Three of my friends and I will be visiting Japan for the first time in the fall and to say we are excited is an understatement. It will be our first time in Japan but we are no stranger to Japanese culture. We decided that the Golden Route is a must for the first time, but we also wanted to stop at some smaller places to get a small town experience as well. I recently discovered the Hokuriku line is touting itself as the new, less traveled Golden Route, which immediately piqued my interest. I saw that they offer a 7 day unlimited pass along the Hokuriku line for about the same price as a round trip shinkansen from Tokyo to Osaka on the Tokaido Line, and that seemed to perfectly fit what we had in mind. It's a little inconvenient for the going trip since it adds a few hours to the train duration being that it's a longer route and we have to switch from a shinkansen to an express train to get to Kyoto and Osaka, but on the way back it will allow us to stop at these smaller destinations and take multiple different shinkansen along the route at no extra charge.
We threw together an itinerary based on this. This is an early rough draft that we have no idea if it is feasible. We are willing to cut some of that out if necessary. We are in our late 20s and early 30s, so we don't think this is too much for us to handle, I'm just concerned if it'll fit within two weeks. Have we given ourselves generally enough time for each place, at worst only having to cut out a few things to fit this timeframe? Any suggestions or recommendations would be greatly appreciated thanks!
- October 29th (Afternoon) to November 3rd (Afternoon): Tokyo. We're looking at booking a hotel in Asakusa, Ueno, Shinjuku, or Shibuya. We'll be visiting those places in addition to Akihabara, Odaiba, Sky Tree, Nihonbashi, possibly the Tsuchiura or Narita firework festival on the 2nd and possibly Fuji-Q Highland. I'm sure we'll think of more, but this is probably already a lot for five days.
- November 3rd (Afternoon) to November 5th (Evening): Osaka and USJ. Minami (Dotonbori, Shinbashi, Den Den Town, Kuromon Market), Shinsekai, Osaka Castle, Osaka Waterfront (Osaka Aquarium, Naniwa Food Theme Park, Tempozan) and USJ. Besides USJ, we don't mind cutting some of these out.
- November 5th (Evening) to November 7th (Evening): Kyoto. All the major traditional sights we can fit (Fushimi Inari, Kiyomizu-dera, Kinkakuji, Arashiyama Forest), and staying in a renovated machiya.
- November 8th (Morning)Â to November 9th (Morning): Kanazawa. Kenrokuen, Seisonkaku Villa, lunch in Omicho Market, Nagamachi Samurai District, stopping for tea in Higashi Chaya District, and Fukumitsuya sake brewery. Not sure if one day is too short for here, but most of the things I listed seem like they can be done within an hour or two and we don't have to do everything.
- November 9th (Morning) to November 9th (Afternoon): Nagano/Jigokudani. Breakfast in Nagano as it is the closest station on the line, then to Jigokudani Monkey Park if the monkeys are there that day. If not, a few more hours in Nagano.
- November 9th (Evening) to November 10th (Afternoon): Kusatsu Onsen. Is one night enough? We could do one more night but then we'd have to pay for the train ticket back to Tokyo due to the expiring Arch Pass. If we want to spend some time in the town after checking out, is there a place to store our luggage for a few hours or will the onsen be kind enough to hold onto our luggage until we return?
- November 10th (Evening) to November 12th (Afternoon): Tokyo. Finish doing anything we missed and wind down for a 5:30 pm flight on the 12th.
by apav