5 day itinerary to Osaka and short visit to Tokyo (excluding Disneyland and Universal Studios)

Japan was one country that was high on my wish list, and I got an opportunity to go there when my paper got accepted in the Asian Association of Studies in Diabetes for an oral presentation. Great !

Before getting there

1. Get a visa. Its quite a simple and standard procedure through VFS. It takes less then a week in most cases.

2. Flights are relatively cheap to Japan. Cathay, Malaysia, Thai and Singapore airways offer best rates out of South of India. I chose Cathay.

3. Pack/buy an umbrella in Japan. It rains almost anytime in Summer. Spring time is better for the cherry blossom, but it is expensive and crowded on those days.

4. Book your Shinkasen tickets early for the best seats!

Day 0. 

Land in Osaka. My flight landed at 930 pm, so no sight seeing for today. Head to hotel.  The taxi rate towards and back from the city are the only major shock you are getting in this trip,  be prepared.  Its close to Rs. 15k each way. Dinner was in the flight, so it was shower and sleep today.

Day 1.

Travel around Osaka.

0930. 

Breakfast. I thought it would be quite tough to get what I liked, but to my pleasant surprise, I enjoyed everything they had to offer. The portion sizes are typically small and have a LOT of proteins and veggies based on sea food, ladies fingers and chicken (various varieties). Of course you can go for a croissant, coffee and orange juice as well.

1100. 

Head out for sight seeing.  Osaka has a two tiered railway system. One is the Japanese railway (JR) and the other is the Osaka Metro. Both are very cheap ways of getting around, and Google maps is very accurate. It takes just a couple of trips to figure out the system.

1130 to 1300. 

Osaka Castle

Osaka castle is a sprawling and a very beautiful complex. The moat, the gardens and the castle itself were spectacular to watch.  Going inside the castle is an option of you get here early,  but lines can be long and it's not supposed to be worth it.

1300. 

Head to Namba Yasaka Jinja. It's famous for its famous lion head 'Shishiden' as its facade. It is supposed to swallow evil spirits. A great photo spot.

1330 to 1430. 

There is a good Indian restaurant nearby where I had a mango lassi and roti plate.

1500 to 1600. 

Roam around the Shinsaibashi shopping street. It is one of the largest and busiest canopied shopping streets in the world. Its a risk to take a female family member here, as the promise here is that they will shop till they drop. You can pick up your chocolates and other souvenirs here

1600 to 1700. 

Dotonburi (by the evening) 

The reason I ask you to come here at this time , especially if it is a weekday, is that the crowds are relatively less. You need to come back later after sunset some other day. Take a photo of the Don Quixote mall! 

Walk up and down by the riverside, take a cruise if u like (20 mins), dont forget to eat the Takoyaki!!! Takoyaki, is octopus grilled in the form of balls, covered with ? corn starch and fish flakes. I was warned by some  Caucasian influencers that this may not be good, but... they were amazing. Right there for the Indian palate! 

1730 to 1845. 

Umeda Sky building. 

Amazing views of all of Osaka can be seen from here. Sunset is supposed to be wonderful from here. Unfortunately for me, it started raining. My evening plans were canceled therafter.

2000. 

Dinner. Had dinner at a local restaurant.  Fried chicken plate is a delicacy here, try it once!

Day 2 

0620. 

Get up, get ready, and get your breakfast!

0730. 

Travel to Shin Osaka.

0820 to 1050. 

Bullet train (Shinkasen Nozomi) to Tokyo. 

An experience by itself. Awesome. Took the economy tickets (Fuji mountain side) and it was a wonderful ride at 300 kmph! The train was nice and silent. The Japanese tend to be silent in all trains, which is great. See the scenery roll by, read a book, listen to music (with earphones of course!) or grab some food from the vending machines! I missed the Mt Fuji sight, which is immediately after Shin Fuji station as it was raining. (keep your cameras ready, its a short window of opportunity. Use Google maps)

1050. 

Take a quick coffee, grab an umbrella (if needed ofcourse 😊) and head out to the Imperial palace, which is a short walk away. The gardens are sprawling, and the sight of the palace makes a good photo opportunity. Well I was caught in some heavy rain at this time, but it was fun nevertheless !

