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Japan Itinerary: Family Friendly

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Since there was so many people asking for our Japan itinerary, and I’m still running high from the trip (hope we can go back one day), here it is.

Not only will I share our ten day Japan itinerary that’s family and kid friendly (we have a 9 year old and almost three year old), but also pro tips and my mistakes so you don’t have to make them too and hopefully have a smoother trip there with your family.

How I Researched and Prepped for my Japan Itinerary

Here are two main resources I looked into:

      • Kensho Quest YouTube channel: their videos and tips were so helpful and practical for families. They answered all my questions and helped made our trip much smoother

    japan itinerary families

    Things to Do Before you Arrive in Japan

    Here’s what I did to make our trip much smoother.

        • Reserve your pocket wifi so you can pick it up right when you arrive. We used Japan Wireless. This was all we needed since we were always together, we didn’t get a sim card.

        • Download these apps: (Kensho Quest did a helpful video on this)
              • Shinkansen smartEx

              • GO (their uber)

              • Currency exchange (so you can know the prices right away)

        Mistakes I Made

        I wish I booked a flight to Haneda Airport so we didn’t have to take an hour traveling into Tokyo.

        Also I wished I knew to book a flight out of Osaka instead of spending our last day traveling back to Narita.

        There’s an express train you can buy tickets for from Kyoto to Nara. We didn’t ride the express which would only take 30 minutes.

        Instead suffered through a longer train ride where no one would give up their seats so I was holding our two year old standing up for half the ride.

        Rookie mistakes I won’t be making again.

        Thoughts on Our Hotels & Airbnbs

        Tokyo

        Our hotel in Tokyo was a bit far from attractions other than Asakusa area. But I actually enjoyed not having to take the JR everywhere or be in busier subway stations.

        Our station had an elevator and was always really chill since it was where the locals lived.

        Kawaguchiko/Mt. Fuji

        The highlight of our trip was our airbnb in Kawaguchiko.

        It was so spacious and the view was stunning. Waking up to Mount Fuji every morning during our stay was such a treat.

        Plus everyone had their own rooms for a change and we all slept so well here.

        The place had heating and cooling which I would imagine most places have in that area since it does get pretty cold up there.

        Kyoto

        In Kyoto, I wished I just stuck with one hotel instead of doing two different ones.

        I wanted to stay at a bigger one and nicer one first but the airbnb turned out to be not so quite kid friendly.

        It wasn’t a big deal but height of the stairs and some of the decor made me nervous. I love the tub at this airbnb though. So nice to soak in.

        I was pleasantly surprised by our budget friendly hotel in Kyoto, Giappo Franca.

        The staff were really nice and we got a pretty large room with a loft for the kids and a lounge area in between our bed and the kids loft.

        By the way with kimono rental, get there when they open so you can have more to choose from. If you go later in the day it will be picked over. You can basically rent until the place closes at 5:30pm.

        Each person was 5,500 yen and hair was an additional 1,000 yen per person, same with makeup.

        Our 10-Day Family Friendly Japan Itinerary

        Click here to download a pdf of our itinerary with links to our hotels.

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