Kansai August Trip

4 comments

1. You didn’t include how you plan to travel within Kansai so I will just throw some deals here (all of these are valid for resident)

   * [Kintetsu Shuumatsu Free Pass](https://www.kintetsu.co.jp/senden/Railway/Ticket/weekend_free/) is a 3-day pass valid either on Fri-Sat-Sun or Sat-Sun-Mon. It’s worth it especially if you are not going to take the limited express. You can even change the date so your Nara trip and Ise trip is together to maximise the pass. (Though Kintetsu doesn’t go to Uji). Buy the 1000 yen bus pass at Ise. The round-trip to Ise Naiku is already 860 yen, and it include the bus to Meito Iwa (the 伊勢二見鳥羽周遊バスCANばす). The bus access is easier than JR access.
   * If you want to use Kintetsu Limited Express, use the [Ise Jingu Sanpai Kippu](https://www.kintetsu.co.jp/senden/Railway/Ticket/sanpai/). It already include the bus pass.

   Now the itinerary:

   * Day 1: Not sure if you can do all of that in one day. But as you are probably seasoned traveller I trust your judgement.
   * Day 2: I understand you are hunting for Pokemon but Horyuji is really out of the way.
   * Day 4: I am also not sure if you could finish all that in one day. There are a lot of walking involve in almost all your destination here. Mt Hiei is at least half a day visit.
   * Day 6: You could re-visit Shiga, especially as you might not finish everything on day 4. I’d also recommend Hiyoshi-Taisha, Chikurin-in, and Ishiyama-dera. Alternatively, you could try visiting Ohara area Sanzen-in. Alternatively, Kibune and Kurama area.
   * Day 7: Again, not sure if you could finish all that in half a day. I’d recommend you visit the inner city attractions and then take the Uradome Sightseeing boat. Sand Dune are best in the morning so I’d suggest you do it the next morning. There are also bus from the Sand Dune area to Iwami area if you also planned the Iwami area.
   * Day 8: Not sure how much of “Uradome cost” you meant. If you haven’t finish everything you don’t really have to leave early. But if you do end up leaving early, you could try visiting Okayama and Kurashiki area. It’s included in the pass anyway.

2. Have you been to Koyasan? If not, it’s right up your alley. Go easily from Osaka on the Nankai line. There is a great travel pass

   https://en.visitwakayama.jp/destinations/koyasan/

   https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2358_012.html

3. Day one, just from the [name](https://www.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/comments/q1oql1/how_to_make_the_difference_between_temple_and/) Hozo-ji is a temple and not a shrine. Chino-in do you mean Chion-in ? You can also consider checking Yasaka-jinja (kind of hard to miss with what you plan), Kodai-ji and Yasaka pagoda (at leat to see it from the street), even if you do not get the shin there.

   Day two, that seems a lot for a single day. While yes you can go to Fushimi Inari-taisha early (usually the point is the beat the crowd), if you want to have the shuin, you will have to wait for the shrine to open. Yes it is “always open” in the sense that you can always go to the torii gates, but the office is not always open. So the only reason to go early is if you want to hike it all the way and get down just in time for the opening of the shrine office.

   Day 4, Enryaku-ji not Enrakyu-ji, that also seems to be a lot, maybe ok if you start the day early to do the cruise in the morning and Mout Hiei in the afternoon.

   Day 7, I would completely skip Tottori, I think that you can better invest your time elsewhere and save Tottori for later as there is much more than the sand dune in the area. For example I found Kurayoshi to be quite interesting, Mount Mitoku with the temple build on the cliff of the mountain and while in the area, continue to Matsue and Shimane. You can easily spend over a week in Shimane and Tottori prefectures.

   Day 8. You can do Kobe as a day trip from Kyoto.

   Instead of going to Tottori, I would consider visiting a bit more in Nara prefecture, for example you can check the area around Kashihara, Asuka and Sakurai. If you are into temple, then check the [Nara-Yamato pilgrimage](https://en.japantravel.com/nara/nara-yamato-pilgrimage/56936) and get the shuin for the 4 temples there. While it is possible to do the 4 in a single day (I did), I think it would be better to take two days and take a bit more time to visit some other things than just the temples.

   Instead of returning to Osaka for your flight, you could consider flying out of Nagoya airport, there is a boat from Tsu to the airport. And well there is always the option to take a night bus from Ise to Tokyo.

   ​

   Out of curiosity, how do you select the temple/shrines where you want to go ? From what I can guess it’s either famous one or places that have shuin with special design.

4. What’s your budget look like ?