1150. 

Take a cab to Meiji Jinju. 

1210 to 1300. 

Meiji Jinju. 

Oh man, I wish I had more time here. It was simply beautiful! The walk from the gate to the shrine was so beautiful and serene.  Photo lovers would go crazy in this greenery presented so nicely. 

Pay your respects at the shrine and walk back!

1300 to 1420. 

Shibuya Crossing

Take a taxi to Shibuya crossing. There are several ways to enjoy this. Shibuya sky is supposed to be the best, where you get high views, Mags park rooftop for similar views, Starbucks (very  crowded) and L occitane cafe.  I went to the latter, where we can sit for an hour or more, with unlimited snacks and drinks. Ate a small lunch and drink,  while enjoying the views of the crossing ! It is the world's busiest crossing and its a sin to avoid this place while in Japan!!

1420. 

Take a train across the centre of town to Asakusa. 

1500. 

The Sensoji Shrine.

It was beautiful, and the Asakusa market leading to it was jam packed.  Many souvenirs and local delicacies can be picked up here.

1530. 

Take a taxi to Tokyo Sky Tree. Now this is a dizzying experience for people with fear of heights, especially the glass floor that you can stand on and look down the 450 m.

If you take an earlier Bullet train, u could also visit the Tokyo tower and the Teamlab Borderless museum, both of which are near each other.

I headed back to Tokyo station

1800 to 2130. 

Bullet train back to Osaka. I took the first class this time, but it was not much better than the morning class. I will advise against this. 

2130. 

Have dinner nearby Shin Osaka. I decided for McDonald's today.

2230. 

Reach hotel and crash soon.

Day 3. 

I personally had to attend and present at the conference in the morning session.

I would advise to travel to Minoh and visit the beautiful waterfalls there. I missed it. Anyway it had rained throughout the morning !

1410. 

Reach Osaka Abenobashi station before this time to board the Blue Symphony express to Yoshino. Book tickets in advance, I personally booked it late and got the second last available ticket! 

1410 to 1525. 

Blue symphony express. 

What a great experience! The train has royal seating and a nice lunch lounge.

Ate chicken and rice here cooked in Japanese style, which was great. The sceneries that roll past are beautiful. 

1525 to 1730. 

Yoshino

Hike up to the Gandola station and ride one station up. Hike the rest up to the Yoshino shrine. Its  a good hike, but it can be steep in some places. The shrine itself was beautiful and the scenery around it was nice. Amazingly, there was very less number of people. The hike down was also great, with the sounds of the birds chirping and almost no man-made sound. Picked up a softy in a village store. 

1730 to 1840. 

Take a limited express train to Namba. (2 changes were there). Namba is the station closest to Dotonbori.

1840 to 2030. 

Enjoy the Dotonbori at night.

It was an awesome experience,  this time with choc-a-bloc crowds!. Take the mandatory photo at the Glick running man! Eat the Takoyaki again! There is a famous Ramen shop called Ichira Ramen, where people line up for 2 hours due its social media popularity, but I didn't fancy it. I went to another noodle bar, which was great as well. I had tomato Ramen, which was amazing. 

2100. 

Reach room and rest!

Day 4. 

0700. 

Breakfast

0730. 

Travel to Nippombashi station where most of the guided tours to Kyoto and Nara begin (prebook)

0840 to 1030. 

Trip starts! 

1030 to 1200. 

Time at the Kiyomizu Dera, Kyoto. 

Its a beautiful temple on a hill. There is a brief walk uphill. 

The highlights is the temple itself, a viewing wooden platform where you can get a sight of the entire city of Kyoto and a temple stream where you are supposed to chose from one of three streams of water to drink from: one for a romantic partner vs one for good health vs one for good performance in studies. I thought of waiting in line for the good health stream, but I guess being with a good endocrinologist is better! The gardens are good as well. Use the washroom here

1210 to 1250. 

Lunch at a local restaurant, usually arranged by your tour guide. I had fried chicken today. 

