In the process of planning our second trip to Japan and need a sanity check about our travel plans during the New Year’s period of 2024. I’m aware that it is an intense week of travel for local citizens and want to minimize the travel crush as much as possible.
Tentative current plans:
22-Dec (Fri) – Arrive in Tokyo NRT via LAX
23-Dec (Sat) – Tokyo – take it easy, acclimate to jetlag
24-Dec (Sun) – Tokyo – Ghibli Museum
25-Dec (Mon) – Tokyo – Ghibli Museum (back-up day)
26-Dec (Tue) – Tokyo – Disneyland
27-Dec (Wed) – Tokyo – DisneySea
28-Dec (Thu) – Tokyo > Nagoya
29-Dec (Fri) – Nagoya – Ghibli Park > Kyoto
30-Dec (Sat) – Kyoto
31-Dec (Sun) – Kyoto
1-Jan (Mon) – Kyoto – Nara day-trip
2-Jan (Tue) – Kyoto > Kanazawa
3-Jan (Wed) – Kanazawa – Shirakawago day-trip
4-Jan (Thu) – Kanazawa > Osaka
5-Jan (Fri) – Osaka – Himeji day-trip or relaxing in Osaka
6-Jan (Sat) – Osaka > Hiroshima
7-Jan (Sun) – Miyajima > Tokyo
8-11-Jan – Tokyo (eating, shopping, possible side-trips to Kamakura, Yokohama)
12-Jan (Fri) – Departure
We last visited in 2018. We primarily stuck to the golden route during that visit, so we’re looking to do more of the smaller cities this time around.
Our plans are pretty firm for the first and last week, but I’ve some concerns regarding the middle week that includes New Year’s. We’ll be two families traveling together with two children who do not enjoy being in large crowds in confined spaces, so we want to minimize running into the crush on the trains as much as we reasonably can. We will be trying to get reserved green car seating whenever we’re able.
Questions/concerns:
* Will the shinkansen from Nagoya > Kyoto in the evening of 29-Dec (Fri) already be packed, or will most citizens be traveling that Sat instead?
* From what I’ve read, traveling from Kyoto > Kanazawa on 2-Jan should be against the majority flow of traffic. Is that correct?
* Will Shirakawago be mostly back to normal by 3-Jan?
* Will Ghibli Park likely be open on 29-Dec (Fri)?
An alternative we’re considering is to do Kanazawa before Kyoto. We prefer the above itinerary, but if the following will mean running into a lot less traffic, we’ll do it.
29-Dec (Fri) – Nagoya – Ghibli Park > Kanazawa
30-Dec (Sat) – Kanazawa – Shirakawago day-trip
31-Dec (Sun) – Kanazawa > Kyoto
1-Jan (Mon) – Kyoto – Nara day-trip
2-Jan (Tue) – Kyoto
3-Jan (Wed) – Kyoto
4-Jan (Thu) – Kyoto > Osaka
Thanks in advance for any help!
2 comments
So, for New Year, the holiday rush usually runs from 12/29 to 1/3. Both the trains going down to Kyoto and the trains going up to Tokyo can get pretty busy during this period. In addition to that, lots of Japanese like to visit shrines during the New Year, which means any shrine, or even local trains, will be super crowded between 1/1 and 1/3, especially in Kyoto.
If I were traveling as a big group, I would go to Nagoya-> Kyoto/Nara-> Hiroshima-> Osaka -> Kanazawa -> Tokyo to avoid the crowds in Kyoto during the New Year. Kanazawa is much less crowded than the other cities.
No official announcement for the schedule yet, but Ghibli Park was closed on 12/29 last year.
I’ll be following to see what advice you get as I will be there around the same time (arrive and depart a few days later). I’m only planning on one night in Kanazawa and would be doing Kanazawa>Osaka on January 2nd (not ideal, but if we both stick with our current plans we could wave as we pass each other lol).