Context: I will travel to Kansai for 4 days to see some friends around late july (25 to 28). I have 4 or 5 days before I have to go to Tokyo and I'm trying to figure out what to do, bearing in mind I will have to use trains to move around. In all honesty, I would like to go someplace cool and serene in the mountains and avoid urban landscapes for a while. I was thinking about finding interesting buddhist (or shugendo) sites that preferably aren't located in Koyasan and spending some time hiking and enjoying the forest.
So far I've thought of three possible options:
1- Fly cheap domestic from Osaka to Sendai on the morning of the 29th and stay in tohoku for a few days before getting a shinkansen to Tokyo from Sendai. I have never been to Tohoku and would really like to lounge around Dewa Sanzan but I don't know if I'll be able to accomodate such a jouney by relying on public transport. I'd like to hear your opinion on the matter.
2- Head down to southern Wakayama and check out a section of the Kumano Kodo and holy sites. This sounds very tempting to me but I'm afraid I won't be able to make it in time to the nearest Shinkansen station (Nagoya, I'm guessing) and then travel to Tokyo. Do you think I could travel from Tanabe to Nagoya over the span of 4 days, without being a rush 24/7?
3-Travel north west from Kyoto towards Fukui, stopping for a day in Shiga somewhere near the lake, before moving onto Echizen or Eiheiji (they have a skukubo program I am interested in; I have already been to Eiheiji but could not make it inside before it closed for the day). I'd like to go to Takayama and meet a friend, but once again, I'm skeptical about having enough time to make it to Nagano at a relative leisurely pace to catch a train to Tokyo. Maybe I should head south from Fukui and reach Tokyo from Nagoya? What do you think? Skip Takayama and head straight to Nagano for a stay around togakushi shrine?
I'm also open to spend time around Kyoto, like Kurama or Kibune or any other forested area, before heading to Kanto.
by Jon_12