1250 to 1320. 

Travel to the Fushimi Inari Taisha. 

1320 to 1530.

Fushimi Inari Taisha. It's the most instagrammed site of Kyoto. The Torri gates are very beautiful, no doubt. However isolated spots are very hard to come by for a good photo or video, unlike what is shown on social media. It is very crowded. Tip: wait for a curve in the path, wait for people in front of you to disappear and ask the person behind you to take the photo! 

Use the washroom here, as the next stop is some time away.

1530 to 1700. 

Nara Deer park. This place is very nice, specially because of the thousands of deer around, which don't mind being with humans. 

You could purchase crackers and feed them. If you bow to them, they bow back! The Shrine at the park is very beautiful as well! Pick up macha tea (Japanese Green tea) here. Very good to taste!

1700 to 1900. 

Travel back to Osaka. You can roam about again in the popular areas or head back to the room as I did!

2000. 

I had dinner at a Mexican/Japanese fusion restaurant. Awesome Quesedilla!

Day 5.

If you are upto it, you can roam around in the Umeda area, which has many shops (up market) and restaurants. Mostly, after having walked more than 15K steps on each of the 3 previous days, you would just laze around. The flight back to India was at 630 pm, so I left the hotel at 1430 after lunch at McDonalds. Osaka airport Lounges had amazing food as well, I ate Sushi with guess, Eel !!!! Good taste again!

1830. 

Board flight back to India, and carry home a lot of fond memories!

8 day itinerary to Finland/(Lapland)/Estonia in Winter

What a trip! What a trip! Must do once in your lifetime!

Pre travel essentials.

1. Book tickets well in advance. Finnair from Delhi is the cheapest and best. The hotels at Rovaniemi are horribly expensive and get sold out as early as September for a late Jan trip. We got a cozy apartment.

2. Visa process for Finland is very smooth.

3. Insurance, of course.

4. Book the Santa Claus Express early as well, for best rooms.

5. Clothing.. see under clothing layers, and buy some if necessary! When we went there the temperatures were between -10 warmest to -30 coldest (degrees Celsius) !!!

Clothing layers essentials besides your two usual layers.

1. Inner thermals

2. Inner jacket/sweater 

3. Outer thick water repellant jacket

4. Ski pants to go over trousers/jeans.

5. Socks two layers.

6. Shoes with good grip (sports shoes should do, no need for snow boots or crampons)

7. Inner small gloves.

8. Thick gloves/mittens (water proof)

9. Scarf big enough to cover mouth and neck 

10. Two cold weather caps or one fur cap.

Keep 15 mins extra everyday to get into all of them 

Day Zero.

We took the evening flight from Hyderabad to Delhi. It would be advisable to do so as winter weather at the Delhi airport can be quite unpredictable and it will allow you to reschedule in the last minute. There is a Holiday Inn Express in Delhi airport where we can book by the hour by logging into the Delhi airport website. We had prebooked 10pm to 5am and got a good night's sleep.

Day 1.

0750 IST to 1430 Eastern European Time. (3 and half hours behind India in winter) . Flight to Helsinki.

1500 to 1615. 

Get into your warm clothes in the Helsinki airport! We had prebooked a place to keep our luggage through a website called Radical storage. It directed us to a Nepalese restaurant called Ravintola Base camp near the railway station. We kept our luggage there and headed out. We did a blunder though: instead of booking Uber (22 to 30 Euros) we took a taxi van that charged a bomb to get here : 85 Euros!! DON'T make this mistake!!!

1615 to 1645. 

Walk upto the Helsinki cathedral. Usually, the Christmas market enlivens the place here and is supposed to be quite an attraction till end of December. We were here end of Jan though. Still, we got good photos of this iconic building and spent sometime in.

1645 to 1700. 

Walk to the Uspenski cathedral, which is based on Russian architecture. It would have been a good climb upto the cathedral, but it was very cold and we were worried that the steps would be slippery due to the snow.

1700 to 1730. 

Fly over Finland was a good place to warm ourselves up and catch the 4D visuals of entire Finland in a nice cozy theatre.

1730 to 1830.

