Hi!! I’d love insight on our itinerary and how we might structure the last four days of our two week adventure. We can’t decide if we should push for more sightseeing or head to a Ryokan and just chill? (Some members of the family are concerned that chilling can get boring!). We’ve scheduled a lot in the 2 weeks we’ll be there, which is both awesome and exhausting.
ITINERARY:
July 15 – 17 Tokyo — arrive in Tokyo from NYC. Baseball game, Teamlab, wander, etc.
July 17 – 21 train to kyoto, Day trips to Nara, Osaka. etc
July 21 – 23 train/ferry to Naoshima island
July 23 Ferry then Train to Kobe. Fly from Kobe to Matsumoto. Haven’t booked a place to stay yet because we can’t decide whether we want a city or mountain experience. Our top ideas :
1. Matsumoto — book a hotel/ryokan at the edge of the city and then day trips via train/bus.
2. Kamikochi – book a ryokan and go for some hiking but mainly chill in town. We wonder if it’ll be super crowded w/tourists?? In general we love the idea of an outdoor onsen in the mountains. Sounds so relaxing.
3. Nozawaonsen – the town looks cute and not crowded. Hiking/mountain biking / onsen opportunities seem amazing. Surely there are nice Ryokans here.
July 27 – train back to Tokyo to fly home to the U.S. on July 28.
Any thoughts? Thank yoU!
3 comments
Before I bother writing up a personalized response to this, I’ll paste what I always say when seeing these dates and locations:
>Mid-late July is a MASSIVE festival season in Kansai–Including the Gion Festival (all of July, with the biggest events from the 15th-17th, with other large events from the 22nd-24th), Tenjin Festival (24th-25th–especially the 25th) Motomiya Festival (21st-22nd), and Mitarashi Festival (last 10 or so days of July). I also highly recommend Kobo-san at Toji on the 21st and/or Tenjin-san at Kitanotenmangu on the 25th, though I wouldn’t sacrifice going to the Tenjin Festival just to go to Tenjin-san Market. These festivals are among the only good reasons I can think of to suffer through the heat of summer if going at another time of year is feasible. Under normal circumstances I would recommend least 5-7 full days just for the highlights of Kansai, but given the sweltering heat of outdoor sightseeing in summer, the extra time needed for festivals and the crowds, I would recommend giving it more like 10+ if you’re going at this time.
Matsumoto is a city, so it you want nature I wild recommend staying directly in Kamikochi or somewhere in the area. Hirayu Onsen has a really nice outdoor Onsen. But you’re going in July, it’s kinda too hot to really relax outside.
During the day Kamikochi is super crowded, yes. Accommodation is limited though and expensive so it’s much more quiet in the early morning/after the last bus.
Could stay at Nakanoyu Onsen and hike yake. Next day go to Kamikochi and walk along The Valley
July 21 – 23 train/ferry to Naoshima island
Three days for Naoshima? You can see everything there in around 6 hours.