Hello – I'm trying to decide between Kanazawa area, Nikko, and/or Lake Towada/Oirase stream.
I will be in Japan for the first two weeks of November on a solo trip. I would like to see one or more mountain regions during as close to peak fall foliage as timing allows. These locations will be in addition to an itinerary that includes Kyoto and Tokyo. I'm trying to divide my trip into thirds with my time split between urban areas, cultural experiences, and nature.
Kanazawa activities:
- Day 1: Kenroku-en garden, Hihashi Chaya District, and possibly Omicho Market. I think this will be a fairly easy day since activities are all pretty close together and none require more than a couple of hours each.
- Day 2: Rent a car and drive from Kanazawa through Hakusan Shirakawago White Rd to Shirakawago as a day trip. I will probably return to Kanazawa via a different route to save time or even drop the car off at a different location in Toyoma and stay the night near there. This day will include lots of driving with several stops on the way including exploring Shirakawago for a couple hours. Maybe a short hike but nothing too long or strenuous. I'm aware of the need to get an international drivers license.
Day 3: Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route. However, I might drop alpine route off the itinerary just due to the time involved. If I were to keep it on the itinerary I would ideally stay on the route overnight. I might try to just keep it to a single day but I feel like that's pushing the pace a bit aggressively if I’m doing round trip. I'm inclined to go round trip from the western entrance via Toyama because getting anywhere other than Matsumoto from the eastern entrance (Ogizawa) seems to be very time consuming.
I was originally planning to do Kurobe Gorge scenic railway, but it looks like most of the track will still be shut down by the time of my trip and what is open doesn't seem worth going to on its own.
My activities for both Lake Towada/Oirase stream as well as Nikko are less defined, but I think the typical leaf peeping and related nature focused tourist activities in both areas will be the focus. In Lake Towada the lake cruise and the Oriase stream walking path would be included. I'm a little less certain on what I would do in Nikko, but I know there are a ton of resources out there to help me make that decision.
Both Nikko and Kanazawa seem easy to get to via Tokyo with travel time generally under three hours each way depending on the exact train. Lake Towada/Oirase is looks like it is at least 5-6 hours in travel time each way. Kanazawa has the potential added benefit of not having to backtrack in any direction if I chose to head to Kyoto directly from there.
As of now I'm leaning towards Kanazawa with a day trip to Nikko, although I really would like to do at least one night in Nikko if I were to go there. Lake Towada/Oirase stream seems to be potentially the most beautiful during peak fall foliage, but it's just so far away.
Thank you for any advice!
by DodgersBum
