14-Day Itinerary (excl. 3-day air travel) – Hakone, Lake Kawaguchi. Kyoto/Nara, Magome/Tsumago & Tokyo

13 comments

1. Jealous. I lived in Tsumago 25 years ago and keep hoping to make it back. Try and walk up to Kisojikan hot spring up the hill from Tsumago.

2. What do you mean by not sure about November temperature ? It is actually not really cold, so just an autumn jacket should be ok. We are not talking about Canada weather where we are expecting first snow in November. I think it is one of the most comfortable month to be in Japan.

   JR Pass, that is a close call for 7 days (day 5 to 11). If you buy if from JR directly, it should be about the same price, and likely save around 3500 yen if you buy if from a reseller (travel agent), but you will save less if you buy online and pay for shipping. Also you will want to use JR to go to Nara, so it will add a good 2km of walk on that day.

   First thing is that I would switch Kawaguchiko and Hakone. It will be easier to reach Kyoto from Hakone than from Kawaguchiko, this way, you can realistically get to Kyoto for lunchtime if you start from Hakone. Actually, you could even just do Kawaguchiko as a day trip from Tokyo once you return.

   When you get to Kyoto, I would right away bring bag to the hotel, even before check-in, you can even get lunch in nishiki market and should still have time to go to Kinkaku-ji. At least, doing this you would not have your luggage to deal with for the rest of the day.

   I do not know what plan you want to get at the different ryokan, but if you go with breakfast included, you might not be able to get out as soon as you wrote.

   Start by Ueno and not Akihabara. The main focus of Akihabara is shopping, and shop do not open before 10-11am. Same will be true the following day for Takeshita street, you might want to go check Meiji-jingu before as it open much earlier.

   I felt that oriental bazaar was a bit oriented toward foreigners in the type of product they sell. In general I found that shopping at regular shops to be more interesting.

   If you go after August 31, then no Borderless as it will close.

   I would not plan 2 free days. Just plan things to see and if you are tired and want to take it relax, then do not follow the plan and just relax. If you are really into anime/manga stuff, you can also consider going to the anime stores in Ikebukuro or Nakano instead of returning to Akihabara. And one of the big place that is most often in itineraries that you do not have is Asakusa.

3. November is lovely with the autumn leaves, one of my favourite times to go to Japan. You will need a jacket but otherwise the weather is really pleasant.

   Day 6 – For bamboo grove are you referring to the one in Arashiyama? It would be a bit out of the way compared to the other places you are going. If you must go then I would suggest first thing in the morning but I feel it will make the day a bit rushed.

   Day 9 – Philospher’s Path is a nice walk but consider spending time at Arashiyama if you don’t make it on Day 6. Also Kinkaku-ji is worth checking out, or if you are there during autumn leaves then maybe spend time checking out some of the nice viewing spots.

   Day 15 – If you want to hunt down collectibles then consider going to Nakano Broadway instead of another trip to Akihabara.

4. I’ll say two things that popped out to me. I’m sure there is more, but it’s late!

   One is the arrival. Going from Tokyo to Hakone on the day of arrival will suck. It’s going to be a lot of trains, buses and changes- all with your bags. It’s just not going to pleasant. I’d stay the first night in Tokyo- then forward your bags the next morning so you don’t have to worry about large luggage en route to Hakone. Anything more than a backpack is going to be a hindrance on the Hakone transportation.

   The other is the Kawaguchiko to Kyoto day. It’s another day of long bus and train rides, and I don’t think getting in to Kyoto and heading to Kinkakuji is a good idea. Kinkakuji is in the far corner of the city, and not particularly close to anything else. Much better to arrive and keep it close the first afternoon- hit up Gion and downtown, or maybe Niko. I reckon it will be more pleasant!

5. I know you don’t want to hear it, but May is unrealistic. That’s only 3 months and a few days away. Some of Japan is under a quasi state of emergency now, and more parts of Japan will likely be soon. Over 10,000 new cases of Covid alone per day this weekend in Tokyo alone. Even if they allow foreign tourists in, there will be a quarantine, so you’ll be stuck in a hotel for 10 days.

   Other than that, if you maybe visit in Fall, and magically there’s no quarantine, your plan looks busy, but doable. For Kyoto, the bus is easier to get around than the train usually. You can also get daypasses for the bus which you can buy right on the bus from the driver. Day 6 looks a little too busy to me. You’re here and there in different parts of Kyoto. Philosophers’ Path is totally worth doing any time of the year. Tsukiji Fish Market is only a tiny fraction of what it used to be. It’s still worth checking out the area where it used to be. The market itself moved to Toyosu, so if you want to look into that. Be careful with TeamLab Borderless. They’re going to be closing, as is the whole VenusFort area, for redevelopment. I’m not sure when.