Travel to the iconic Cafe Regatta by Uber. Something you should not miss in Helsinki. It's a very small but beautiful café that overlooks an apparently beautiful lake (I say apparently because when we went the lake had frozen over and was covered with snow ). It was already quite dark, but the lighting made it even more magical. YouTube recommends Blueberry pie and Hot chocolate, and I did have it. It was yummy!

1830 onwards. 

You could cover some more places, you could head to the casino, but most would do what we did.. head back to warmer havens (the Base camp restaurant) as you would have not been acclimatized to minus 14 degree Celsius temperatures!! We stuck around here till 2100.

2100 to 0015. 

Head to the railway station. The building was beautiful, but the facilities are quite basic. To add on to the problems, the previous train to Rovaniemi was delayed indefinitely (1915 one) and ours was delayed by 90 mins (2315 one) so the station was quite crowded 

Santa claus express

You must have realised that there are two timings for the Santa Claus express (715 pm and 1115 pm). The earlier one would have allowed you the explore the train more, but would have reached you earlier in Rovaniemi. We didn't take this option. Why? Read more...

The second option would be a late start, and mostly you will crash to bed immediately.. but the next day you get the witness the vast expanses of Lapland from your window. Remember the Sun rises after 9 am and you would have missed this beautiful scenario otherwise. Also, it gets you in time for your hotel check in, rather than early.

Which room to book? Book the best here, as its an experience to savour. We booked the personal coupe room with attached toilet and shower, and it was no less than a hotel room!

0015 to 0100. 

In chugged our Santa Claus express and left with us in it. We crashed immediately!

Day 2 

0800 to 1145. 

Savour the breathtaking scenes out of the windows, while relaxing in the room, or catching good breakfast in the dining car. And yes, you can take a shower as well in your own attached shower!

1145 to 1200. 

Head to your room in Rovaniemi! 

We stayed in a cozy apartment called Finngland 1. The owner was amazingly friendly.

1200 to 1800 

Freshen up, shower, order some food from Wolt app. (Akin to Swiggy and Zomato). We had Indian food today. Sleep. 

1800 to 2000. 

Walk up to the city center. Everything is quite reachable. But be prepared for bitter cold. It was -26 degrees then and OH BOY.. it was crazy. Have a quick dinner. I had a Reindeer burger, which was quite good. 

2000 onwards.. in our case it was upto 0300! 

Go for a northern lights hunting tour. We got a private tour in a warm car, but the air outside was foggy, sky was cloudy in many places, and when we did find a good spot 88 kms away (!), we caught the Northern lights only for 5 minutes. Taking photos was a nightmare as the temperatures had plunged to -30 degrees centigrade and we were near a frozen lake. Our fingers couldn't last a second outside the gloves  

The agency we took offered another tour if we failed to see it the first night, but the chances dwindled further in the trip, and so this was our only trip. Reached at 0300 and crashed immediately!

Day 3 

1000 to 1330

Visit the Santa Claus Village.

Within the Santa Claus Village there are a myriad of things to do. Our first stop was at the Reindeer Sleigh ride. The crowd builds up here later, so its better to ger here first. It was great fun, but again the same practical probem existed: taking good quality videos and photos was very tough at -27 degrees C!. The host will take some photos for you and you can pet the reindeers too.

Our next stop was to visit Santa Claus. There was a huge line and this is ofcourse the commercial partn of it all. Getting a video and photo with Santa can cost upto 60 Euros per photo. It was fun none the less! 

We then waked to the Post office from where we could send some post cards to near and dear, Again, a fun. and very popular activity.

Next take the customary photos at the temperature kiosk and also at the Arctic circle (one of the most sought after instagram photos ar Rovaniemi!).

Move for lunch at the Salmon restaurant, where we we had the famous Salmon soup, Salmon over fire, hot Blueberry juice and hot chocolate. A lunch to remember. there are vegeterian options in another cafe.

