With three kids in tow, we had a fantastic trip to Japan, visiting both Tokyo and Kyoto. In this post, I’ll walk you through our day-by-dayJapan itinerary for a kid (and stroller) friendly adventure in Japan.
We recently traveled to Japan with our 5 year old, 3 year old, and 4 month old baby. This was our first time taking the kids to Asia and we had a great trip! We went at the end of March 2024 and were there for 8 days (9 days with travel). We found Japan to be extremely safe, the people were kind, and Tokyo and Kyoto were extremely clean. Some restaurants felt a little small for our family of 5 but they were always accommodating and we didn’t ever get turned away.
Today I am sharing our Kid-Friendly Japan Itinerary if you and your family are planning a trip to Japan!
Where We Stayed in Tokyo and Kyoto
Tokyo:
In Tokyo we stayed in Taito City at the Mimaru Ueno East Hotel. We loved our stay and would highly recommend any of the Mimaru hotels, especially if you are traveling with kids. Logan and I had our own bed, a basinet that they provided for the baby, and giant bunk beds for the kids. We also had a small kitchenette area, a table to eat and play, a bathroom with a full sized tub and a shower, and laundry on site. The hotel has a reputation for their famous Pokemon themed room which we didn’t book but could have been fun.
They also have strollers, games, and other items you could rent which was really convenient. As far as location we were within an 8 minute walk to the Ueno train station, 2 minutes from a 7/11 which came in handy, and central to lots of places to eat.
Kyoto:
In Kyoto we stayed at the Mimaru Kyoto Station Hotel. Just like our previous Mimaru hotel, we had a great stay. We had all the same amenities, plus since we were on the first floor, we actually had a little outside area that the kids played in when we were at the hotel. We forgot to request a bassinet so we didn’t get one but it wasn’t a huge deal. We were a 5 minute walk from the Kyoto Train Station which was so nice! But it never felt loud or busy, even when our sliding door to the outside was open.
Our 9 Day Japan Itinerary with Kids
Day 1 – Utah to Tokyo
This was the longest travel day we’ve ever had. We prepped the kids (and mentally prepped ourselves) and had lots of in-flight activities planned for the long flights. Leaving from Utah, we woke up at 5:30 am MST, and our friend drove us to the airport.
Our first flight was a quick one to Seattle. I had planned for our 4-month-old to sit on one of our laps as a lap baby, but I asked the gate agent if there were any empty seats so we could bring the car seat on board—and she said yes! She was kind enough to move all of us to the back section of the plane, where the baby and I had a row to ourselves. Even though it was a shorter flight, still great to score some extra room.
If you’d like, you can read more of my tips for getting through airport security with a baby here!
We landed in Seattle, grabbed a quick burger, and boarded our next flight. Because I had requested a bassinet when we booked, we were moved from our original seats to the bulkhead! There are pros and cons to bulkhead seating, but overall, it was a nice upgrade.
Unfortunately, there was an issue with the plane, so after some time on board, we had to deplane, switch terminals, and wait a few more hours before boarding a new plane. It was a slight hiccup in an already long travel day, but all and all could have been worse. When we finally got on the next plane the kids settled in for the long flight, which was about 11 hours to Tokyo. The kids kept busy with toys, coloring, and TV, then slept for about half the flight. Logan and I took turns holding the baby, who slept on and off throughout the trip.
Some of my favorite travel items we brought for this trip were these eye/neck pillows for the adults and inflatable beds for the kids. Thanks to these I feel like everyone got a decent amount of in-flight sleep which was awesome.
I’ll also link my amazon favorites for both travel toys and travel games, which I feel like we’ve really honed in on over the years traveling with the littles.
We landed in Tokyo around 8:00 pm local time, made it through customs, got on a train to our hotel, and checked in. We stayed at the Mimaru Ueno East hotel and had a great experience! It’s great for families and we were super close to the train station which was really convenient.
I walked over to 7/11 which was right next to the hotel to scrounge up something for dinner, and then we all went to bed. The kids woke up a little bit throughout the night but overall, we slept pretty well.