   You forgot Sensoji and a boat cruise down the Sumida River in Tokyo. You might also want to check out SkyTree. If not, at least go to the Tokyo Metro twin towers to get a free view of Tokyo. However, the observation floors could easily be closed due to Covid.

   I don’t see any castles in your itinerary. Maybe Odawara? Try to fit in Matsumoto before Tokyo? Maybe Osaka Castle while in the Kyoto/Nara area?

   You might want to check out the Meiji Shrine while at Harajuku (Takeshita). If any of you like gardens, there’s the Shinjuku Gyoen in Shinjuku. It’s quite large and nice. It’s also cheap.

6. Edit: I used Google maps and ended up looking up the wrong location. I still stand that the bamboo forest is STUNNING in the early morning though getting to it before sunrise in May is not possible via train. Taxi or biking there would be your only option. When you do go Google maps seems to give a very strange route? I suggest looking up directions to Arashiyama Station instead of the forest itself. there is the local train that takes you right to it. There are options (Not JR lines so you will need to pay but they dont cost much) that can get you there before or just shortly after 6am. So after sunrise but still super early so way less crowded.

   ~~For Kyoto, unless there is a specific reason you’re wanting to go in that order I highly suggest doing the bamboo forest first. In the current order that you have the day done up with you will be backtracking a lot and wasting precious time. Also your hotel is closer to the bamboo forest than Gion and Southern Higashiyama.~~ I went to the bamboo forest at 7am in late Dec and watched the sun rise there. It was so quiet and lovely. There wont be any tourist shops open until later but vending machines to get a drink and a 7-11 near the tram station if you need a snack

   Kyoto is so crowded, especially once things open up again, so I understand wanting to get to places super early especially when they are open 24h so you can avoid crowds. The bamboo forest is 1.1km (aprox 15min walk according to google maps) from Millenials kyoto then 8 min walk to Gion. With the sun rising in May around 5am it if very do able to enjoy a nice sunrise in the bamboo forest, walking into it in the dark (its not that dark we walked around for a few hours before sunrise) then walk back out in the light. Then be in Gion still well before it gets crazy busy with tourists, letting you get some much nicer pictures and calmer walk. I find the key is to either as early as possible or as late as possible to places that are open 24h. You cant completely avoid crowds but can at least have some time without them.

7. Isn’t Japan’s borders closed to tourists

8. Keeping timescale conversations aside as I wouldn’t personally be putting timescales around anything as we have no idea over when the borders will be reopened and I wouldn’t even speculate…

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   >I’m a little uncertain of travelling in October, as I’m not sure how the weather or temperature is at that time, and I’m not sure we would be able to see the autumn leaves. We have considered November as well for the autumn leaves, but again I’m not sure of the weather or temperature. I would to hear some of your experiences with these months – May, October and November

   According to a quick google, average high in October is 21.6C/70.9F with the average low being 16.3C/61.3C. For November, it’s average high of 16.5C/61.7F and average low of 10.9C/51.6F. This is for Tokyo so will vary depending on how north or south you’d go.

   I’ve gone in both October and Novamber and found the weather comfortable but I prefer that to extreme heat and humidity. I wore shorts in Early October and got away with jeans and a t-shirt without a sweatshirt quite a bit during the day in November, but then everybody will handle the temps differently.

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   **RE NARA**, I’d personally suggest checking out Kasuga Taisha in Nara.

   **RE Fushimi Inari** – if you can either get there for sunrise or sunset, I highly recommend. It’s still great even if you don’t, but I personally went for sunset and it was a really good experience (I’d just leave before it gets too dark because of wild boars lol).

   **RE different Pokemon Centres** – is there a reason you want to go to multiple pokemon centres? I’ve been to a few different ones and they genuinely are all the same. I think one is definitely a fun experience, but unless there was a particular reason why you want to do multiple, I’d personally just pick the 1 you want to go to most and do that one) but obviously it’s up to you and it’s not necessarily taking away that much time from you if you’re going to be nearby the them anyways.

   **RE Pokemon cafe (and themed cafes in general)** – do be prepared that you will very likely need to be on top of booking this in as many of these themed cafes can sell out quicker for bookings and don’t really have availability day of (or it’s limited and difficult to get).

