As unguided tours are becoming more possible, a friend and I are currently looking to re-visit Japan. I’m looking to start our journey from Hiroshima and make our way back up to Tokyo visiting many cities along the way. Most of the trip will be flexible in that besides maybe Shimanami Kaido and Kanazawa, other cities or attractions can be omitted if the schedule deems to be too hectic.
Also, for some context, I’ll be working remotely in Tokyo ahead of this trip for about 3 weeks. I’ll be making day trips and weekend trips to various areas around Tokyo like Kamakura, Kichijoji, Saitama, Chiba, Yokohama, Hakone, etc.
Day 1
– Start off in Tokyo (6am) bullet train to Hiroshima (arrive 10am)
– Visit WW2 memorial sites
– Explore a bit of the city
Day 2
– Miyajima in the morning into the late afternoon
– Head off to Onomichi towards the start of the evening
Day 3
– Start of the Shimanami Kaido
– Target to take two days for this.
– Accomodations in one of the islands
Day 4
– Finish the cycling route by evening
– Head off towards Okayama
Day 5
– Korakuen Garden
– Omotecho Shopping Street
– Noumaru Engei Kibiji Farm
Day 6
– Off to Himeji (maybe skipping Himeji)
– Himeji Castle & Kokoen Garden
– Off to Kobe at the evening?
Day 7
– Kobe Nunobiki Herb Gardens
– Kobe China Town
– Kobe Meriken Park
– Kobe Harborland
Day 8
– Early morning travel to Osaka
– Been to Osaka twice already and am going again to visit some areas that I missed
– Evening travels to Kyoto
Day 9
– Also been to Kyoto 2x already. Just re-visiting lesser known areas / places I missed
– Omi Jingu Shrine
Day 10
– Early morning off to Kanazawa from Kyoto
– Was thinking about throwing a stop between Kanazawa and Kyoto to see Fukui but didn’t find many interesting things in Fukui. (Any recs besides shrines/temples/dino museum?)
– Omicho Market
– Explore around Kanazawa Castle
– Contemporary Art Museum
Day 11-12
– Recommendations? I thought about Nagoya/Hamamatsu but don’t have strong opinions on these places.
– Alternatively, I can take these two days to spend more time in other areas/days that might be too rushed
Day 13 & 14
– Tokyo prepare for flight back home
Questions:
1. Since I’m planning to go from Tokyo to Hiroshima and then eventually back to Tokyo I thought I would most definitely benefit from using the JR Pass but the 14 day price is pretty steep. Using a JR Pass fare calculator my trip would roughly cost 42,000 yen which is still less than the cost of a JR Pass for 14 days. It doesn’t seem worth it (especially since I feel like buying it will give me sunken cost fallacy and I’ll end up trying to speed run locations to get my moneys worth). am I crazy to think that?
Thanks for any inputs or suggestions!
