Hi all,
I am a single traveler, 36 years old. I am totally into exploring cities and taking photos. I was in Japan in October/November 2019 and fell in love. I visited the following cities: Tokyo, Nara, Kyoto, Osaka, Hiroshima, Miyajima, Himeji, Nikko.
Now I am planing my second trip. At first I was thinking to explore Tohoku, but I think I will save that area when I want to do a road trip in Japan (definitely will do a third trip!). Now I have done much research the last weeks and months and want to do a mixture of known areas and new ones. At the moment I am a little bit overwhelmed and unsure what to do. There are some open questions. I hope to find people who can give me some input on my itinerary and perhaps new ideas. I will start with my questions, after that comes the itinerary.
# Questions I have asked myself
**a. Mt Fuji**
I haven’t seen Mt Fuji before. Should visit Hakone on a day trip or do an overnight-stay at Fujikawaguchiko? If necessary, I can save the day I want to do the day trip to Yokohama
**b. Daytrip to Matsumoto**
Is it worth it? I have seen some castles before. Perhaps I should save that day and explore something else near Nagano or save the date for question e.)?
**c. Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route**
Sounds very interesting. But I don’t want to stay at a night at Tateyama. My plan is to go directly to Kanazawa. Is that possible to do? Don’t know how I could handle the luggage problem. The luggage will be transported to Tateyama if I understand the website right. But what if I am too late and can’t pick up my luggage the same day? Has anyone done that before?
**d. Osaka**
The last time I had one full day in Osaka. I was a little bit underwhelmed. But many people seem to love Osaka.
Should I give the city another chance? Not interested in Universal Studios
The last time I have seen:
Osaka Castle
* Festival of Lights
* Umeda Sky Building
**e. Nov, 1 to Nov, 4**
No plans at the moment for this time. So open for any suggestions. Perhaps it will be one more day if I save the day planed for the Matsumoto day trip. So I would have 5 days to plan. Perhaps going to Fukuoka?
# Itinerary
|Day|Date|Where?|What to do? |
|:-|:-|:-|:-|
|1|October 17|Landing at NRT @ 4pm|Nothing special planed for that day|
|2 to 4|October 18 to October 20|Tokyo|As I have been there before, I will do a mixture of visiting places I have seen before and new ones|
|5|October 21|Tokyo|**Daytrip** to Hakone or Fujikawaguchiko (see **Question a**)|
|6|October 22|Tokyo|**Daytrip** to Yokohama // *This trip is optional and no must have. Could be canceled if I need that day for Fujukawaguchiko or any other station.*|
|7|October 23|Traveling to Nagano|I plan to start early so I would be in Nagano at 10 or 11 am (I am a early bird)|
|8|October 24|Nagano|Zenkoji / Saikoji / Togakushi Shrine|
|9|October 25|Nagano|**Daytrip** to Matsumoto // see **question b.**)|
|10|October 26|traveling to Kanazawa|There I have two options: 1. Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route (see **question c.**) or 2. Heading with the Shinkansen directly to Kanazawa.|
|11 and 12|October 27 and October 28|Kanazawa|Kenrokuen Garden Nagamachi Higashi Chaya District Gyokusen-inmaru Garden Seison-kaku Kanazawa Castle Park Oyama-jinja Shrine Nishi Chaya District|
|13|October 29|traveling to Osaka|\—|
|14|October 30|Osaka|see **Question d**.|
|15|October 31|traveling to Koya-San|Visiting Koya-San with overnight stay in an temple|
|16 to 18|November 1 to November 4|???? (Starting in Koya-San)|See **question e**. This is a “free spot” at the moment. Open for suggestions for places I should visit.|
|19|November 4|traveling to Nagoya|Depends on where I start, I will be early in Nagoya. So plenty of time to explore the city.|
|20|November 5|Nagoya| Nagoya Castle / Sky Promenade / Noritake Garden / Tokugawa Park & Art Museum / Oasis 21 / Osu Kannon / Atsuta-Jungu Shrine / Korankhei / Maria Power Tower|
|21|November 6|Nagoya|**Daytrip** to Ise|
|22|November 7|traveling to Tokyo|Depends on how I liked Nagoya I will stay a few more hours or start early to Tokyo|
|23 and 24|November 8 and November 9|Tokyo|shopping Souvenirs, exploring some more spots|
|25|November 10|Starting at NRT @ 11 am|Thinking of taking a hotel near Narita Airport on Nov. 9 to Nov. 10|
Thanks in advance for any good advice / input and idea for my itinerary. At the moment I am totally lost about the options I have.
2 comments
Matsumoto city has an original castle and an art museum with a decent collection especially if you like Kusama, if none of these are of appeal then it is skippable.
You seem to overestimate the amount of time for domestic train travel. Day 7 and Day 13 are extremely light, the traveling is a couple of hours and do not require a full day. In fact unless you are a very slow traveler, Days 7 and 8 can be complete in one day if you shift “travel to Nagano” on the evening of Day 6.
If you don’t want to revisit Kyoto, I would move Koyasan around so that it is not in the middle, and chain together the free days to go to northern Kyoto/Hyogo (Amanohashidate or Kinosaki Onsen)-Tottori-Shimane. Looks like there’s a cheap domestic flight from Izumo to Nagoya airport to join back up on Day 19.
Kanagawa is great. I used to go spend most of Oct and November in Japan from 2013-2016. I hardly left Tokyo, get a bike and ride around randomly it’s endlessly fascinating. Also don’t stay at Narita that’s a waste, stay near Shibuya and take the Narita Express.