Hey guys!
I’ll be heading into Japan for a quick solo trip before meeting up with friends arriving later in Osaka from January 28th – February 2nd. I’ll have 5 days to myself before linking up with everyone and I plan to take a bit of “road less traveled” way down to Osaka without using the Shinkansen. I have been to Japan before but first time planning a trip on my own and am no stranger to driving in the country since, from what I can tell, may be the best mode of transport for most parts of this trip (unless someone here tells me otherwise!). I don’t really speak Japanese besides the basic manners but I managed okay last time with Google translate when needed.
My rough plan at the moment:
* January 28th: Arrive in Haneda airport around 5:30 p.m. and spend the night in Yokohama – I plan to just walk around the city and find something nice to eat, have a water-side hotel booked in so I can rest up on the first night
* January 29th: More walking around and exploring Yokohama, might go see the famous ramen/cup noodle museum and checkout the Chinatown area. Probably check my luggage in to a locker at a nearby station while roaming around. Rent the car around 3-4pm and begin heading out towards the next destination.
* January 29th: Maybe stay in Hakone or an area surrounding Fuji to treat myself to a ryokan or private hot spring place for the night.
* January 30th: Checkout of the place I’m staying at around 10am-12pm (haven’t booked this yet so not sure). I have done the private mountain road drive the last time I was here as part of a tour and will be revisiting this area with friends later in the trip so I don’t feel I need to do it again unless I’m feeling up for it on the day. After grabbing some snacks, I may just head off for Shizuoka.
* January 30th-31st: Head to Shizuoka as I saw some cool looking shrines and walks to do but not sure what else I could be doing there or in a nearby area. Likely spend the night here, seen some nice coastal area places to stay at here.
* January 31st – February 1st: Check out of hotel/bnb, grab breakfast and find and maybe start heading on over to Nagoya with random stops along the way. Definitely want to go visit the Toyota Museum, I think the tour is closed as of now but you can still go in (hoping this changes by the time I’m there). I’ve seen a ton of nice places to eat in Nagoya so I plan to do a lot of that but not sure what else there is there. Spend the night in Nagoya, nothing fancy, just somewhere with parking so I can continue on in the morning.
* February 1st-2nd: From this point on, I am not sure. I was thinking I could head straight into Osaka and spend the night to catch my breathe a bit before my friends arrive the next day OR I can stay somewhere else on the way in and get to Osaka around the same time as them.
The goal honestly is to chill, see some sights and eat good food. The driving may be tedious to some but it’s something I’ve always wanted to do and will be part of the experience for me. I can probably manage the food while I’m there unless there are some solid suggestions here. Mainly looking for activities or cool sights that don’t really show up in the typical tourist news articles. Not 100% set on any of these places besides the Toyota museum (car nut) so fully open to suggestions!
Apologies in advance if this is too basic, it’s the first time trying to make my own path and I’d be keen to get some insight – I’m having trouble finding info that seems relevant to what I want to do. Thank you!
1 comment
Driving trips in Japan are awesome!
I understand that your itinerary seems to be set up already, but it seems that you won’t spend a lot of time driving, and stay in urban places mostly.
Therefore, having driven around these areas the first and main comment is why so slow and why go to the train places if you’re on a car? Hakone is just at the footsteps of Kanagawa, close to Yokohama. You can always visit Shizuoka and Nagoya on a train. It’s much harder to visit the western coast of Izu, Yamanashi peculiarities, south of Nagano, Shiga and the whole area behind the alps… you don’t hear about these areas because most tourists don’t go there (needs a car), but they aren’t worse by any means.