Hello everyone. Here’s the tentative itinerary and below it is the context of why I’m making this post:
* March 18th, 2023 (\~time = rough estimate of starting/arrival time)
* Leave from Shinjuku, Tokyo (\~7:30 a.m.) to Kawaguchiko
* Arrive at Kawaguchiko station and take bus to Sunnide Resort Yamanashi; leave luggage there (\~11 a.m.) since it’ll be too early to check-in
* Rent electric bikes (\~11:30 a.m.) and ride to the following places in chronological order. Also, [a rough outline (image) of the bike route we’ll be taking](https://imgur.com/a/DwnYwrC). Only circled locations are for sure stops. The rest is just to create the route, and the walking route is shown because no bike routes from Google:
* Arakurayama Sengen Park (\~12:15 – 12:30 p.m.)
* Kawaguchiko Tenjozan Park (ropeway) (\~2:30 – 3 p.m.)
* Ensoleille Excursion Boat (\~3:30 – 4 p.m.)
* Keep riding along the south side of the lake (\~4 – 4:30 p.m.) w/ random stops until we loop back to the north side of the lake
* Oishi Park (\~6 – 6:30 p.m)
* Return bikes (\~6:30 – 7 p.m.)
* Check-in to Sunnide (\~7 – 7:30 p.m.), have dinner, onsen bath, and sleep
* March 19th
* Wake up (\~6 – 7 a.m.) to get a view of Kawaguchiko from open-air onsen in our room
* Breakfast (\~8 – 8:30 a.m.) and check-out (\~9:30 – 10 a.m.)
* Head to Oshino Hakai Village (\~10 – 10:30 a.m.)
* Head to Kyoto (\~12 – 12:30 a.m.)
My cousin and I (first-time visitors) will be visiting Japan from March 17th (day we land) – April 1st (day we fly out). My other cousin that lives in Japan will also be traveling with us, so that makes 3 of us. My cousin and I land between 3-5 p.m. (different flights) local time. We’ll be staying in Shinjuku on the night of March 17th, and my cousin that lives in Japan won’t get to Shinjuku until 8-9 p.m. that night because he gets off work and then has to ride the shinkansen from north of Japan down to Shinjuku.
Here are my concerns with the tentative itinerary:
1. It might be difficult to wake up around 5:30 – 6 a.m. to get ready to go to Shinjuku station because we might be too jetlagged and tired to hear the alarm or w/e. We travelers all know not everything will go according to plan. So, if we somehow end up not leaving the station at the desired time (\~7:30 a.m.), then that throws off the whole itinerary.
2. Say that we are able to leave Shinjuku station by \~7:30 a.m.; that would be great. The issue though is that the itinerary seems too packed to the point where we might be rushing it. I don’t know how long riding a bike will take from destination to destination, as well as how much time we spend at each destination.
3. The last, and biggest concern, is that Sunnide Resort Yamanashi is a ryokan. Ryokans typically stop serving dinner after a certain time; maybe 7-8 p.m. I don’t want to miss this dinner because we already paid A LOT of money (\~$1200 USD) for this stay, so it would be a waste to miss the dinner. This means our itinerary will kind of have to be based on when the last call for dinner is. I don’t know when’s the last call for dinner at Sunnide, but I’ve already reached out to them and am waiting for a response.
Suggestions and opinions I would like from y’all:
* Would it be better to make this a 2-night trip?
* What would y’all cut if sticking to a one-night trip?
* Am I just overthinking and this is a reasonable (nothing to cut) itinerary for a one-night trip?
* What’s riding a bike like around the Kawaguchiko area, and how long would it take?
I know this has been a long and winded post about one day, but I just needed some suggestions and/or opinions before I discuss this with my cousins this weekend. At the moment, I’m leaning towards making it a two-night trip, but I don’t know if I’m overestimating the time shown in the itinerary either; hence this post. Ultimately, our decision will be based on the last call for dinner at Sunnide, but until I get a response from Sunnide regarding that, then suggestions and/or opinions are greatly appreciated.