So you finally decided to visit Japan but you don’t know where to visit in Japan. Well luckily, we have some monkeys stationed in Japan so we’ll try to help you out. Many first-time visitors of course want to visit Tokyo, Japan’s metropolis. I mean Tokyo is Japan (!) or is it? Well it surely is a big, or rather crowded part of Japan. It has a lot to offer, museums, restaurants, bars, nerdy stuff, cool stuff, yeah you name. It’s the capital of the third largest economy in the world so of course you can find most things in Japan, and then some.

Japan itinerary – Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka and Nara (2 weeks)

Lets assume that you have 2 weeks in Japan. I would start by taking a flight to Tokyo, the city you might have heard so much about. Spend 3-4 days here and visit the major areas like Shibuya, Shinjuku, Akihabara, Ginza, Harajuku, Asakusa as well as parks, museum and so on that might interest you.

Next, you take the bullet train (Shinkansen) to either Osaka or Kyoto. This will be your base for about 5 days. If you like to stay in a city with more traditional temples, choose Kyoto. If you enjoy a busier city, choose Osaka. In either case you’ll be able to visit both as much as you want as only 30-60 minutes separates the cities. Also, when you stay here, take a day-trip to Nara. It will be a day-trip that you will surely remember. To spark your interest and imagination, Nara is a city where deer run around freely around the city. You’ll be able to interact with the animals as you walk around. Nara also the world’s largest Buddha bronze statue (Toudai-ji).

When you are done with Osaka/Kyoto-area it’s time to head back to Tokyo again. The remaining days you could use to visit places you missed the first days and do some shopping before heading home.

This is a very brief and not detailed itinerary. But hopefully it gets the ball rolling on where to visit in Japan. It’s a popular route amongst first-time visitors. We would also like to mention that if a itinerary like this seems appealing to you, you should consider purchasing a Japan Rail Pass or Willer Express Bus Pass. Taking the train in Japan is VERY expensive.

Some time has passed since our last blogpost. Today I have post that is long overdue. In December I took a flight that took me across the Atlantic. I spent 3 weeks in Chile, the land of wineries, empanadas and great outdoor experiences. I and my travel companion arrived in the 30th of December, just in time to the New Year’s celebrations. We spent new year’s with some family and friends at a restaurant in the outskirts of Santiago. I’m glad we did, we got to experience the real Chile with great food and a lot of dancing! Cumbia is definitely the most popular type of dancing during celebrations in Chile but we also got a chance to watch the local dance “Cueca”, the national dance of Chile. If you ever visit Chile I strongly encourage you to experience the dancing culture. If you don’t dance you should at least visit a show. It’s part of the experience. But today I’ll leave the dancing-topic with the video below.

Cueca from Chile

Anyhow. During our stay “in” Santiago we were situated just outside of Santiago, about 20-30 min outside of the city. This gave us the opportunity to experience the countryside and relax a bit. The first few days we spent in the countryside simply relaxing, reconnecting with family and getting to know the country. It’s hard not to relax is the environment shown below…

The days when we were not too lazy we traveled to downtown Santiago to get a view of the city. The city offers excellent commuting, the best way to move around in the city is with Metro, it might be a bit crowded during rush hours but it surely the most effective way to move around.

Santiago, Chile

In Santiago you can experience excellent shopping and dining. But you if you visit Chileyou shouldn’t spend too much time in the capital. Chile has much more to offer. So bring a guide book and check off the typical tourist must see locations and move on. Chile is a narrow but very long country with the Atacama desert in the north and the Patagonia wilderness in the south. That is why we left Santiago as soon as possible. We headed south to the city of Pucón to start the real adventure. The village of Pucón and the surrounding region offers a lot of outdoor activities. It’s a “must visit” for anyone that is visiting Chile and looking for some outdoor experiences. Pucón offers the whole package; whitewater rafting, kayaking, trekking, canyoning, horse trips etc. All in a green mountain region. During our stay in the south this was my personal favorite. Each day we chose one tour to take/do and in the evening we either relaxed in our cabana or visited one of the many restaurants/bars.

Pucón Chile

Los tres saltos Huepil Pucón

White water rafting in Pucón, Chile

During my stay in Chile I covered only a fraction of the land. There is wayyyyy more to see, eat, do… With that said, I can really only give you this short “article” that consists mostly of photos to possibly spark an interest the land. It’s well worth a visit but you are going to need time, lots of it. According to Wikipedia the country is 4270 km. So plan ahead to make sure that you are able to experience what Chile has to offer.

Today we start our journey together to create a fresh and friendly place for people from around the world. Monkey on a plane! – is meant to be a relaxed travel community for people to where people can read articles, watch cool videos and rest their eyes on beautiful pictures from around the world. We have had a hard time about labeling the site. The website is about travels but at the same time it is much more than that. We did however try to explain it on our About-page. We will must certainly update this page as we go along and shape the future of this website together with the community.

If you visit us during the comings weeks you will probably see a lot of changes taking place. We are still under a construction-phase.