I’m traveling to Japan with three friends this spring to try to follow the cherry blossom full bloom through a good chunk of the country. Three of us (including me) are first-timers. We have our plane tickets booked but everything else is currently wide open. We still have tons of time to plan, but I just wanted to throw out the the sketch itinerary I have right now and see if my sense of travel times and overnights is broadly correct.
**Caveats and Uncertainties**
Yes, I know planning this early for cherry blossom season is dicey. This is by no means a final schedule and we’ll be making adjustments well into early 2023 as the forecast comes in. I did look up the full bloom dates for the last few years and eyeballed off of that.
This whole plan might go in the garbage anyway because I *really* want to see a New Japan Pro Wrestling show live and they’re probably not going to announce their spring 2023 schedule until their January 4 show. Who knows.
I think the Kyoto stop might be a day too long, but I’m not sure what to do with it. I wasn’t planning on going to any amusement parks, but I’m wondering if Super Nintendo World might be worth slotting in. Alternately, we might fit a day trip (or maybe an overnight?) to Mt. Koya? Might also be worth stretching the Hiroshima section by a day, it feels slightly rushed now that I’m looking at it.
We’re taking trains everywhere, and with this much train travel we’re absolutely getting JR passes, although I haven’t done the math on if we should get 21 days or 14 days.
Anyway despite obsessing over this and researching a ton I don’t actually know what I’m doing, I don’t really travel much and I’ve certainly never planned (or even really gone on) a trip of this scale before. Let me know what you think!
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|Date|Overnight In|Time|Notes|
|:-|:-|:-|:-|
|Mar 23|Tokyo|Afternoon|Arrival at Narita, check in, explore around the hotel, try to at least fight the jet lag until after dinner|
|24 – 28|Tokyo|—|Tokyo exploration days (I absolutely have not planned this out yet, there’s sooo much). Based on recent trends full bloom probably happens while we’re here. Day trip to Kanagawa in here somewhere.|
|29|Nagasaki|—|Travel to Nagasaki (\~8 hours). Big travel day.|
|30||Day|Peace Park, penguin aquarium, maybe Gunkanjima?|
||Nagasaki|Night|Inasayama night view!|
|31||Morning|Travel to Hiroshima (\~3 hours)|
||Hiroshima|Afternoon/Evening|Peace Park, Castle?|
|Apr 1|Hiroshima/Miyajima|—|Either a day trip to Miyajima or an overnight stay (might be a good time for a ryokan?)|
|2||Morning/Afternoon|Day trip to Okunoshima (\~2 hours, via Kure Line from Mihara) (bunny!)|
||Onomichi|Afternoon/Evening|Travel to Onomichi (\~1 hour). Probably don’t have time (or energy) to do the Temple Walk, but can cable car to Senkou-ji for hanami|
|3||Morning/Afternoon|Day trip to Himeji (\~2 hours)|
||Osaka|Evening|Travel to Osaka (90 min), explore at night|
|4||Morning/Afteroon|Aquarium (whale shark!), castle hanami|
||Kyoto|Evening|Travel to Kyoto (30 min)|
|5 – 8|Kyoto|—|Kyoto exploration days. Fushimi Inari, Hirano Jinja, Kiyomizudera, Kinkakuji, Arayshiyama (monkeys!), Train Museum, etc. Day trip to Nara in here somewhere.|
|9||Morning|Travel to Kanazawa (\~2 hours)|
||Kanazawa|Afternoon/Evening|Kenrokuen, Ninjadera, Geisha Evenings (is that still running?)|
|10|Tokyo|Afternoon/Evening|Travel to Tokyo (\~2.5 hours)|
|11|Tokyo|—|Day trip to Nikko|
|12||Morning|Travel to Kawaguchiko (\~2 hours).|
||Kawaguchiko|Evening|Stay at a ryokan (we’re looking at Konansou, which I’ve seen a ton of people recommend). Hopefully we get a view of Fuji!|
|13|Tokyo|Afternoon/Evening|Travel to Tokyo (\~2 hours). Last night!|
|14||Afternoon|Depart from Haneda|
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