Day 2 – Senso-ji Temple, Nakamise-Dori, and Tokyo Skytree
Because of the time change we were up around 4:30 am and decided to start our day early. Our first stop was the Sensoji Shrine, which is one of Tokyo’s oldest and probably most famous Buddhist temple. It was really cool to see. Nakamise-Dori Street is right next to shine and another famous stop. Because we were there so early, none of the shops were open. It wasn’t busy, but it was pretty cold so we didn’t stay too long.
We wanted ramen for lunch so we went to Ramen Kamo to Negi. They are famous for their duck ramen and it was so good. But I actually preferred their soba noodle dish. Like a lot of restaurants in Japan, you order at a kiosk and hand your ticket to your server. The restaurant was pretty small so we folded our stroller down before going in.
After lunch we went to the Tokyo Skytree and bought our tickets there to go to the top. (We didn’t pay to go to the very top floor, but the lookout just below it). The view was incredible and we had fun looking for anything we recognized which wasn’t much. They did have whats called Goshuin which are like a special stamp you can get when visiting temples and shrines. They did have a stamp here if you wanted to bring a book (“Goshuncho”) to collect the stamp in. We also stopped in on a with the transparent glass floor which was fun and kind of trippy to see.
Down on the 5th floor we went to the Kids Garden playground. The kids had a blast running around and playing with all the different sets they had. This was definitely a must if you have kids. You can pay per hour or buy a day pass. I would say the day pass is worth it!
After the Skytree we walked back to Nakamise-Dori Street to get some fun street food and snacks. The kids also got the kids’ fortunes at Sensoji Shrine which they thought was cool. They cost 100 yen which is about $0.60.
The kids were pretty exhausted and so were we so we headed back to our hotel to go to bed. Pretty much every night we were all in bed by 7:30 pm.
Stroller Friendly:
✅ Sensoji Shrine
✅ Nakamise-Dori Street
✅ Tokyo SkyTree
Day 3 –Shibuya Scramble Crossing, Sushi, and Meiji Jingu Shrine
We were up early again and decided to head to two shrines that weren’t super popular: The Ebara Shrine and Shinagawa Shrine. We had to take a train and a bus to get to the Ebara Shrine. It was a small shrine but honestly really pretty. I’m not sure I would say this was a must, but kind of nice to get out of the busy city. Shinagawa was right by the train station. It had a lot of stairs to get up there so Logan stayed down with the stroller since some of the kids were sleeping in it. It was a nice shrine and they did do Goshuins ( those special stamps) if you have your special book.
We took the train back to Shibuya and walked across the iconic Shibuya Scramble Crossing which is the world’s busiest pedestrian crossing. Then we went up to the Starbucks that overlooks it, got some hot chocolates and enjoyed watching the people down below.
After that we realized we were really close to one of those conveyer belt sushi restaurants we wanted to try so we headed over there. It is called Kura Sushi and while I’m not a big fan of sushi, it was a fun experience and our 5 year old loved the raw salmon which was a fun surprise!
After we were full, we took the train to the Meiji Jingu Shrine. It’s a long, windy beautiful walk with huge trees. We all loved it, especially the kids who ran around more than they had this trip so far.
After the shrine, we were pretty tired so we grabbed some local food for dinner and went back to our hotel.
Stroller Friendly
✅Ebara Shrine
❌Shinagawa Shrine (unless you don’t mind carrying your stroller up a bunch of stairs to get to the shrine)
✅Shibuya Scramble Crossing
✅Meiji Jingu Shrine
Day 4 – Disney Sea
This day we woke up early again to head to Disney Sea! I will do a whole post about Disney Sea that I will link here. We bought our tickets ahead of time on Klook and it made it super simple to have all our tickets in one spot and ready to go when we got there. We had to take a train to the Disney Rail and it was pretty straight forward how you get there.
We got in line at 8:00 am and were able to get in around 9:20am. The lines are huge and certain rides require separate tickets to ride. So if you really want to ride the Frozen ride in particular, make sure you get there early. Like 7:00 am early because we were never able to get tickets to ride Frozen.
It was another cold and slightly rainy day so we weren’t motivated to do a ton but we had a great time and I loved seeing all of the fun different things they had at this park.
