Hi all,
We are looking for advice for a 20 day itinerary to Japan. We are arriving in early October and leaving on the 30th. Truthfully I don't know much about Japan other than the cute things my partner shows me on Instagram. I've looked at various itineraries here and elsewhere for three weeks – and they mostly appear the same with the Tokyo – Osaka – Kyoto – Hiroshima – Tokyo route. I think I'm finding Japan difficult to plan due to the sheer volume of places and things to do, certainly far more than any other country I've visited before.
We looking for something more nature oriented, so we were thinking of cutting Hiroshima out and using that time for the Japanese Alps instead. I'm hoping someone can help us fill in the gaps. Our budget is $7500 in total for two people, excluding flights which we already paid for.
Really what we want is this:
MANDATORY:
Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto (X Days; 2 days buffer on return before flight home in Tokyo at least)
Fuji (day trip)
Nara (day trip)
Kobe (day trip)
An Onsen
A fancy Ryokan for 2 nights
Nature (Japanese Alps or something similar for X days / Skiing / Hiking)
OPTIONAL
Geothermal Monkeys (Jigokudani)
Nikko (day trip)
Hakone (day trip, or maybe 2 days at an Onsen here?)
Are there any terse 'history of Japan' books that anyone would recommend? I'm not really interested in the time before Shintoism or Zen or after the industrialisation.
Apologies for being sort of vague, thanks in advance.
I've put together this barebones itinerary, but the Alps are missing 🙁 so I'm looking for some advice
Tokyo
5 days + 1 day trip in Nikko + 1 day in Fuji = 7 days
Kyoto
3 days + 1 day trip to Nara = 4 days
Osaka
3 days + 1 day trip to Kobe = 4 days
Hakone
2 days here. This seems to be ideal for a ryokan/private Onsen?
Tokyo
- 2 more days before departing
That brings it to 19 days.
(I'm posting this here as it was removed from the parent subreddit for being too vague)
by Consistent_Tutor9419