   **RE stores in Akiba (and just in general)** – one tip of advice that we learned the hard way on our first trip was that you can veeerrryyy easily get lost in them (the bigger they are) and lose track of time. The majority of them didn’t really have any windows and the fact we were on pocket wifi with long days so not really using our phones much except for when we had to, we weren’t regularly paying attention to the time. it was **SOOOO** easy to let the time pass just in one store alone because you don’t see the outside world or the changing of the daylight, etc. Not really anything I’m suggesting changing, just calling it out so you don’t fall into the same trap I did where we ended up dedicated more time to shopping than I expected.

   **RE Tsukiji Fish Market** – are you looking for the markets/food or are you actually looking for the tuna auctions? (as you’ll want Toyosu Market for that).

   I originally was going to ask about bags but saw your edit. Are you factoring time for laundry as surely if you’re only traveling with light bags, you aren’t going to be able to carry too much in that sense. Have you also considered what you’re going to do about shopping (as – again – you have quite a few shops planned but if you’re only carrying light bags, how will the logistics of that work out?). Even with a light bag, you might want to consider asking the hotels if you can leave bags there early ahead of check-in on the days you’re planning on doing more physical activities like hiking or even just taking the trains during excessively busy times.

9. Be sure to hit up Hoto Fudo in Kowaguchiko. Excellent soup. Go early because they get really busy.

10. Check these out!

    Magomejuku Trail, (Old Nakasendo Trail)

    Fuji Lakes, Lake Yamanaka and Lake Motosu ( you can camp here)

    Last but not least, Takachiho Gorge by the Gokase River in Kyushu.

11. I last travelled to Japan in Mid to Late October and the weather was beautiful. The closer you get to November, the less chance of a rainy day (we had one light sprinkling day over about a 12 day trip). The weather in most places was cool enough for a light jacket or cardigan but also perfectly cool if you’re doing lots of walking so you don’t overheat.

    You’re unlikely to see leaves changing in most parts of the country (until atleast November) but it’s still a nice time to go, and it’s not too busy if you value that (not a high season). One other thing I enjoyed was all the autumn themes and flavours around. Lots of shops have Autumn harvest foods or flavoured foods, there were Halloween things. It was a real treat for me as I’m from Aus and Halloween isn’t much of a thing here.

    My previous trip before that was in May and whilst I still enjoyed it, it was a bit snug and the weather was a little harder to work with, especially on those long exploration days. The benefit of travelling in hotter weather though is that you can travel a bit lighter (with just t-shirts and such, no big thick jackets or warm clothing to lug around, although I didnt need to pack anything too heavy in October either).

12. If you go in mid-to-late November you’d have excellent weather for sightseeing and the best chance of seeing fall leaves. In Kyoto there are also lots of gardens and shrines/temples that have autumn illuminations from mid-November thru early December. This is great as, usually, all the gardens/shrines close by 5 pm. If you go during the autumn illuminations time you’ll get to see at least one more spot each evening before or after dinner as they’ll stay open til about 8 pm usually.

    – [Trip Report: Kyoto: Autumn Leaves Illuminations (mid-Nov to early Dec) ](https://www.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/comments/mjt5yf/kyoto_autumn_night_illuminations_at_temples_and/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf)

    There are also autumn leaves illuminations in the Tokyo area but the dates shift a bit each year based on when the leaves change. It’ll be earlier in places like Lake Kawaguchi and Hakone but likely late November in Tokyo area.

    – [Lake Kawaguchi: Autumn Leaves Festival ](https://jw-webmagazine.com/2018-fuji-kawaguchiko-autumn-leaves-festival-1c64e90dbfc9/)
    – [Lake Kawaguchi: 8 Recommended Places for Autumn Leaves](https://en.kawaguchiko.net/recommend-en/momiji/)
    – [Hakone Navi: 17 Spots for Autumn Leaves ](https://www.hakonenavi.jp/international/en/article/2734)
    – [5 Best Places to See Autumn Leaves at Night in Tokyo ](https://jw-webmagazine.com/best-places-to-see-autumn-leaves-in-tokyo-at-night/)

    So, while you might miss the cherry blossoms, if you can time your trip to fall during mid-November you’ll have an excellent chance of seeing lots of autumn leaves.

    Happy Planning!

13. One place I visited that was close to Kyoto and spectacular was Shirakawago. Check it out,
    You will never forget it.