Hi all. I’m heading to Japan for the first time in May, for three weeks. My partner and I are mid-30s and fairly seasoned travellers. I’m broadly comfortable with our overall itinerary but a little unsure about two days of quite intense travel in the middle section, where we want to go from the Five Lakes area to Kanazawa via the alpine route. In particular I’m wondering whether it’s too ambitious in the time and we’re being overly optimistic about how smooth travel will be.
After a stay in Tokyo, we are planning the following:
– bus to Kawaguchiko from Shinjuku.
– stay 4 nights right near the station. Main plans are to see the Shibazakura festival, go to Fuji-Q and enjoy the lakes.
– travel from Kawaguchiko to Shinano-Omachi, for the start of the alpine route. I understand this journey would go through Matsumoto so I’d like to leave early, break for a few hours in Matsumoto to visit the castle and then go on to Shinano-Omachi/Omachi-onsen. I think we’d need to get a bus to Kofu from Kawaguchiko and then get a Shinkansen to Matsumoto and local train and bus on to Omachi-Onsen.
– stay 1 night at a hotel in Omachi-Onsen – Kurobe Kanko hotel or a neighbouring hotel.
– next day, we’d complete the alpine route, travelling onward to Kanazawa at the end.
– stay 2 nights Kanazawa (one full day). I figure we’ll be tired so mostly will plan to mooch around the famous garden.
After Kanazawa we would go on to Kyoto/Osaka.
I am worried the Kawaguchiko to Omachi Onsen day is a bit unrealistic? The alternative I think is to break for a night in Matsumoto, but I’m not sure where I would want to lose a night. It seems a shame however to go past Matsumoto without seeing the castle. Also worried we will get to Omachi onsen late and not get to see anything of the hotel and area. Any thoughts greatly appreciated!
Thanks 🙂
by Suspicious_Market702