Have a great trip to Japan Have a great week until the next video

This is my idea of 7 Day Itinerary for Japan trip that follows Japan’s Golden Route.
Details: https://www.tokyokenchan.com/7-day-japans-golden-route-itinerary-tokyo-kyoto-and-beyond-for-the-first-timer/
The trip covers city scenery of Tokyo that you don’t see anywhere else in the world, showcasing old and new of the city. Also it covers nature in Hakone, where you see dynamic volcanic view near Mt.Fuji. You also enjoy ride of Japan’s Shinkansne, ferries in Tokyo, Hakone, Osaka, and scenic Torokko train in Kyoto, and automated movers like Yurikamome in Kyoto. It covers traditoinal scenery of Kyoto too. With this route, you see the top spots of Japan which is good for the first time visitrs, and also some quiet scenery that you can have your quiet time by yourself or with loved one.

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Thank you for watching. My name is Kengo. I create Japan travel guide videos from Tokyo that showcase Japanese culture, essential travel tips, and must-visit places—from top spots to hidden gems across Japan. Please subscribe for my weekly exploration to discover the charm of Japan.

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Chapters:
0:00 About this Itinerary
1:37 Day 1 Arrive in Tokyo
4:58 Day 2 Tokyo
8:08 Day 3 Hakone
10:39 Day 4 Kyoto
13:25 Day 5 Kyoto (Osaka option)
15:59 Day 6 Kyoto (Nara option)
19:38 Day 7 Tokyo

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