Hello,
Posting my rough itinerary here for some compassionate souls to comment/help upon.
As background, my only visit to Japan was 7 years back (4 days in Tokyo).
Day 0 – Get a JR Pass beforehand.
Day 1 – Land in Narita in the afternoon. Validate JR pass, buy Suica. Ride Narita Express to Shinjuku. Take train to Matsumoto. Overnight in Matsumoto.
Day 2 – Early bus to Kamikochi. Reach there by 9 am. Do a Kappa Bashi Bridge, Tashiro Pond & Myojin Pond trail in 6 hours. Leave Kamikochi by 4 pm. Take bus to Takayama. Reach Takayama by 6 pm. Take train to Nagoya. Reach Nagoya by 9-9:30 pm. Overnight Nagoya.
Day 3 – Check out of hotel, keep bags at hotel & proceed to Suzuka circuit (huge F1 fan). Spend day there. Leave Suzuka at 4 pm, Arrive in Nagoya, pick up bags and catch Hikari to Kyoto. Overnight Kyoto.
Day 4 – Roam around Kyoto at leisure. Kept intentionally vague since last 3 days are shaping up to be a bit hectic. Overnight Kyoto.
Day 5 – Day trip to Nara. Overnight Kyoto.
Day 6 – Catch early train to Hiroshima. Do Peace park + Miyajima, in any order. Return to Kyoto late night. Overnight Kyoto.
Day 7 – Day trip to Amanohashidate. Again keeping this final day at leisure. Overnight Kyoto.
Day 8 – Check out of hotel and fly out of Japan through Kansai airport.
Do the learned people think this is a doable itinerary? Time of travel would be first week of October. Many thanks !
by deovratk