1330 onwards

We headed back to the apartment, and retired for the day soon. it was a much deserved rest after a few continuous nights of not great sleep. Had a reindeer burger again at night (ordered on Wolt)

Day 4

Disclaimer: If you are in better weather and want to cover maximum number of places, combine Day 3 and Day 4 Itinerary in Day 3, and in Day 4, go to the Korouma canyon, which is supposed to be an amazing hike of three hours and you could see a frozen waterfall. We wanted to do the opposite: we wanted this trip to relax as well as just enjoy what the cold weather has to offer to daily life, rather than hike in the freezing cold.

0900 to 1130.

Book a Husky farm trip. There are two types of trips: individual long trips and group trips with shorter rides. Having done a six hour ride in Svalbard, I personally was not so interested in a long tour, and my better half also opted for the latter

We were transported as part of a guided trip to a Husky farm around 10 km away from Rovaniemi. We were first guided to a shed with a camp fire and offered hot blueberry juice and biscuits. However the temperature had increased (yes I said increased) to -15, and we were feeling much more comfortable 😃😃.  We were told about the various type of Huskies and their lifestyle in summer and winter.

We were then ushered in pairs to the Husky sleds. We were pulled around for a while by 8 huskies, and boy, was it fun! I think it was the highlight of the trip for me! We got some good videos this time due to the fact our fingers had adapted! 

After that, we had to wait in the shed till the others finished their rides. But, now, most of us decided to hang around outside! Our contemprory tourists had all experienced very harsh cold for the last two days and today it was like heaven (even at -15)

After everyone finished the rides, we were called to pet the dogs and all of us enjoyed the same!

1200 to 1500.

Take a private taxi to the the Polar Ice Hotel. Purchase the entry tickets, and have a good lunch in the in house restaurant. 

After that, take a walk in the Polar Ice Hotel, which is actually a hotel where people can rent the rooms in as an experience. (the expense and the idea of sleeping on ice deters most: the hotel was empty when we were there. Most of the revenue is earned by charging daily visitors). Each room is sculpted by individual artists, and every room is a photo opportunity. Don't miss the Ice Restaurant, Ice Chappel and the Ice Bar. You can also eat/drink there. 

Walk over to the glass igloos, which is also available for rent to stay. Amazingly a couple were just moving in and invited us inside to see their room! It was a cozy room! 

Why didn't we stay here for a night as many people do? Lets look at the advantages and disadvantages information that I had gathered before hand

Advantages: Its a great way to capture the Aurora Borealis especially with clear skies (best in September/October/late Feb and early March). Just imagine lying in your bed and seeing the northern lights through a glass ceiling!

Disadvantages: Very expensive, the bathroom is almost see through at night (embarrassing for most partners), and practically useless in the months where you are likely to miss the northern lights.

1530 onwards: 

Rest in the room, order dinner, or book a nice dinner in town. I stayed back and watched Manchester City draw a match that they should have easily won. Hmmm. 

Day 5

1000 to 1530: 

Visit the Ranua Wildlife park with a pick up and drop guided tour.

It is an hours drive each way, so better do the trip in a group to save money. 

Once we the reach the place, the guide will buy the tickets and tell you the pick up time. After that, its all by yourself. Its a walk through wonderland. The walk itself has so many places to capture photos!

The main attractions here are the Otters, the Snow owls, the eagles, the wild boars, the wolves and not to forget the main attraction: the Polar Bears. 

 

At 1130 am, you have an interactive session with the Zookeepers about Polar Bears, which is quite interesting to listen

After roaming around there, head to restaurant for a sumptous buffet lunch. I ate another speciality today of Finland: meatballs and mashed potatoes. Awesome.

The chocolate shop here is a great place to collect them for your near and dear

Be driven back.

1900 onwards

It was our plan to head out for the Northern light tour again, but it was actively snowing and the chances were zero tonight, so we headed out to the Polar restaurant, to feast on another Finn speciaity, the Reindeer steak. It was awesome.

Day 6

1030. 

Check out of the room/apartment

1230 to 1345. 

Flight back to Helsinki.

1400. 

Lunch in the airport, and there are many options in the airport to be frank. I went ahead with the salmon soup.

1400 to 1500. 

Drive into the city. We checked in to the prebooked Radisson Blu Hotel.

