June/July 22 days, 2023, Itinerary

Finally time has come to return!

I was an exchange student living in Hirakata (city on the Keihan line right in the middle between Kyoto and Osaka) in 13/14, and I haven’t been able to return… until now!

My SO has been twice before we met, but we haven’t been there together yet.

We are both teachers which is why we are going in July – that’s when we have the most time to properly enjoy it!

(Disclaimer: not everything is set in stone and I am typing this on my mobile, so I hope the formatting won’t be f’d up. Apologies in advance.)

Here’s our current itinerary:

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Tue June 27th, **Arrival**:

* Arrive at Haneda
* Fix electronic sim/pocket Wi-Fi (though I’ve heard you can do that online in advance now?)
* Book seats at Shinkansen
* Head straight for Kanazawa
* Check into hotel. Relax a bit. Grab a bite to eat.
* Take a picture by the station gate. Maybe also find the stamp? I’m into scrapbooking.
* Take a cab to the beach, watch the sunset over the sea.
* Hang out by the seaside or take a cab back to the station area and find an izakaya or something there.

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Wed June 28th, **Kanazawa**:

* Higashi chaya district
* Samurai district
* Kenroku-en
* Omicho market
* Buy kimono

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Thu June 29th, **Kanazawa**:

Open.

Good day to do stuff we maybe rushed through day before.

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Fri Jun 30th, **Kyoto**:

* Take the Shinkansen to Kyoto
* Check in at hotel
* Relax. Explore area around hotel.

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Sat July 1st, **Kyoto**:

* Take the Keihan line to Demachiyanagi, then onwards to Kibune.
* Get reservation at Hirobun.
* Noodle slide at Hirobun.
* Hike to Kurama. It says in the map it’s only about 1-2km, but a guide I saw said it took about an hour, so I guess it’s rather steep.
* Train from Kurama back to Demachiyanagi.
* Play with the Demachiyanagi river turtles (stone statues) and have a beer.
* Possibly hit up Hirano shrine or Enko-ji, or both.
* The rest is open

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Sun July 2nd, **Osaka**:

* Pon de ring donut at mr. Donut in Kyobashi
* Yodobashi Camera (shopping)
* Hep 5 (Purikura, Ferris wheel, Crepe, Disney store?)
* Tokyu hands and Pokémon centre in Umeda
* Tsuyunoten jinja -small shrine for everlasting love.
* Namba Yasaka shrine
* Shinsekai
* Dotonburi – eat crab sukiyaki.

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Mon July 3rd, **Kyoto**:

*Insane shrine day*

* Fushimi Inari in the morning.
* Inari udon
* Heian shrine
* Okazaki (rabbit) shrine
* Shojuin temple (beautiful gardens)
* Shinnyodo temple (beautiful garden)
* Kumano Nyakuoji shrine (crow with three feet)
* Tenju-an temple (beautiful garden with nice paths)
* Kongoji (yasaka koshindo) temple (temple for monkeys. Many pretty colourful balls)
* Rokkakudo taishido (little bird)
* Toji (famous pagoda)
* Nanzen-ji (famous aqueduct)
* Hirano shrine (squirrel)
* Enko-ji (beautiful garden and adorable monk statue)
* Shojuin temple (the one with the heart window)

Yes, I know this day is insane. My feet will fall off.

I managed to confuse the Shojuin temples. There are like 3 of them in Kyoto, and the one I was aiming for was the heart window, so I might scrap the first one, and if that goes, so does Shinnyodo as one of the appeals with those is that they’re practically neighbours.

Kongoji might be similarly scrapped, simply got the sake off scaling down.

Enko-ji and Hirano might be moved to the Demachiyanagi-day.

We might not end up going to Shojuin at all because a) many temples already and b) out of the way.

Also, we’re not going to marathon this. There will be plenty of stops, and if we run out of time and miss some, then eh.

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Tue July 4th, **Nara**

* Deer park
* Ukimido (pavilion on a pond)
* Possibly go to Todai-ji (the huge Buddha)

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Wed July 5th, **Kyoto**:

* Kyomizudera
* Arashiyama bamboo grove
* Arashiyama kimono forest
* Nishiki market
* Possibly forward luggage today.

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Thu July 6th, **Ibusuki**:

All the way down to the southernmost tip of Kyushu

* Long-ass train ride
* Check-in at the hotel in Ibusuki
* Train, then walk (or cab) to Ryugu shrine. Watch the sunset, and enjoy views of Kaimondake volcano. Hang out at Kawajiri beach which has black sand because of said volcano.

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Fri July 7th, **Ibusuki**:

* Hang out at beach. Relax. Swim in the ocean.
* Saraku hot sand onsen.

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Sat July 8th, **Tanabe:**

This is a big travel day.

* Forward luggage to *Katsura*
* On the train pretty much all day, ending in Tanabe, Wakayama.

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Sun July 9th, **Kumano Kodo and Yunomine Onsen**:

* Take the bus up to the Tsugizakura stop. Hike the Nakahechi trail to the Akagi-goe junction,
* Continue said path to Yunomine. Spend the night in Yunomine.
* Eat onsen egg!

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Mon July 10th, **Kumano Kodo**

* Hike the Dainichi trail to Kumano Hongu Taisha.
* Bus to Shingu to see the Kumano Hayatama taisha.
* Train, then bus to Kumano Nachi Taisha (and Nachi falls) to end the pilgrimage of the three temples.
* Check-in at a hotel in Katsura. Get reunited with our luggage, yay!
* Wake up in the middle of the night to enjoy the sunrise over the pacific.

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Tue July 11th, **Shingu**:

* Transfer to business hotel in Shingu. (Just for the sake of quick and easy access to Shinkansen the following morning)
* Explore the city, and take it easy.
* Forward luggage to *Tokyo*
* Might move Hayatama Taisha to this day.

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Wed July 12th, **Mt. Fuji**:

* Train from Shingu, via Nagoya to Fujinomiya.
* Climb the Fujinomiya route, starting at the 5th station.
* End the night in a tiny hut.

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Thu July 13th, **Tokyo:**

* Climb the remainder of mt. Fuji at dawn to watch the sunrise at the top.
* Hike down again, this time possibly a different route.
* check-in in at the hotel in Tokyo. Relax.

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Fri July 14th, **Tokyo**:

* Shopping.

\- Innisfree in Shibuya or Shinjuku

\- Tokyo banana at the Tokyo station

* Fish your own – restaurant for dinner

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Sat July 15th, **Possible day trip:**

Nikko or Hakone, maybe?

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Sun July 16th and 17th **Tokyo**

* Shinjuku garden
* Meiji shrine
* Asakusa
* Ramen museum
* Team labs
* Sky tree

Mon July 18th **fly home**

Tokyo is rather up in the air for me, as I don’t know the area very well, but I still know there are tons to do there. That’s why that part of the trip is rather vague. Also, I reckon by that time we’ll be absolutely knackered by all the hiking.

For the period between June 30th to July 5th we will be staying in Kyoto, and doing day trips to Osaka and Nara.organisations

So, if anyone has any suggestions for organisation or activities in Tokyo, they are very welcome!

All other input is, of course, also desired.

I know some of the weaknesses of our plan, but it doesn’t hurt to get others’ opinions.