P.S. I actually posted this previously but wrote the wrong date. Didn’t know how to change the Post title so I deleted it.
Hi all, I’ve just started planning my 13 day long itinerary to Central Japan with my partner, but there’s so many places we wanted to go and we just can’t decide which to eliminate. Currently we are pretty concerned that our itinerary is too packed and would really appreciate some help in planning this !
Our main priority is to catch the autumn foliage and have a mix of nature + cultural + city areas within the 13 days.
Our 13 day itinerary from mid Oct to end oct:
Day 1: landing in Nagoya in the morning, taking a train to Takayama and staying over night there.
Day 2: taking a day trip from Takayama to Shirakawago, and back to Takayama
Day 3: Taking a bus to Kamikochi ( the highlight of the trip !!!), and spending the night at Okuhida.
Day 4: Exploring Okuhida area and maybe do some onsen-hopping. Read online that tourists are able to rent an electric car or bike to explore around the area. Is that true ?
Day 5: Going to Kanazawa from Okuhida And staying the night there.
Day 6: Kanazawa day 2
Day 7: going for a day trip at Kurobe Gorge.
Day 8: Taking a day trip to Karuizawa, then taking the Shinkansen to Tokyo and staying the night there.
Day 9: exploring Tokyo
Day 10: Day trip to Mt Fuji area , possibly Lake Kawaguchiko. We would like to do some outdoor activities there such as kayaking or cycling around the lake.
Day 11&12: Tokyo sightseeing and Disney sea
Day 13: morning flight from Tokyo back home
Right now we are worried that there’s too many day trips and are deciding on eliminating one of them: either Kurobe Gorge, Karuizawa or Mt Fuji Area.
Kurobe Gorge looks really beautiful online, but we understand that it’s going to be really crowded at that time and wondering if it’s really worth it.
Same for Lake Kawaguchiko area, the idea of kayaking with Mt Fuji as the backdrop really excited us a lot. However we read that autumn foliage season comes later around mid Nov for Mt Fuji. Is that true? if so, we might not be able to see the leaves.
As for Karuizawa, I saw many Reddit threads that it’s a hidden gem for all seasons and is much less crowded than Kurobe Gorge and Lake Kawaguchiko. But we are still not very sure what we can do there. It would be great if there’s any insights into any outdoor activities we can do there.
So should we go ahead with our current itinerary or reduce it by one day trip? thank you!
2 comments
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On your trip to shirakawago: I’ve never visited myself, but I’ve seen the amount tourists it attracts while we were passing it on our way from Takayama to Nagoya.
It’s super busy, even in October, so if you feel like you want to avoid that, my recommendation would be to go to the hida folk village in Takayama instead and have some extra time to explore Takayama itself.
Also: if you want to explore the other side of Kurobe gorge, it is a good idea to start early, since trip to the gorge and the train ride to (and from) the other side takes quite some time. It’s gorgeous though! Well worth the visit.