1500 to 1545. 

Walk to and spend some time at the Helsinki city library. The monument itself was beautiful, and the number of books were unbelievable!

1545 to 1630. 

Walk past the Kampii chapel, more for a photo opportunity with this uniquely shaped chapel

1630 to 1700. 

Reach the Kaupattori market. I wish I had reached here earlier as the market closed at 1700. It was cozy and the shops were colourful and nice. Had a hot chocolate and blueberry pie!

1700 to 2000: 

Rest and plan for tomorrow. Alternatively the casino is just outside the hotel, if you want to lose some Euros !

2000. 

Dinner at the hotel. 

Day 7

0630. 

Get up earlier today, get ready and have a nice breakfast.

0800. 

Head to Helsinki harbour, and check in to one of the various ships that cross the Baltic sea. We prebooked and checked into the Eckero line MS Finlandia. It was an awesome cruise ship with only seating facilities, lounge facilities and room facilities. We checked into a room, which was quite neat!

0900 to 1115. 

The ship ride: We spent time in the room, had a hot chocolate in one of the numerous restaurants, spent time on the deck. The deck was very cold, but it was awesome to watch the sea covered with layers of ice, something that I witnessed for the first time!

1115. 

Disembark in the port of Tallinn!

1115 to 1145. 

Take a Uber to the city centre, after which we can walk around almost everywhere.

1145. 

We started out tour at the Kohtuotsa viewing platform. Most guided tours would anyway come here later in the afternoon, so its better to reach here first. We can catch a glimpse of the entire old city of Tallinn from here and it looks beautiful! Walk to the next place.

1200. 

Alexander Nevsky cathedral. Its very beautiful, both from the outside and inside. You can spend some time here to enjoy the solace. Walk to the next place.

1215. 

Walk past the Nun tower and walls. If the weather is better, you could climb up the walls after paying the entrance fee. It was minus 12, windy and slippery, so we decided not to do so.

1230. 

Go to the Kiek in da Kok museum. We visited the Bastions of Tallinn. This was a unique experience to say the least, which took us back to the darker days of Tallinn, right from the 1700s, through WW1, WW2 and the communist occupation. It offered a lot of insight about the history of the town.

1315.

 Lunch time, We had lunch at the Maharaja hotel, and the Indian food was indeed awesome. I had a thali and Mango Lassi.

1400. 

Walk to the Talinn town Square (Raekoja plats) for numerous photo opportunities and to soak in the culture and architecture.

1420. 

Walk to the St Catherine's passage. It was a let down actually, as it was too cold and there were outdoor activities there

1440. 

Reach the Viru Gates, built in the 14ht centre, and a part of a Medeival defense system. Good place for a photo in winter! the surrounding areas are supposed to be bustling in summer.

1500. 

Walk to the St Olaf's church. The church looked beautiful, but it was closed at this time of the day.

1515 to 1600. 

Head to the KGB prisons. Again, it offers a unique insight about the time of the KGB and Soviet rule in Estonia. It was a horrifying journey through history.

1615. 

Head to the Balti Jama market and chose from numerous cafes and shops to spend some time at. It looked beautiful

1630 to 1730. 

You could head out to the Maritime museum ( I had been to huge maritime museums in Norway and Sweden, so I was not much interested) OR you could head out to the Talinn TV tower for more panoramic views OR just laze around at the market (which we did)

1730. 

Head back to the port for check in in to the MS Finlandia. We were to continue in the same room .

1830 to 2100. 

Spend time in the room and head over to one of the numerous restaurants. I actually attended a Karaoke session in one of the restaurants and got a standing ovation from a huge crowd, who genuinely loved their music! It was great fun!

2100. 

Take a Uber back to the hotel

2200. 

Crash. I didn't, I watched a football match (City defeated Newcastle in the second leg of the Carabao cup semifinal)

Day 8

0900 to 1400. 

Leisure time. Leisure breakfast. Pack for check out.

1400. 

Head over to the airport

1800. 

Flight back to Delhi.....

Well, I will not be exaggerating one bit in saying that these 8 days were some of the best in my life!