Disney Sea Highlights
- Mermaid Lagoon for the kids to just run around and play in
- All of the Baymax merch because or son loves Big Hero 6
- Meeting Elsa
- The Sea Shell shaped ice cream
- Tangled ride, so well done and we all loved it
- Getting Frozen and Tangled ears with my daughter
We bought some fun souvenirs that were exclusive to Disney Sea so that was exciting. My son really loves the Big Hero 6 movie and there was a lot of Baymax merch so he was excited about that.
We got home around 6:30 pm ate dinner, played with the kids new toys and went to bed.
Day 5 – Asakusa Kokusai Street and Travel to Kyoto
We were headed to Kyoto in the afternoon so we packed up everything in the morning and brought our luggage down to the front desk for them to hold on to while we went out. We went and ate lunch at Ichiran Ramen. This is a very popular chain restaurant and for good reason. It was delicious and a fun experience. We ordered at the kiosk and then they seated us at these individual cubical spots (even the kids had their own). They have a curtain in front of you where the server takes your ticket and brings back your food. The ramen was delicious and I highly recommend!
After that we walked down Asakusa Kokusai Street which was really close. We got some candied strawberries for the kids and I picked up some cute pens from a stationary shop. After walking around for a bit, we took the bus back to our hotel to pick up our luggage.
There are trains very often from Tokyo to Kyoto so we bought our tickets right then on Klook. The one we wanted didn’t have any of the seats with extra room for luggage so we booked an earlier one and we cut it extremely close. We were running through the train station and got on the train with about 10 seconds to spare. So make sure you give yourself more time to get to your train!
The train ride to Kyoto was about an hour and a half and our oldest ended up falling asleep while our daughter played with toys and listened to her Yoto player. I took a little nap myself.
We checked into our hotel around 4:30 pm. We stayed at the Mimaru Kyoto Station and we loved it because it was just a 3 minute walk to the main train station! We were all pretty tired so Logan went out on his own to go get dinner. He brought back pizza Giochi Pizza and it was delicious!
Stroller Friendly
❌ Ichiran Ramen – Asakusa Rokku location (We had to wait in a narrow stairwell and would have been really hard with a stroller)
✅ Asakusa Kokusai Street
Day 6 – Bamboo Forest, Monkey Park, and Nara Park
Oe thing that I had read was overhyped was the Bamboo Forest, but I wanted to see it anyway, we got up early to knock it off the list. We left our stroller behind because we knew we wouldn’t want it all morning. It was a longer train ride and then we had to walk about 15 minutes before actually getting there, but we still managed to get there around 7:45 am. There weren’t many people and it was beautiful! Totally worth it in my opinion.
After walking around for a while, we headed back towards the buses, took a bus one stop and walked across the bridge to go to Monkey Park. This was about a 25 minute hike up to the top. Our 5 year old did the whole thing but we did bring a carrier for our 3 year old since we knew she would want to be carried. We saw one person who had pushed a stroller up to the top but it looked hard.
There is a playground near the top which was so fun for the kids. The monkeys were really fun to watch and you can even go in this little hut to safely feed them on the outside. It cost 100 yen for a little pack of peanuts or apples. We stayed here for a while and then the kids played at the playground again before we made the hike back down.
Back in town there are a lot of shops and plenty of places to eat. We got some food before walking back to the train station. We went back to our hotel to grab our stroller before hopping on another train to Nara Park. Nara Park was such a highlight and the kids loved seeing all of the deer. We got some advice from a kind stranger to just keep walking to the temple where most of the deer were. We were grateful we did because out side of the temple there were hundreds of deer!
You can buy little packs of crackers to feed them. It’s cool because if you bow, they will bow back. Just be careful because they can get a little aggressive. The temple was cash only and we forgot ours so we didn’t go inside. I was really bummed because I heard that temple was really cool.
We walked back to the train station and there was a ramen restaurant called KamuKura right next to it that was great for families. There was lots of seating and even a kids menu. The gyozas and fried rice were our favorite.
After we ate, we took the train back to our hotel and went to bed.
Stroller Friendly
✅ Bamboo Forest
❌ Monkey Park
✅ Nara Park
Day 7 – Ninja Museum, Nishiki Market, and Hokan-ji Temple
We had booked a reservation at the Ninja Museum in Kyoto so we headed there first thing in the morning. They talked a lot about the Samurai history and a little about ninjas. We moved from room to room so the kids weren’t too bored, but I think they would have enjoyed it more if they were just a few years older. At the end everyone got to throw ninja stars and dress up like Samuai soldiers and that was the highlight for the kids for sure.
