So, my wife is Japanese and we are visiting her mom outside of Nagoya for the Christmas season. Here is our itinerary of what we’re going to do while there.
Day 0 – Arrive in Japan and travel to MIL’s house.
Day 1 – Bumming around wife’s hometown.
Day 2 – Sightseeing in Nagoya. Nagoya Castle, Atsuta Shrine, miso katsu.
Day 3 – Asahi Brewery in Suita
Day 4 – Kyoto – Fushimi Inari, Kiyomizu, Kanon Ryozen, Kodaiji, Maruyama Park,
Day 5 – Kyoto – Kinkakuji. Wander around.
Day 6 – Nara, Iga Ninja
Day 7 – Christmas. Hanging around my wife’s hometown.
Day 8 – Nikko
Day 9 – Nikko and back to Nagoya
Day 10 – No schedule
Day 11 – No schedule
Day 12 – No schedule
Day 13 – Fly home
Not sure what I’ll do the last three days. Might do some day trips around or might just eat and shop. I am thinking of abandoning the trip to Nikko for something else. Maybe Matsumoto. Thoughts?
4 comments
Nikko is really nice, but it is a bit of a journey to get there from nagoya, especially only for a few days.
Instead of Nikko what about Kanazawa, Takayama/Shirakawago or Kinosaki Onsen? It’s pretty easy to get to Kanazawa and Takayama from Nagoya and Kinosaki would be easy to tack on after your Kyoto days if you want. We didn’t make it to Kanazawa but here are my Takayama and Kinosaki trip reports.
– [Trip Report: Kanasai Side Trip to Himeiji and Kinosaki Onsen](https://www.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/comments/sna5au/kansai_side_trip_tattoo_friendly_kinosaki_onsen/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf)
– [Trip Report: Takayama](https://www.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/comments/mg8ir9/autumn_weekend_in_takayama_gifu_prefecture/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf)
Your dates will also overlap with a lot of winter illuminations. Nabana no Soto is outside Nagoya and is one of the largest in Japan.
– [2022/23 Winter Illuminations in Japan](https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2304.html)
– [Winter Illuminations and Events in Nagoya](https://www.nagoyaisnotboring.com/winter-illuminations-and-events-in-nagoya/)
Just Google city name + illuminations and you’ll find lots more info on winter illuminations in the cities you end up visiting.
Thanks for the input. I’ve been to Shirakawago before albeit in late summer/early fall. That might be fun to check out in the winter. I’m really leaning towards Matsumoto. Loved it when I went back in 06.
Are you sure the Asahi brewery will be opeN