Hi guys! Next March (15th-30th) I’ll hopefully be in Japan for the first time. It’s me plus other two people (a Japan newbie like me plus a guy who’s already been there twice).
Besides listing the usual recommended attractions and locations for a first time visitor, there remain 3 days where I have not yet decided what to do.
To be more specific, the three of us will be arriving in Tokyo on the evening of March 16th.
March 17th-20th: area of Kyoto/Kansai (Nara, Miyajima, other things to be determined)
20th-21st: Osaka
21st-23rd: ???
24th-27th: Shikoku (we’d like to rent a bike and see the beautiful ocean sceneries while crossing the bridges)
27th-30th: Tokyo (plus Kamakura, Nikko).
As you can see, it’s already a big packed journey plan for only 15 days.
My question is if taking a flight from Osaka to Sapporo and staying there for just three days would be worth it or just overkill. I’ve always been fascinated the northernmost island of Japan, but at the same time I hate the feeling of being in a hurry, especially when I’m on vacation and I should be enjoying things without rushing it up. Also, I don’t have an international driving license.
I’ve also come up with the idea of extending my staying in Tokyo in order to visit places like Nikko and Kamakura at a slower pace.
2 comments
Yes, your trip is too packed in my opinion. Also it will probably still be a bit snowy in Hokkaido in March. You wouldn’t have a lot of time to go outside of Sapporo in only 3 days.
Also Miyajima is not in Kansai. It is near Hiroshima. Technically could be a very rushed day trip but I’d recommend a day trip from Hiroshima or an overnight stay on the island. It was one of my favorite places on my first trip so I do highly recommend.
Keep in mind that there is a lot to see in these cities. If you take two day trips in 3 days from Tokyo you will only have one day to spend in Tokyo. I would suggest those extra days be used in Tokyo and Kyoto areas, or possibly add an overnight trip to Hiroshima/Miyajima. For 15 days you’d don’t really want to go to more than 2 major cities. You might can briefly add Hiroshima.
I’d also suggest pairing Hiroshima with Shikoku since they are close by. You can take a ferry between Hiroshima and Matsuyama, and you can go though Okayama the other way. So you might want to link these two together rather than backtracking.
Depends what you want to see, but Sapporo seems like an unnecessary extra.
What I would do instead is to centralise your Kansai trip first: say, stay in Kyoto, but travel to Kobe/Osaka/Nara for day trips, since they are all pretty close anyway. Second, take only day trip to Osaka, I do not think it is worth 2 days. That said, Kansai in general would easily take 17~21st and still have something left for the next time.
24th-27th: sounds like you are going through Shimanami Kaido. That thing is approximately 70 kilometres long, which means you will easily do it in one day on the bicycles. Unless you have something particular of interest in Shikoku, I do not think it is worth spending 3 days on that bridge road alone. It is actually rather boring, although pretty, no doubt about it (been there). If you are an avid cyclist, I’d recommend to go through the mountains from Takamatsu to Kochi. It is a solid day trip and it is fun and beautiful. Otherwise, as said before, 3 days for Shikoku sounds like too much.
What you could do instead is to visit Hiroshima (Miyajima etc). It is not in the Kansai region, but it is close to Shimanami Kaido, since it starts from Onomichi, which is already in Hiroshima prefecture.
27th-30-th is just 3 days for Tokyo and vicinity, which is waaay too little. I’d recommend to take at least two days more. This way you could visit Nikko, Kamakura, Yokohama and have fun in Tokyo, not just run through a couple of tourist sites.
So, yeah, Sapporo sounds like something a little too much. Especially because you will likely catch sakura season in Tokyo, going north where it is much later would be almost a tourist-crime!