Am I trying to do too much in one trip? 17 day Honeymoon/ Elopement

11 comments

1. For elopement photo, like you want wedding type pictures ? You can just hire a company/photographer. I guess it depend on you expectation, not sure it there is places that do the western dress rental for picture, but I know for sure it’s possible to do with a Kimono, but expect to pay the price for it.

   Doing Kyoto-Kanzawa-Takayama, you will not have much time to see anything in Kanazawa, so either skip it and go direct to Takayama or stay an extra day to have some time in Kanazawa.

   If you want more time to explore Hakone, you can consider doing it on your way out of Tokyo, so from Takayama you only have to return to Tokyo. One of the reason is that if you do ryokan in Hakone too, you would have to be there before 5-6pm (depending on their check-in time), while you can usually check-in much later in a regular hotel.

   JR Pass, in my opinion, take it if you save money. Otherwise, don’t and use whatever train is most convenient. For example no pass you can take the Nozomi shinkansen and you can use whatever train to move around for example you can use Kintetsu to Nara as the station is 1km closer to the park than the JR station.

2. I would merge your Kyoto and Osaka stays into just Kyoto, it’s only 15 minutes by train from one to the other

3. November 2024 is 20 months away, its hard to give recommendations like ramen or ryokan. Things can change and what seemed like a good recommendation at this point of time will differ by the time your trip arrives.

   Example of change, TeamLab Borderless reopening this year, so then you have the option of Borderless or Planets by the time you visit.

4. Imperial Palace is across the street from Tokyo Station so do that on day 4 and replace it with Ueno Ameyoko Market on day 2. On day 3 I would fit in Kabukicho and Golden Gai after Omoide Yokocho.

5. For the JR pass it seems like you’re looking at the pass that covers the whole network of Japan. Are you aware that there’re regional passes as well? Personally I find the regional ones give more value for the money. You can find a whole list of them in the About section of this subreddit.

6. Days 1-3 look reasonable.
   Day 4: wouldn’t be better to see Tokyo station before/after seeing the Imperial Palace on the Day 2? They’re right next to each other. I also either wouldn’t do both Shinjuku and Akihabara or skip Tokyo Tower.
   Day 7 looks fine
   Day 11: Like I mentioned in my other comment, it is doable, but it’d be a very long day.
   Day 13: I’d head straight to Tokyo. Hakone’s not worth for just a couple hours.

7. For photos, check out Shoott or Flytographer. They specialize in photographers that do shoots for people on vacation. When picking a Tokyo photographer for my upcoming trip, I also cross referenced the photographers Instagram page to see more about their style. Enjoy the elopement and definitely do a professional photo shoot!

8. Day 11 – there are only four fast trains a day from Toyama to Takayama (there are four more slow trains with a non-timed transfer at Inotani). If you only wake up at 9am then it is impossible to go to Kanazawa, get meaningful time in Kanazawa, travel to Takayama, and still make the check-in deadline for a ryokan dinner.

   Day 13 is also impossible if you want meaningful time in Hakone (which is not next to Odawara station). I would just go straight to Tokyo.

9. I don’t think this is too busy a trip in the slightest. My advice would be to shave a day or two off of Tokyo and just make Kanazawa a proper 2 night stop. I think 2 nights in Kanazawa and 2 nights in Takayama make for a good journey through that section of Japan. I feel very strongly that Kanazawa is an underrated stop in Japan, not only are the well-known attractions worth seeing (the castle, kenroku-en gardens) but the city itself is one of the best in Japan for just wandering and exploring (IMO). I did multiple nights on both of my ~30 day trips in Japan and didn’t regret it one bit. Other than that I think you have a good pace of things. My general off-the-cuff advice when you’re at the early/broad planning stages is to just avoid one-night stays (which you have done!) stick to either day trips, or spending at least 2 nights in a city.

10. I’m doing the same, having a little elopement during our trip in April. I won’t give you much advice with your itinerary but I can give you a photographer recommendation. As we are also just having a quiet moment by ourselves and a few photos. They are a Japanese/Australian couple, [Ippei and Janine](https://instagram.com/ippei.janine?igshid=OTJlNzQ0NWM=) They are very reasonable costwise and have all the costs upfront on their website.

11. Ryokan Murayama in Takayama has private onsens for free that you can use for 30min at a time without a reservation. Currently looks about 17,000y PP a night with hida beef meal service.

    http://www.ryokan-murayama.com/

    Personally I would cut 3 days from Tokyo and at least one day from Kyoto and add them the Kanazawa and Osaka, or shoot down to Hiroshima.