Tokyo planning--Nikko day trip

[Bruin Steve]

We arrive in Tokyo on a Saturday and stay five nights in Shinjuku prior to our back-to-back cruises embarking on Thursday.  Figuring Saturday is getting to the hotel, checking in, relaxation and acclimating ourselves to the time change, that leaves Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday...leaving Thursday for checking out and checking onto the ship.  Never been to Tokyo before.  I have heard itr's easy to get around...but, for orientation and simplification reasons, we always like to do an organized tour or two.   I've found a full day Tokyo tour for, likely, Sunday...and figure we can do something more unusual Monday, then leave Tuesday and Wednesday for "on our own".

 

Found a full day tour for Monday that leaves the city and heads to Nikko--

--Nikko Tosho-gu World Heritage Shrine

--Irohazaka Route

--Kegon Falls

--Lake Chuzenji --A volcanic lake at the foot of Mt. Futara.

 

Is this a reasonable use of one day of our four available?  Sites worth going to?

It's a bus tour, so a fairly large group...$117 pp including lunch.  Seems to be a break from the hustle and bustle of the big city on days 1, 3 and 4.

 

Or would it be better to go to Kamakura & Enoshima--

Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine, Daibutsukiritoshi/Great Buddha statue, Hase-dera Temple/eleven-headed statue of Kannon the Goddess of Mercy, Enoshima Island...Also a one day bus tour, $65 pp, lunch not included.

 

Any thoughts?  Thanks...

Edited August 5, 2023 by Bruin Steve

[RetiredandTravel]

Tokyo is very manageable.  Depending on how comfortable you feel you can easily do it on your own.  Japanese people are wonderful.  Not sure of your cruise or past experience but IMO Kyoto should be a prime focus.

 

 

[Bruin Steve]

1 hour ago, RetiredandTravel said:

Tokyo is very manageable.  Depending on how comfortable you feel you can easily do it on your own.  Japanese people are wonderful.  Not sure of your cruise or past experience but IMO Kyoto should be a prime focus.

I understand Tokyo is "manageable" on our own...We just like having a tour of some sort for orientation purposes in an unfamiliar city.  It also becames a method of efficiently organizing the day. The Tokyo tour is only one day of the five we will be there.  Doing a tour to Nikko would just be a way of having a guide to take us out of the city.

 

As to Kyoto being a focus, we will actually be visiting Kyoto for a considerable amount of time.  We are on two 12-night cruises and both itineraries have two-day stops in Osaka in order to visit Kyoto...as well as a stop in nearby Kobe).

Day 1, Thu, Mar 28, 2024  TOKYO (YOKOHAMA), JAPAN  Departs: 7:00PM
Day 2, Fri, Mar 29, 2024  MT FUJI (SHIMIZU), JAPAN   7:00AM to 3:00PM
Day 3, Sat, Mar 30, 2024  KYOTO (OSAKA), JAPAN  Arrival: 12:00PM
Day 4, Sun, Mar 31, 2024  KYOTO (OSAKA), JAPAN  Departs: 6:00PM
Day 5, Mon, Apr 1, 2024  KOCHI, JAPAN   7:00AM to 6:00PM
Day 6, Tue, Apr 2, 2024  AT SEA
Day 7, Wed, Apr 3, 2024  OKINAWA, JAPAN   7:00AM to 5:00PM
Day 8, Thu, Apr 4, 2024  ISHIGAKI, JAPAN   8:00AM to 4:00PM
Day 9, Fri, Apr 5, 2024  AT SEA
Day 10, Sat, Apr 6, 2024  JEJU ISLAND, SOUTH KOREA    8:00AM to 4:00PM
Day 11, Sun, Apr 7, 2024  KAGOSHIMA, JAPAN    10:00AM to 6:00PM  
Day 12, Mon, Apr 8, 2024  AT SEA
Day 13, Tue, Apr 9, 2024  TOKYO (YOKOHAMA), JAPAN   6:30AM to 7:00PM
Day 14, Wed, Apr 10, 2024  MT FUJI (SHIMIZU), JAPAN   7:00AM to 3:00PM
Day 15, Thu, Apr 11, 2024  KOBE, JAPAN   12:00PM to 5:00AM
Day 16, Fri, Apr 12, 2024  KYOTO (OSAKA), JAPAN  Arrival: 8:00AM
Day 17, Sat, Apr 13, 2024  KYOTO (OSAKA), JAPAN  Departs: 5:00PM
Day 18, Sun, Apr 14, 2024  KOCHI, JAPAN   7:00AM to 5:00PM
Day 19, Mon, Apr 15, 2024  AT SEA
Day 20, Tue, Apr 16, 2024  BUSAN, SOUTH KOREA   7:00AM to 4:00PM
Day 21, Wed, Apr 17, 2024  AT SEA
Day 22, Thu, Apr 18, 2024  HAKODATE, JAPAN   9:30AM to 8:00PM
Day 23, Fri, Apr 19, 2024  AOMORI, JAPAN   7:00AM to 5:00PM
Day 24, Sat, Apr 20, 2024  AT SEA
Day 25, Sun, Apr 21, 2024  TOKYO (YOKOHAMA), JAPAN  Arrival: 6:30AM