After we walked down the Nishiki Market and tried a few fun foods like kobe beef, fried octopus, and shrimp tempura. The kobe beef was incredible and I definitely was not a fan of the octopus. We saw that Engine Ramen was close so we went there for lunch and it was a great stop.
We took a bus over to Yasaka Pagoda at Hokan-ji Temple to see the iconic view that always comes up when you search Kyoto. It was rainy so the kids stayed in the stroller and ended up falling asleep the whole time. It’s a very busy street, but we meandered in the crowd and stopped in a few fun shops. I particularly loved this small shop full of beautiful pottery. There are stairs near the top and more stores after that but because we had the stroller, we just turned around and headed back.
We took the bus back and ended up at the Onitsuka Tiger shop where I bought myself a pair of their shoes. They’re very popular in Japan and a lot cheaper than you would buy in America. They are super comfortable and I’m very happy with my purchase!
After shopping, we grabbed dinner near by and went back to our hotel and straight to bed.
Stroller Friendly
✅ Ninja Museum (There are stairs but they just let us leave it at the bottom or you could fold it up and take it up with you)
✅ Nishiki Market
✅ Yasaka Pagoda at Hokan-ji (a few stairs at the end but we just didn’t go up them)
Day 8 – Thousand Torii Gates and Golden Pavillion
This was our last full day in Kyoto and Japan! We woke up early to head to the Senbon Torii also known as the Thousand Torii Gates. We left the stroller at our hotel since we knew there would be a lot of steps. However when we got there, they actually had a stroller parking area if you did bring yours!
We followed the map (and the crowd) toward the thousand Torii Gates and started our walk up. The steps aren’t steep and there are stops along the way. We made it all the way up to the viewpoint before turning around. Our 5 year old walked the whole way and Logan carried our daughter in her carrier which worked out great. On the way down, we saw some cats that the kids loved following around.
We purchased a few postcards and got a Goshuin (stamp) for our book. Then we hopped back on the train to go to the Kinkaku-ji (The Golden Pavillion). We got lunch at a little spot right before we got to the Golden Pavillion.
The Golden Pavillion was hands down my favorite temple we went to. There was a cost to get in which was 500 yen for adults and 300 yen for students in grades 1 to 9. The grounds are gorgeous with all the trees and water. The temple shines beautifully and we just had a great time walking around. It was a little tricky to get our stroller through the whole thing but we made it just fine. We snagged our final Goshuin and loved wandering the grounds.
Just outside the grounds was a little ice cream shop so we all got a cone and then we looked up what was in the area. There were a couple of shrines neraby so we decided to walk around. They were both completely empty and we had fun enjoying the peace and quiet with the kids.
We headed back towards our hotel, grabbed dinner at Shake Shack and it was great to have a good ol’ burger. Back at our hotel, we did some laundry, organized and packed a bit, and went to bed.
Stroller Friendly
❌ Thousand Torii Gates (But there is a designated stroller parking area)
✅ Golden Pavilion (A few spots that were tricky but doable)
Day 9 – Tokyo to Home
This was a full travel day for us. We woke up and finished packing and checked out of our hotel. We bought our train tickets to Tokyo the night before and arrived in plenty of time. But we still ended up getting on the wrong train. It pulled into our platform about 15 minutes before ours was supposed to depart so we got on not even bothering to check if it was the right train. It ended up being fine as it was still destined for Tokyo and the person who checked our tickets completely understood us being on the wrong train.
When we got to Tokyo, we hopped on another train to get to the airport. At the airport we changed into comfy clothes, checked our bags, and got lunch once we were through security. Tokyo’s security was the most efficiently run airport security we’ve ever been through (unsurprisingly). We boarded our flight and were bound for LA! It was an overnight flight so the kids slept most of the time as did me and baby boy.
It was a great trip and I’m so glad we did it with all of the kids!
If you enjoyed this Japan itinerary, be sure to check out these related posts:
- 7 Day Paris Family Trip Itinerary
- Costa Rica with Kids
- Family-Friendly 3 Day Belgium Itinerary (Bruges and Brussels)
- Best Travel Stroller for Two Kids
