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Hey all, After years of dreaming and a lot of planning, I’ve came up with an itinerary for 6-7 weeks in japan, and I would appreciate any feedback.
Relevant info :
* We are a group of four young men
* We are interested in culture, nature, history, local cuisine, technology, anime and many more..
* Our start and end dates are pretty set in stone
* We will be travelling with relatively small packs (35-40L ish)
* We are not planning to go super-budget, but we are planning to mostly stay at hostels and eat at restaurants once per day, so we can splurge out on stuff we want to.
* we are probably gonna be getting the jr pass for the entire length of the trip, i was thinking about not having the pass at Tokyo and Kyoto/Osaka , but considering that two 7 day passes cost the same as a 21 day pass, that’s not really relevant.
Feedback I’m looking for:
* Anything that’s on your mind
* Are we going too fast? we are very excited and want to see as much of japan as possible but im a bit worried we might have too much moving around at regions such as Chubu or Tohoku.
* Any days you would drop in order to add to other areas?
* Would you say a car is necessary to experience major hikes in hokkaido?
* Your favorite places in japan that I didn’t include
* would you reorder some parts of this trip?
May 17th – tokyo to Nagano
\- sleep the jetlag away
May 18th – Nagano to Kiso valley ( via Matsumoto )
\- matsumoto castle, nakasendo trail – sleep in tsumago / magome.
May 19th – Kiso valley to Nagoya
\- nagoya castle, korankei, tokugawa museum.
May 20th – full day in Nagoya
\- ghibli park? , port area.
May 21th – Nagoya to Takayama
\- old town, hida village, morning market, higashiyama walk.
May 22th – Takyama to Kanazawa
\- kanazawa walk (japan guide), d.t suzki museum.
May 23th – Kanazawa to Kyoto
\- northern kyoto – Kinkakuji , Shugakuin , Ninnaji Temple.
May 24 – 27th – Kyoto
\- Eastern kyoto full day (japan guide)
\- Arashiyama full day (japan guide)
\- fushimi inari shrine , Nijo castle , Sento palace , Nishiki Market.
May 28th – Kyoto to Koyasan
\- Stay at temple lodging.
May 29th – Koyasan to Osaka
\- minami , Osaka station city.
May 30th – Osaka
\- shinsekai street , Shitennoji , Osaka castle.
May 31th – Osaka – Nara daytrip
\- feed da deer.
June 1th – Osaka Kobe daytrip
\- try out kobe beef.
June 2th – Osaka to Takamatsu
\- Himeji castle on the way , try out sanuki udon, Shikoku mura.
June 3th – Takamatsu to Matsuyama
\- Matsuyama castle, Dogo onsen.
June 4th – Matsuyama to Hiroshima
\- peace park, Hiroshima castle , hiroshima downtown.
June 5th – Hiroshima Miyajima daytrip
\- Miyajima 1 day walk japan guide.
June 6th – Hiroshima to Fukuoka
\- arrive late, maybe food stalls.
June 7th – Fukuoka to Kumamoto
\- Yatai , Uminonakamichi Park , maybe daytrip to daizafu.
June 8th – Kumamoto ( rent a car for Takachiho gorge )
\- rent a car for Takachiho gorge.
June 9th – Kumamoto to Beppu
\- Kumamoto castle, Hell’s of beppu.
June 10th – Beppu to Niigata ( long public transport day )
\- Travel day.
June 11th – Niigata to Tsuruoka
\- Dewa sanzan.
June 12th – Tsuruoka to Zao onsen
\- Okama hike, night at zao / yamagata.
June 13th – Zao / Yamagata to sendai
\- Yamadera, Zuihoden , Sendai castle.
June 14th – full day in Sendai
\- morning market, matsushima bay.
June 15th – Sendai to Aomori
\- Hirosaki , furukawa fish market.
June 16th – Aomori to Hakodate
\- mount Hakodate, fort goryokaku , morning market.
June 17th – Hakodate to Toya onsen ( Lake Toya )
\- mount usu , lake toya.
June 18th – Toya onsen to Noboribetsu
\- jigokundani , hot springs.
June 19th – Noboribetsu to Sapporo
\- TV tower , susukino.
June 20th – full day in Sapporo
\- moerenuma park , beer museum , historic village.
June 21th – Sapporo to Asahikawa
\- rent a car? mount asahidake loop.
June 22th – Asahikawa
\- Hike furano mt loop.
\- return car at evening.
