Hey everyone on the subreddit.
I am going on a solo trip next week as of now primarily to the Kansai region with trips to Shikoku Island and possibly Hiroshima in mind. I have a round-trip ticket from Okinawa(OKA)-Osaka(KIX) w/ 14kg carryon and 1 checked luggage limit. I am 23 living in Okinawa and this is my first vacation.
As of now my Itinerary is as follows; I have not yet fully researched my plans for Kyoto so I am reaching out for advice on that and my current plans. Sort of last minute since I got plenty of work-leave to use before I leave Japan.
*8/7 Day One* – Fly to KIX; train to Namba Station ->nearby lodging; relax evening Dotonburi
*8/8 Day Two* – Walk to Namba Yasaka Shrine-> train to Osaka Castle+Museum of History-> train to Museum of Science & National Art Mueseum -> Umeda Sky Building
*8/9 Day Three(Monday)* – Shitennoji Temple -> Isshinji Temple -> Osaka Museum Fine Arts -> Tennoji Park -> Abeno Harukas -> Nighttime Shinsekai
*8/10 Day Four* – Universal Studios Japan all day
*8/11 Day Five NARA* – Kintetsu-Nara station walk to Kōfuku-ji, Todai-ji, Isui-en, Yoshikien, Kasuga-taisha etc as time permits; return to Osaka Chuo hostel
*8/12 Day Six Tokushima* -Early Nonstop bus from Osaka-Namba to Uzunomichi Observatory to see the Naruto Swirls; 1.5 hour of buses to Aibahama Park to see Awa Dance Festival on its first day, spend the night (possibly extend stay if its lit asf)
*8/13 Day Seven* – Return trip to Himeji Castle+Garden -> Oji Zoo (pandas) -> enjoy Harborland and Port Tower night view
*8/14 Day Eight* – Ikuta Shrine-> Rokko Cable Car + Ropeway OR Hiking Mt.Rokko-> Arima Onsen town explore & use onsen-> train to Kyoto for lodging
*8/15 Day Nine Kyoto* – Kiyomizu-dera; Sanneizaka; Nineizaka; Kōdaiji; Yasaka Shrine; Chion-in; ~Shōgunzuka; night Pontocho/Kiyamachi area as recommended by /u/.GrisTooki
8/16 Day 10 onwards to 16 I could use help planning, although I’ve used a lot of prior reddit wisdom to help make this itinerary as it is.
Notes: I was worried Day Two & Eight might be too packed. I’m keen to spend more time than usual in Kobe because I was named after the city. Not sure if day eight is too packed to fit cablecar+ropeway to arima onsen village. I orignally planned to go to Hiroshima but for now decided against it, any cheaper ways ways to Hiroshima than ~10,000 yen each way? I will link google sheets copy of this itinerary in comments.
7 comments
Matsuyama to Hiroshima by car isn’t too bad:
[https://www.rome2rio.com/map/Matsuyama-Ehime/Hiroshima#r/Car-ferry-drive](https://www.rome2rio.com/map/Matsuyama-Ehime/Hiroshima#r/Car-ferry-drive)
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It requires the ferry, and is how I made it.
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Matsuyama is worth a day IMO, between dogo onsen and matsuyama’s castle.
Umm…. You have most things booked, right? Especially the Awa Odori night. You are travelling over the second most busy week of the year.
8/7 Day One – Fly to KIX; train to Omeda Station -> lodging; relax evening Dotonburi 8/8 Day Two – Walk to Namba Yasaka Shrine-> train to Osaka Castle+Museum of History-> train to Museum of Science & National Art Mueseum -> Umeda Sky Building
On day one, I would honestly skip Osaka Castle and the Sky Building. Osaka Castle is literally a reproduction so to me personally it’s not that impressive. It sounds like you are staying in Umeda which may be why you want to go to the Sky Building since it’s so close, but if you want a view, you’ll want to go to Abeno Harukas in Tennoji. It sounds like you like museums. There is one that I enjoyed that might sound hypocritical since I was ripping on Osaka Castle for being a reproduction, but the Osaka Museum of Housing and Living is a pretty quick visit and has a replica of an old time Japanese neighborhood with day/night lighting cycles.
You have a pretty packed schedule I would just say vist all if you can and if not take it easy and spread things out after all it’s a vacation.
As for Kyoto one day is not enough. You seem to like temples but the Arashiyama area is beautiful even into the neighborhood up the hills behind it. Theres a monkey mountain near there too if that interests you or a river ride in a fune. Also you could visit Sanzen-in temple in the mountains to the north. There’s a good trek from Kurama to Kibune too. Fushimi Inari Taisha is worth a visit. The temple complex spans an entire mountain and the trek can be vigorous of if you take the standard route everyone does it fairly easy.
Hiroshima is worth a visit but stop by Okayama for the garden, Onomichi for the relaxed seaside atmosphere and climbing the hill is probably a 1/2 day affair, Kure for the naval museum.
You could go from Kansai to Kyushu and jump from Kyushu back to Okinawa or you can go around the wakayama pennisula daimonzakura + nachi falls, ise, Nagoya back to Osaka.
I would try to arrange your schedule where you are going in on direction and not wasting time going back and forth.
Also willer buses are decent.
Covid vacation
Awa Dance Festival is my favorite out of all festivals in Japan. The atmosphere is electric, at least in pre covid times.
The only thing I regret is not having a premium microphone attachment to my camera. Normal smartphone cameras and single reflex cameras just don’t capture the drum beats properly.
Okinawa is requesting people to “self lockdown” because things are getting dire and you’re like “fuck that, I’m gonna spread shit all over Japan! Muh vacation is more important than this pandemic!”. Covid is here to stay thanks to people like you. You do realize how bad it is here right? https://ryukyushimpo.jp/news/entry-1368950.html