My wife and i are spending 3 weeks traveling Japan this Spring. Looking for tips and suggestions as this whole plan is very flexible. I am an avid photographer and hiker so I’m hoping to chase sakura and see some of Japan’s wilderness. We have a JR pass from day 5-18 and a Fuji Pass for 19-21. I’m really unsure of how much we move around between Kanazawa and Fuji, so advice there would be appreciated. Thanks for your help!
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Day 1: Fly in to Haneda at 5pm. Get suica, sim cards and head to hotel in shibuya. Eat. Sleep.
Day 2: Recuperate and explore around the hotel since we’re staying in the heart of Shibuya for the next 5 days. Meguro river to see illuminated sakura in the evening.
Day 3: Sensoji for sunrise. Ueno park. Tokyo National Museum. Skytree. Akihabara in the evening.
Day 4: Nikko day trip – thinking about a Nikko Day Pass?
Day 5: Ginza, Tokyo Tower, TeamLab Planet?, Evening in Odaiba (hoping for some Rainbow Bridge train photos)
Day 6: Train to Kyoto. Get to the bnb and relax in Higashiyama where we will be staying the next 3 nights.
Day 7: Sunrise visit Fushimi Inari and hike to the summit of Mt. Inari
Day 8: Recovery day. Maruyama park in the evening with hopes of seeing the illuminated weeping cherry tree.
Day 9: Head to Miyajima in the morning with a midday stop in Hiroshima. Night cruise around Itsukushima shrine.
Day 10: Check out Itsukushima and the floating torii for sunrise. Train to Himeji for a midday stop. Take a train to Osaka where we have a hotel for 3 nights in Dotonbouri.
Day 11: Nara day trip. Mt. Yoshino at night ??? really hoping to be able to get a photo from the Hanayagura lookout, but I think I will miss the bus back down. Not sure about this one, but a goal I’d really enjoy hitting if anyone has any tips.
Day 12: Osaka. No plans, rest up for tomorrow.
Day 13: Spend the day hiking the pilgrimage trail up Koyasan and spend the night at a temple.
Day 14: Koyasan to Kyoto. We’ll see how soon we want to leave Koyasan in the am or if we want to get back to Kyoto to see something we felt we missed. However, try to leave Kyoto early tomorrow.
Day 15: Kyoto to Kanazawa. Prioritize seeing Kanazawa.
Day 16: Kanazawa to Takayama with a midday stop in Shirakawago. Stay in Takayama.
Day 17: Takayama to Nagoya. Prioritize seeing Takayama in the morning.
Day 18: Nagoya to Fujikawaguchiko. Relax at the hotel.
Day 19: Fuji sightseeing. Ryokan stay.
Day 20: Fuji to Hakone. Ryokan stay. Leave Fuji early, prioritize Hakone.
Day 21: Hakone to Tokyo. We fly out late and have a full weekend of recovery on our return, so we’re hoping to save this last day in Tokyo for something special or maybe a repeat depending on how we feel.
2 comments
Will you go around hakone? They have mountain with hot sulfur (going around with cable car), museum, and a lake, it is very beautiful.
If you can spend more time, you can go to gotemba premium outlet which sells high end brands at discounted rate (plus tax free). But I warn you, it is very far (like 2 hours by bus). And only accessible by bus (or taxi if you don’t mind paying). And the transport in hakone close at 6 in the afternoon so plan it carefully
Kobe for their botanical garden?
Last time I went to kurobe gorge, check it out, it is a bit out there, but it looks really good. You can hike down, but I have a feeling it will take too long so maybe just take the train to go up and down (since they close before 4 I think, or maybe 5 in the afternoon). My advice is to got there really early so you can catch the earliest train available it took the train around 1 hour? (Kinda forgot) to go up there. There will be around 3 stations, below, middle and peak. My advice is to go up to the peak, hike down to middle station and take middle station to go home, but please check if it is doable or not
Take time to disneysea? I think you will get a lot of good photo going there, it is very picturesque
If your plan is to have a JR Pass from Day 5, maybe it’s worth switching Day 4 and 5? I’ve never got the Nikko Day Pass myself, but you can get more use out of the JR Pass by taking the Yamabiko Shinkansen to Utsunomiya, then the JR Nikko Line to Nikko. Assuming you are travelling into Okunikko for the scenery and hiking, the rest is serviced by buses which you could pay for individually.