Tokyo for ten days?

[PlumColouredBedding]

It'll be for ten days so a week without jetlag say. I'll be based in Asakusa and I'll do perhaps two or three day trips but stay based in the same hotel. This is for two reasons.

One - I'm just not brave or confident enough to travel and navigate my way around Japan on my own. I'll just feel stressed and worried the whole time that I'll get lost or something will go wrong or I'll miss a train or something. I don't want to spend the whole time panicking and clock watching!

Two - I'm in my 40s now and whilst I'm active I think I'd just get pissed off moving around too much and packing and unpacking. I don't feel the need to see the whole of Japan, just a couple of different places and embracing the culture for a bit is amazing for me. I'll most definitely be ready to come home after ten days.

It'll be in February so lower season, I'm not bothered about the weather I'll just be so excited to be in Japan. It's a British Airways package at £2,500.

Is this all a bit mad? Do I need to be braver here?

Anyone?

I would say 10 days in Tokyo even allowing for jet lag / recovery time is a lot. We did Tokyo, Kyoto and Hiroshima in 10 days, but it was a bit of a rush. I was worried about getting lost or trains being complicated, but actually it was very simple and they people we met were all very helpful and willing to give directions in English. Kyoto certainly worth a visit and very different to Tokyo.

Thanks! I've just started looking at Audley Travel and they seem quite good if I wanted to split the holiday into two destinations but sort of want my hand held when I'm there!

I spent a week in Tokyo a few years ago (granted, I was there for work, but that only took up a couple of evenings), and I loved it. I’m usually a very adventurous and fast-paced traveller, but I genuinely enjoyed taking each day easy.

There is so much to see in Tokyo, you will easily cover 5-6 days. Imperial palace, shopping, museums, you can do a walking tour (which is organised and quite hand-held!), even a food tour… Get yourself on Víator or getyourguide and find yourself some activities!

We took one or two day trips out of Tokyo, and that was lovely as well. I did a little hike and visited some temples. I know I was on my own but can’t actually remember if they were the same trip or not 😂

I think if you plan for one day jet lag recovery time, 5 days in Tokyo, and 2-3 day trips, that’s most of it gone. Leave a day or two empty and decide what you’d like to do most, once you’ve spent a few days there!

The food is amazing and the variety of shops blew my mind. I’m not a shopping person at all, but spent about 3 hours in the most incredible stationery shop I’ve ever seen!

Have you seen this website?

Tokyo | Kanto | Destinations | Travel Japan - Japan National Tourism Organization (Official Site)

We went to Japan and used a travel agent to book trains etc. it was v straightforward. We stayed near the station in Kyoto and Hiroshima and near Shibuya in Tokyo. Hotels near the station made the travel even more straightforward. We had 11 days and it didn’t feel rushed going to 3 cities. It’s an amazing country.

Not too much for tokyo at all! There is so much too do there and I expect you'd be making some day trips. Only suggestion I have for you is to move hotels halfway through. Asakusa is okay but not a very central location as a base. I would stay 5 nights here to explore the eastern side of tokyo then move over to shibuya or shinjuku for a different vibe.

We stayed in Tokyo for 15 days - we didn't want a whistle stop tour, we wanted a more in depth look at Tokyo.

We ran out of time 😁. I tbh if we'd stayed in Tokyo for a year, we'd still have run out of time.

We did a day trip to Nagano, which is lovely - the temple and shrines are amazing.
We did a day at Disney Sea - not really our thing at all, but the people watching was off the scale.
Otherwise we picked an area of Tokyo every day and explored it properly. Some of our days were:
Meiji Jingu and Harajuku
Akihabara
The Yurikamome line trip - excellent views
The Govt Municipal buildings for the amazing (free) views and Shinjuku Gyoen Gardens.
Ginza - again, for the people watching, stationery shops, Ginza 6 with it's rooftop garden and fantastic book shop.
The Imperial Palace and beautiful gardens.
You could spend a whole day mooching about Tokyo Central Station.
Collect eki stamps.
Yasukuni Jinja Shrine which was a bit of an eye opener.
Ueno Park for the food vendors, shrine, strolling and galleries and museums.
Sugamo - interesting local shops and cafes.
Yanaka cemetery - resting place of saints and shoguns.

I would go back to Tokyo in a heartbeat.

Ed - spelling

I spent two weeks there - gosh it was in 2016. We did a three centre trip. We visited Kyoto, Osaka and Tokyo. We did day trips to Nara, Fiji and a shrine that involved hiking up a mountain (they probably all do tbh). I was with BIL and SIL, they were not very experienced in independent travel so let me organize. We did not seem rushed. It was a shame that we did not have enough time to venture further. My daughter was there at the same time (we were meeting her for an event). She went off and did a month solo backpacking. She loved it. I knew that she would be
safe. Japanese people are so polite and also keen to help.

The three cities were all very different. I think it would have been a shame to have only visited Tokyo.

A warning - Tokyo is huge. The train system is crazy but don’t panic, you will get used to it.

You would have plenty to do - but plan ahead so you are making the most of districts. We stayed in Airbnbs and I spent hours on Trip Advisor making notes as I went along. Probably you would get more from Instagram and TikTok these days. I’m not sure. Japan is a country that you need to prepare. I’m pretty sure that we had a train pass that needed to be bought ahead (but I might be confusing it with Swiss rail pass).

The stamps !!! I found my little book of them the other day. I had forgotten what fun it was to get them.

I'm just not brave or confident enough to travel and navigate my way around Japan on my own

If you can navigate your way around Tokyo, the rest of Japan is a breeze!

But anyway, if you want to stay in Tokyo for ten days, do it. It's what I plan to do on my next trip, just stay in Tokyo, maybe in a couple of different areas as suggested above, explore more of the city and take a couple of day trips.

But make sure you keep up to date with emergency preparedness, there was an earthquake in Tokyo yesterday, although luckily not a big one.

You will have a ball. I was there last September and thought I’d be overwhelmed but it was all fine. ChatGPT was invaluable and the trains were easy to navigate. I recommend Inside Japan if you fancy going on a group led tour.. maybe do one of these to get your confidence

I think just tyo is a bit of a waste of such a long flight unless you're likely to go again..
It is amazing though.... We stayed in asakusa to start travelled a bit then stayed nr tyo station on way back.... The airport hotel at Haneda also has fab Onsen(we on early flight home so wanted less morning stress)

The trains are super easy so would do at least 1 other place .. probably Kyoto as didn't spend long there this time and was busy think Feb would be better..

Friends dod day trip to see Fuji that they sorted whilst there as waited for good weather day..

Or book organised tour exodus/intrepid very reliable if a bit non stop..

Its amazing place so just go!!

There’s plenty to do in and around Tokyo for 10 days.

I’ve travelled around Japan and it really is very easy and straightforward, but I can understand not feeling that confident to do so on a first time trip. Especially as a solo traveller.

The rest of Japan will still be there for your next trip. Asakusa is busy, but lovely. We stayed there on our last trip.

We’re kicking off our next stay in Japan (a long one) with 10 days in Tokyo and even as returnees, I know we won’t have time for everything that we might like to see and do.

Tokyo has several earthquakes a day, or did when I lived there, albeit most are unnoticeable. Even so, there are still a hundred or so a year that are noticeable by people and almost one a week that is a 4 or more. So if you are particularly nervous about such things Japan might not be the place to be! But, the whole place is designed for it and level 5 and above (the recent one was 5.9 I think) only happen every few years.

10 days is fine for Tokyo, though it’s a shame not to see more of the country given how good the train network is. There is certainly enough to fill the time many times over :)