DonVon

We are a young couple going to Japan for our honeymoon. We have booked our flight Landing Narita Airport July 28th at 3:10pm. Our return flight leaves Narita Airport August 12th 3:10pm. Please help us come up with an itinerary that includes at least Tokyo, Osaka, and Kyoto. I would love to see the monkey forest, temples, and also the nightlife including street food, clubs, and shopping. We want to see as much as Japan as possible during this trip. I hear this is a big time for festivals.

What type of boarding should we stay in? We are open to all forms. How early do you really need to book these places?

Thanks in advance for all your help!!

BigRuss

<<I would love to see the monkey forest, temples>>

Uh, Japan is loaded with temples. And shrines. Pick some. Figure out which ones are interesting. Seriously, you can get worn out with the number.

Assuming the monkey forest means the monkey park outside Nagano, that's a haul from Tokyo (1.5 hours by train, 20 by bus, then 30+ minute walk). There are plenty of other places to see the monkeys. They're actually not that interesting when you watch them.

<<and also the nightlife including street food, clubs, and shopping>>

Huh? Where?

You need to be more specific. Tokyo has 30M people in its metro area and nearly 13.5M in its city limits (which are 85% the size of New York - that's 60% more people in a smaller space) so there are a TON of areas with nightlife, clubs, shopping, etc.

The first thing you really need to do is go to www.japan-guide.com and look at everything that interests you. There may be no better resource for any country on the internet than the online Japan Guide. Then, go to timeout.com, which will cater well to your demographic. Fodors posters tend to be older than you by a good bit.

Stay in whatever type of boarding you like. What is your nightly budget? Bookings start about 6 months in advance but can fill quickly.

And you're not going to see that much of Japan if you only go to Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka (you don't need to do Osaka separately because it's thisclose to Kyoto - 25 minutes by a limited express train, 15 by shinkansen).

Lolazahra

Hello,

When I started planning our trip to Japan, all I knew was that we had to go to Tokyo as it was my daughter's birthday wish to eat at a specific restaurant and that we wanted to go to Kyoto. Japan Guide (www.japan-guide.com) helped me to choose Miyajima, which in turn helped me to choose Hiroshima. Japan Guide also helped me to pinpoint specific sights I wanted to see. You really do need to peruse it, buy a guidebook and read a bunch of trip reports. There are at least 4 or 5 people on this forum planning trips to Japan right now. Trip Advisor helped me to choose specific restaurants and very interesting solely Japanese experiences. Once you get a better idea of where you want to go and what you want to do, the forum members can better help you fine tune your plans.

In terms of hotels and where to stay, it really depends on your travel style and budget. Japan is filled with a multitude of different options. Japan Guide has a section on the different types of accommodations in Japan as well.

Good luck. Great honeymoon destination!

DonVon

Thanks Lolazahra! I'm heading to Japan-guide now to get a better idea what we want.

So far our budget per night for the room is $100 (preferably under).

We are looking to start in Shibuya.

kja

First and foremost, begin devouring japan-guide.com – it is, as others have mentioned, an excellent source of information on traveling in Japan. My only warning: It seriously underestimates how long it will take to visit sites in both Kyoto and Tokyo, at least IMO. Buy a guidebook or two, or consult some at your local library. Read trip reports on this board – and don’t neglect the trip planning threads, which provides tons of information about the “roads not chosen.”

If possible, consider leaving Narita for a destination OTHER THAN Tokyo upon arrival. You may be tired, but you’ll be tired under any scenario, and if you can push on to another destination, you’ll cut out one change of hotels. (You will, I assume, want to be in Tokyo at least the night before your departure flight.)

For lodging, consult booking.com Think about whether you want to include, as part of your experience of Japan, some of its relatively unusual lodging options – ryokan, a temple stay on Koya-san, capsule hotels….

And – just a friendly word of advice -- don’t thank just one poster when someone else has already given excellent advice. ;-)