Looking for a few specific pieces of advice for the second visit for my wife and I, where we’re also bringing my older (65+) but still active (avid runners, work out daily) parents. I’ll post a trip update when all is said and done.
**Questions:**
1. Is this itinerary too aggressive. We will be flying between Hokkaido and Osaka, but using trains otherwise
2. Does anyone have specific experiences with the following Ryokan in Noboribetsu – Noboribetsu Onsen Kyo Takinoya and Bourou Noguchi Noboribetsu . They both look solid, with the former looking more small luxury and the latter appearing to be more mass market luxury.
3. Is Arashiyama worth visiting in the February.
4. We will be transiting from NRT to HND as part of our arrival flights (SGN-NRT/HND-CTS), is it possible, or suggested, to leave our large luggage with Yamato/GPA at NRT and have it sent to our first hotel? We are going to be transitioning from an equatorial climate (Vietnam) to Hokkaido in the winter, so we are packing a completely separate set of luggage for Japan. Could we potentially send the luggage to our last hotel in Tokyo and have them hold it until we arrive (Ritz Carlton Tokyo) .
5. The dreaded final question; Is there anything that you would change? My wife and I have done a lot of the Osaka/Kyoto/Tokyo items, so if there is something that I haven’t picked up in my research, I’d love to hear about it, so that we can add some new content to that part of the trip.
6. Would you recommend a JR pass for this itinerary. Last time, we got one and didn’t get the value out of it. Right now I only really see one JR-Pass suggested journey in the itinerary, and it’s between Kyoto and Tokyo, and I’d rather take the Nozomi, which isn’t covered by the JR pass, as far as I can tell.
**Itinerary:**
​
|**Trip Day**|Start Location|End Location|Nearest Transit|Major Activity|
|:-|:-|:-|:-|:-|
|Day 1|CTS|Sapporo|Hosuisusukino Station |Travel|
|Day 2|Sapporo|Sapporo|Hosuisusukino Station |Snow Festival|
|Day 3|Sapporo|Sapporo|Hosuisusukino Station |Rest, Sapporo brewery|
|Day 4|Sapporo|Noboribetsu|Noboribetsu Station|Ryokan/Onsen|
|Day 5|Noboribetsu|Osaka|Honmachi|Travel, Dotonbori|
|Day 6|Osaka|Osaka|Honmachi|D:Matcha Tour|
|Day 7|Osaka|Osaka|Honmachi|Nara|
|Day 8|Osaka|Osaka|Honmachi|Universal Studios|
|Day 9|Osaka|Osaka|Honmachi|Aquarium|
|Day 10|Osaka|Kyoto|Honmachi|Arashiyama|
|Day 11|Kyoto|Kyoto|Kyoto Shiyakusho-mae|Nishiki Market |
|Day 12|Kyoto|Toyko|Kyoto Shiyakusho-mae|Shinkansen to Tokyo|
|Day 13|Tokyo|Toyko|Rappongi|Tokyo Disney|
|Day 14|Toyko|Toyko|Rappongi|TeamLabs|
|Day 15|Toyko|NRT|Rappongi|Travel|
2 comments
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>Is this itinerary too aggressive. We will be flying between Hokkaido and Osaka, but using trains otherwise
Osaka onwards is plenty of time. You can do a lot more in these days if you want to. The Hokkaido legs seems rushed as you could spend another day there but if your focus is just the Snow Festival and Noboribetsu then its fine.
>Is Arashiyama worth visiting in the February.
If you haven’t been to Kyoto then I would personally prioritise other areas of Kyoto. But if you have time then it’s worth a visit as long as you have the expectation that there won’t be much foliage etc.
>We will be transiting from NRT to HND as part of our arrival flights (SGN-NRT/HND-CTS), is it possible, or suggested, to leave our large luggage with Yamato/GPA at NRT and have it sent to our first hotel? We are going to be transitioning from an equatorial climate (Vietnam) to Hokkaido in the winter, so we are packing a completely separate set of luggage for Japan. Could we potentially send the luggage to our last hotel in Tokyo and have them hold it until we arrive (Ritz Carlton Tokyo) .
I’ve been to those areas in Feb and while Tokyo is warmer, you can essentially use the same set of clothes for both areas – so you don’t need to ship more clothes to Tokyo.
For Tokyo you will still need a warm jacket as it gets chilly in the evenings. The only things I would add to that for Sapporo would be thermals (both leggings and top), a couple of warm jumpers to layer, beanie and gloves.
>The dreaded final question; Is there anything that you would change? My wife and I have done a lot of the Osaka/Kyoto/Tokyo items, so if there is something that I haven’t picked up in my research, I’d love to hear about it, so that we can add some new content to that part of the trip.
If you have done large parts of it then maybe try and add in another stop and reduce the time in Osaka/Kyoto. Otherwise you might find it a bit repetitive?