Day 6: We arrived in Kyoto and stayed at the New Miyako Hotel.
Day 7: We did a morning tour. Which included #nijo Castle, #golden Pavillion (Kinkakuji Temple), and the #kyoto Imperial Palace. When you get off the train in the Kyoto station, we highly recommend #551horai the sell Crispy pork buns with a soft interior. These haunt our dreams.
In the afternoon, we decided to go to #fushimi Inari Shrine on our own. This was pretty crowded so we didn't walk through the entire gates but we got some food and some gifts in nearby vendors.
Then we did an evening tour which covers Japanese traditional performances, including #japanese traditional dance, Noh, Kyogen, Bunraku, koto, tea ceremony, and Japanese traditional flower arrangement. Then you take a stroll around the Gion Historical Preservation District while heading to the Yoshi-ima Ryokan from Gion Corner. Then we had a private evening tea ceremony under candle light at Yoshi-ima Ryokan's tea ceremony room Kurenaitei. Dinner was served in Zen-style. This evening tour is highly recommended.
Day 8: In the morning we went to the #nishikimarket This has some incredible shops and we got to enjoy the #hedgehogcafe
In the afternoon, we did a trip to #nara Where you can explore temples and feed some deer.
We wish we could've spent some more time here as clearly there is a lot to do and see. This was both my husbands and mine favorite city in our trip.
@monique241 - We live in Canada so for us it cost about 8.5K - 9K for both of us. This included; the hotels, the Japan Rail pass, the varying tours and Disney pass tickets. We had booked through a travel agent just to ensure that the hotels and tours were through reputable companies and good locations. Most of our hotels were a block or two from a train station so there is definitely room to find more affordable hotels not as close to train stations. Hope that helps!
Do you mind if I ask if your trip cost a lot of money? Would love to travel Japan.
@rubyflynn92 - I think we had a good amount of time for our first time round. I think we could've used an extra few days to really get to check out Kyoto and Itsukushima as we got to see the basics but definitely could do a bunch more! One thing we didn't realize is that we hit Disney Sea over the Graduation Week so a bunch of kids were going there to celebrate. It was crazy busy comparative to the other parks. However, Disney Sea has some rides and attractions that can only be found there (including food) so it was worth going to experience that. Just make sure that you get fast passes as much as possible to enjoy your experience!
What did you think of Disney Sea? Tokyo Disneyland is on my bucket list! Do you think the time you spent in Japan was enough or would you recommend more? I work as cabin crew so the only time I've spent in Japan is a short two-day layover in Tokyo, would love to dedicate time to explore the city and country properly.