As the title states, i’m pretty overwhelmed trying to plan this out last minute (i leave in 8 days), and could use some guidance. The general plan is to arrive in tokyo to meet up with friends who also visiting from seattle and do tokyo for a few days, then when they leave for Nagano to ski I have 4 days solo, then rejoin them and stay in an airbnb together in Kyoto for the last few nights before heading back to tokyo.I have one more night than them and will probably ride back with them stay in tokyo before flying out the next night at 9 pm.
Trying to figure out what to do with those 4 days alone is making my brain melt from decision fatigue! Some ideas are: Kamakura day trip or 1 night stay, Hakone one night stay, takayama bc it sounds secluded and peaceful but its out of the way from the rest of my trip. Same thing with Nikko. Another option could be staying in osaka for a couple days since they/we are only maybe taking a day trip from kyoto to visit there, and then exploring the city or taking a day trip to kobe. You’ll see in the itinerary we don’t have a lot of set things planned in tokyo or kyoto either, and trust we’ll find great things by exploring, but very open to essential things to hit in the big 3 cities as well.
*Things i’m looking for*:
a town or day trip to a place that has forests,
Good food (i’m a pretty big foodie) but i assume the big cities will satisfy this
At least one solid kaiseki meal
places that are ideal to go to now, in late feb-early march
A least a day or two somewhere more calm to split between the 2 big cities. Preferably one of those places has onsen. Hopefully not ultra touristy/overproduced and crowded (flexible with crowds). I switched from hakone to kinosaki onsen bc of this.
Getting to experience places of spirituality/relaxation. Temples and forests and shrines sound like they would appeal to this. But as I’ve read and researched more about it there are temples and shrines everywhere ..
Castles or other cool places with ancient history.
A really good massage.
*Some background:* 32/m coming from Seattle but grew up in Hawaii. 1st time to japan as well as travelling outside of the country(!) Booked this on a last minute whim and so don’t know much more than very basic japanese. Want to budget where I can so I can splurge on nice things like a night or two in a ryokan and nice meals.
**Here is my rough itinerary so far:**
**2/25** arrive at 7 pm via haneda airport. Meeting up with friends in tokyo who arrived day before. Airbnb is in shinjuku.
**2/26-2/27** explore tokyo. Only set things are Teamlabs and market
**2/28** friends depart to ski in Nagano fairly early. Deciding between day trip to kamakura or hakone/atami/peninsula and if should stay the night in any of these places or go back to tokyo.
(unless i forward my luggage to the next place and take shinkansen there?)
**2/29** leave for kyoto or osaka and stay in cheap hotel or ryokan. Explore a little bit.
**3/1** leave for kinosaki onsen and stay the night there at hopefully at least midtier ryokan
**3/2** go back to kyoto/osaka then do day trip somewhere? Nara? Kobe?
**3/3** meet with friends in kyoto (if i’m not already there) and check in airbnb. Explore the city.
**3/4-3/5** keep exploring kyoto and maybe take a day trip to osaka or nara.
**3/6** Go back with friends to tokyo. They fly out and I stay for one more night.
**3/7** Fly out in the evening, around 9 pm.
Thank you if you’ve made it this far and for any helpful advice you can give. Please advice on if a JR pass would be worth it also.
by jucangoanywhere