Hello Everyone! We will be traveling to Japan in late fall this year as a group of 4. This is our first time visiting Japan, but between all of us we have a lot of experience traveling. We have spent many weeks agonizing over this itinerary and would like to confirm whether we are being greedy with the number of things we want to do. We all tend to be fairly active travelers and want to experience a balance of nature, culture and city related activities. We want to visit all all the famous must visit places but would like to venture into less traveled places given time. Nothing is set in stone other than overall trip dates.
Day 0 (Nov 22)
Travel day from USA. Arrive late in Osaka and check into hotel. Sleep.
Day 1 (Nov 23) Osaka
No specific plans. Take it easy, enjoy the city and food while recovering from jet lag. Food tour? Stay the night in Osaka.
Day 2 (Nov 24) – Koyasan
Leave in morning for Koyasan where we will stay the night in a Shukubo. Visit Okunoin (night tour???) , Garan, Daimon gate and Kongobuji Temple. We will bring day bags and ship luggage to our Kyoto accommodation.
Day 3 (Nov 25) – Kyoto (3 nights) (Possibly staying in Kyoto Hyatt Place)
Wake up early for morning meditation, fire ceremony and breakfast. Possibly stay a bit if we missed any must-do’s but otherwise depart for Kyoto. Lunch in Kyoto then do Philosopher’s path.
Day 4 (Nov 26) Kyoto
Arashiyama bamboo groves first thing followed by Sagano romantic train and surrounding temples. Tea ceremony. Kinkaku-ji.
Day 5 (Nov 27) Nara day trip
Nara day trip. See the deer, Todaiji temple and mochi. Do stuff near hotel in Kyoto – Nijo castle? Kyoto gyoen national garden?
Day 6 (Nov 28) Kyoto->Kanazawa
Full morning and early afternoon in Kyoto. Late check out of hotel?
Fushimi Inari first thing. Then move to Gion and surrounding areas.
Depart for Kanazawa in late afternoon and arrive after dark. Check into hotel in Kanazawa.
Day 7 (Nov 29) Kanazawa
Spend morning and early afternoon in Kanazawa. Kenrokuen gardens and Higashi-chaya district. Depart Kanazawa for Nagano in late afternoon/early evening.
Day 8 (Nov 30) Nagano->Hakone
Early day in Nagano. See the snow monkeys. Head to Hakone midday to check into ryokan before dark. Pirate ship?
Day 9 (Dec 1) Hakone
Enjoy onsen in the morning before check out. Open Air Museum. Depart for Tokyo, are thinking of staying in Ueno area. Spend afternoon in Ueno near hotel if time permits. Senso-ji and Asakusa area at night?
Day 10-15 (Dec 2-8) Tokyo
2 days I will be working. These will act as flex/rest days for everyone else. Night life, culture classes and/or shopping in the evening. Below are in no particular order.
Day trip to Nikko
2) Meiji jingu shrine, gingkos, Folk art museum, Observation deck (Shibuya sky or Tokyo metropolitan government building) Walk through Shibuya crossing (at night?)
3) Team Lab planets and or borderless first thing in the morning then to Imperial palace and gardens. Some type of cultural experience/class in afternoon. Akihabara at night.
4) Koishegawa gardens, more Ueno and shopping.
Throughout we will eat a lot!
Day 16 Departure
Flight leaves late morning.
Questions
Our largest area of uncertainty is days 6-9. We are not sure if this is a realistic schedule and are not sure what to do with our luggage in this time frame (I worry carrying 3 nights of clothes in small day bags is too much if we ship the larger bags). As much as we are interesting in spending some time in the mountains I feel this is straining our schedule overall. Alternatively we have considered dropping Nagano in favor of 2 nights of Kanazawa. As excited as we are about some time in the mountains, we are debating if parts or all of this leg need to be nixed.
Visiting a ryokan with onsen is a must for us but we a flexible on location if anyone has recommendation that is more on the way than Hakone (prefer traditional with private bath and views of nature).
We are also on the fence about Koyasan and may substitute it for time in Shirakawa-go or more time elsewhere such as Kyoto/Osaka. Is it worth it?
Please advise about specific scheduled Kyoto and Tokyo days. Are they over or under booked? HAve me missed any obvious must do’s?
We appreciate any advice!