June 23th – Asahikawa to Tokyo ( long public transport day )
\- travel day
June 24-30th – Tokyo
\- day trips to kamakura and nikko
\- tsukiji , akihabara , koishikawa korakuen , imperial palace , asakusa , teamlab , sensoji , shibuya , shinjuku , harajuku , toyosu market ….
July 1th – Tokyo to Fuji (Fuji climb and overnight at Station 8 hut)
\- climb fuji :p
July 2th – Back to Tokyo from Fuji
\- some shopping before we leave.
July 3th – Byebye Japan
Thanks for reading and any feedback 🙂
4 comments
My only three notes are this:
1. Get some nice walking shoes and insoles and start walking in them at the beginning of May.
2. A little more serious: moving at this pace for a month and a half is going to be exhausting, even if y’all are young. Even on the onsen days, which would be great times to recuperate, you’re still hiking and doing other things. I would heavily encourage putting some legitimate *full* rest days in here or there’s a very good chance some number of you are going to burn out and crash, hard.
3. Okay this is going to maybe sound insane but please hear me out and really think about this next thing I’m saying: take out like half of this stuff and then spread out the rest. Why? *Because you’re going to want to go back*. I say this all the time: This is not just your trip to Japan. This is your *first* trip to Japan. Take a real good look at the itinerary, decide what regions/activities are the priorities, and then cut out the other stuff for the *next* time you go to Japan. This itinerary is incredibly exciting, it’s clear you’re excited, but there’s so much stuff so quickly that there’s basically no time to really *exist* outside of doing the next thing, or getting to the next thing. Japan is a place that I encourage people to get lost in, give yourself time to get distracted or to follow some whims, don’t plan out every piece of it.
With an itinerary like this, as much cool stuff is on it, I would say is also incredibly limiting because so much of your time is dictated by traveling hours to new regions almost every day. That means you’ll have a series of unmovable deadlines and as such very limited time to step outside of your bounds or account for changes you want to make or whims you might have. For me, that would just be a recipe for anxiety as I’d be stuck always just thinking about the next thing instead of existing in the moment I’m in.
That definitely works for some people, and I don’t mean to tell you that’s the *wrong* way to do things. I just wanted to offer my perspective.
* Pace wise, you are doing a lot with pretty minimal breaks in between. You want to be able to enjoy what you are doing and sometimes that means spending more time in one location.
* This is a personal experience, but the first time I went to Osaka I LOVED it. We had tickets to Sapporo the next day and the entire flight there/few days we spent there I was just wishing we had stayed in Osaka.
* Considering how long you are there if you lock yourself into this type of itinerary it can feel like you are trapped.
* For how long you are spending in Japan, you are spending very little time in Tokyo. There is so much cool stuff to do in Tokyo, that you will likely not find in other parts of Japan (especially from the perspective of a tourist)
* Flying into Japan for the first time, then immediately leaving Tokyo to go to Nagano seems miserable IMO
* I would suggest you spend at least 3-4 days experiencing Tokyo before leaving, especially if you are first timers.
* You also have a LOT of travel hours in this, which are basically wasted days. If I were in your shoes I would count the total number of hours, and consider if its worth wasting 1-2 days worth of travel to see a castle/some specific attraction in a remote area.
* For climbing Mt Fuji:
* You need to look up when climbing season opens, last year the VERY FIRST day it opened was July 1st by the looks of it, you might miss out.
* If you and your group are not confident and experienced hikers, I would really question if you could fit in a hike like that after a month of traveling without being super wiped out.
Overall, my biggest suggestions would be to stay in Tokyo longer when you arrive to get a chance to experience it before setting out. I would also cut out places that are out of the way and spend more time in Tokyo/Kyoto/Osaka.
FWIW – I am also spending a longer period of time in Japan around these months, something to look at is having a AirBnB base for a month in a city. You get some pretty good discounts for extended stays and that might work out better for you if you have day trips.
I agree with some of the concerns already raised. It’s absolutely exciting getting to travel to Japan and it looks like everyone is super excited to see as much of Japan as possible. I think your itinerary seems like you’re trying to squeeze in as much as possible in terms of all the popular sites. I’m envious of you being able to go for 6-7 weeks and I think I’d be tempted to do the same thing in your shoes. However, ultimately even if you don’t see half the things on your list you’re going to have the time of your life. I think you might want to consider the benefits of relaxing your plan a little and getting to know the culture and people though soaking it in, visiting the less touristy areas, and taking time to experience what it’s like “living in Japan”. That being said, I hope you have the time of your life however you choose to spend your time!
Honestly think the order you’re doing things will be exhausting. Head to Sapporo or Kumamoto first and just follow the length of the country in order, rather than all the back tracking. Add rest days too.