First (and probably only) time in Japan, will be traveling with my sister in the last week of October and first week of November (23rd Oct – 8th November). This is frankly my first time traveling out of my home country at all and Japan has been a dream of mine for so long that I'm very open to the fact that I am probably packing in too many things. Please let me know if I'm trying to do too much or if there are better ways to fit everything in. Also open to any suggestions for places to visit in the locations I'm visiting. My interests are mostly historical and scenic while avoiding crowds as far as possible.
The plan is to have a JR Pass (justified with all the back and forth I'll be doing) from the 24th of October to the 5th of November (if my math isn't wrong, although it most often is :') ). Probably also a Tokyo Metro Pass for the 6th and 7th of November when we'd be in Tokyo fulltime.
Landing 23rd October at Narita, travel to Tokyo and spend the night.
24th October –> Yamadera in Yamagata, and if time allows, Zuihoden in Sendai. Head to Kanazawa where we will be staying for the next three days.
25th October –> From Kanazawa, travel to Nagano for Matsumoto Castle in the morning and after lunch to Narai-juku then back to the hotel.
26th October –> Kurobe and Sarutobi Gorges, giving the whole day for these. Probably reaching Kanazawa around 5 so walk evening walk around Kazuemachi/Higashi Chaya and Nagamachi Samurai districts.
27th October –> Inuyama Castle and The Tokugawa Art Museum (+ gardens), head to Osaka in the evening. Staying in Osaka for the next seven days
28th October –> First day in Kyoto. Seeing Fushimi Inari, Fujinomori, Tofukuji and then going to Uji around 1/2 pm. Back to Kyoto for late evening Gion and then to the hotel in Osaka.
29th October –> The entire day for the Nachi Falls area (yes I'm aware most of the day would be just travel by train but I would really, really love to see Nachi Falls.)
30th October –> Tango Akamatsu to Amanohashidate (which will probably take up most of the day). If there's any time left in the day we'll probably do something in Kyoto before heading back to the hotel.
31st October –> Again in Kyoto, visiting Kiyomizudera, Sannenzaka Ninenzaka, Kodaiji, Eikando Zenrinji and Nijo Castle
1st November –> Sakurai for Tanzan shrine/Hasedera temple (haven't yet decided which one) in the morning, Kasuga Taisha (if time permits) and a few hours walking around Yamato Koriyama
2nd November –> Himeji Castle and the Bizen-Osafune Sword Museum
3rd November –> Okayama Prefectural Museum and Miyajima
4th November –> Osaka, where the only fixed thing is Sumiyoshi Taisha and the rest of our time would be spent on whatever catches our fancy (probably a lot of it for food tbh). That evening we head back to Tokyo for the remainder of the trip.
5th November –> Day trip to Hakone, stopping in at Odawara Castle first. Then Okada Museum of Art, Hakone Shrine and the Pampas grass fields.
6th November –> Tokyo National Museum, The Japanese Sword Museum, Rikugien and any restaurants/shopping that would fit along the way.
7th November –> Purely souvenir shopping and restaurants.
8th November –> Back to Narita Airport to fly home.
I'm aware most of my days are too crowded for eki stamp collecting and I'm intensely uncomfortable around religion so I likely won't be collecting goshuin. I'll keep a notebook with me just for any stamps I do happen upon though. It's mostly the Kyoto and Hakone days that look like they'll be very busy. I think the rest of it seems alright? Do let me know!
by LogKey5701
8 comments
Kyoto looks too rushed. Fushimi Inari isn’t something that should be spedrun IMO.
Genuinely confused by several parts of this itinerary.
* Why are you staying in Kanazawa from the 24th-26th when you’re not actually doing anything in Kanazawa (except for one evening)? Stay in Nagano, it will cut down on travel time overall including on the 27th towards Nagoya/Inuyama.
* On the 29th, Nachi Falls is not worth eight hours by train + all that bus and hiking. It may technically be the tallest in Japan or something but it is nowhere near the impressiveness of the great waterfalls of the world (or even the above average waterfalls of the world – it’s only meaningful when combined with the wider spiritual significance, which you won’t have time to explore).
* Not sure why Yamato Koriyama is the selected small Nara town to be exploring…The castle ruins are really only famous for sakura and Imai-cho (for example) is much more scenic if you want a random Nara prefecture town.
24th October is crazy. I wouldn’t do it. You will be jetlagged/tired from the trip then subject yourself to 3 hrs of travel to Yamadera in the morning, then over an hour back to Sendai, then Sendai to Kanazawa 3h 45m. Spending 8 hours on trains just after arrival is far from the best of plans on a day you should essentially be taking slow. You look to be wanting to cramp a 4 week holiday into 2 weeks. The only way to fit all this in is doubling your holiday time. Needless to say 1 day in Osaka and 2 days in Tokyo and Kyoto each is ridiculous.
u/[Disc_Infiltrator](/user/Disc_Infiltrator/) is correct. Zuihoden is worth seeing but your time traveling is insane.
i think your itinerary is too rushed and you’re leaving yourself little room for error, especially since it is your first time visiting japan. you will need some time to acclimate to japanese train systems—some are straightforward but some bigger stations may be confusing. many of your trips require multiple connections and some are across various modalities of travel (e.g., bullet train, local train, and ferry).
you’re also choosing strange places to base out of. i would take another look at your areas of interest and find a spot that is more central if you want to be travelling back and forth. why are you based in kanazawa when you’re visiting sendai/yamagata area and nagano areas extensively? just stay in nagano two nights to save travel time/energy and decompress. you can move to kanazawa on 26th.
also, your luggage situation may be tricky d/t limited storage at stations, unless you plan on shopping to your hotel beforehand. i also would not recommend using jr pass/bullet train as a subway-type transit. it’s not as flexible as you are led to believe. for example, if you miss a train booked on your JR pass, you can’t reserve a seat on the same trip for 24 hours. you will have to pay out of pocket for a reserved seat or perhaps stand the entire journey.
Trust me, as someone who just did a very similar thing, I’d 100% just stick to 3 cities and take some day trips/ overnight stays. Everything takes longer than it seems, and you’ll quickly miss out on things you did want to do, for example, walking up to Kiyomizu-dera takes significantly longer than Google maps allows, you’ll want to stop and look at some of the shops on the way etc. and that 3 hours you set aside is gone before you’ve even managed to explore.
As others have said, the first days on its own are wild.
Tokyo -> Yamadera -> Sendai -> Kanazawa only to go back to Nagano the next day?! Why?
I just recently was in Sendai for 7 nights and visited Yamadera (and Yamagata) as a day trip and taking the Shinkansen via Fukushima back to Sendai. Yamadera ist beautiful and Sendai is a nice city, but I would say both are not worth this detour.
I stayed in Kanazawa just to visit Toyama and the Amaharashi coast. Kanazawa as a city is very nice to stay and both regions were worth a visit. But from Kanazawa that was only a 20min Shinkansen ride. Not two hours one way to get to Nagano in your case.
My advice: just go from Tokyo to Kanazawa or even spend one night in Nagano. Skip Sendai and Yamadera on your first trip to Japan.
You’re not going to Japan to see the inside of a train. Spend time walking the markets, plan a garden or other nature every other day, enjoy the food, enjoy the many artisan crafts.