I am heading to Japan for my 2nd time this fall. I am hoping to see the fall foliage while I am there and also eat good food (Unagi is one of my favorites). I have a rough outline planned and am looking for any tips and specifically some advice on a few areas which I will bold below.
11/2 – Landing in Narita at 3pm. My plan is to make my way up to Yamagata station where a friend lives. From what I can tell reading on here this should not be an issue as far as time goes.
# 11/3-11/6 Yamagata
11/3 – Relax Day
11/4 – Go to Yamadera in the morning and enjoy the sights. I plan to make my way towards the Nikka Distillery while enjoy more sights along the way and more or less end my afternoon at the distillery.
11/5 – Check out Mt. Zao, the onsens and perhaps the Okama crater. I understand this is way too early for the snow monsters (which I just found out about during this research). However, if this ends up being past the time when the fall colors are there is this area still worth it? I love onsen but have not experienced a public one yet.
11/6 – staying a night at Ginzan Onsen. Going to see the waterfall over that way and Momiji Park.
# 11/7-11/10 Kyoto
11/7-11/8 – Flying from Yamagata to Osaka and heading to Kyoto. I am contemplating staying near Kyoto station or near Arashiyama. Reason being the next day I plan to do the boat ride, check out the gorge and sites. Also thinking of going to this unagi restaurant I found (Hirokawa Unagi). **If this is my plan for majority of the 8th which would make the most sense as far as where to stay? I currently have a Daiwa reservation near Kyoto station.**
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11/9-11/10 – I have a Park Hyatt Kyoto stay for these nights. I plan to just explore the area and see sights. I read that the Philosopher’s Path is nice. I have been to Kyoto once before for a couple days and unfortunately Kiyomizu-dera was covered from repairs. So I plan to check that out at some point too.
# 11/11-11/17 Osaka (Airbnb Stay)
11/11-11/17 – While in Osaka my friend and I plan to shop around and eat. I also plan to go to Minoo Park (Minoh Falls) and to the Suntory Distillery (I am hoping by then they will be open again). **I have been to Nara before but it was during the cherry blossoms. I am contemplating going to Nara again to see the fall colors. Is it worth it if I have already been?**
# 11/18-11/19 Fuji Kawaguchiko Stay (Ryokan)
For these two days I currently have a reservation at a Ryokan with the purpose of seeing some of the iconic sights and of course Mt Fuji. However, I read another reddit thread where it was recommended that instead of preplanning specific days to go that you should instead watch the weather and plan to go the day before when you see it is going to be clear the next day. Is this a viable option? My worry is that if I keep this booking I run the risk of not seeing Fuji. However, if I wait til the last minute as recommended by some that I might not be able to find anywhere to stay. I also currently have a cheap Airbnb booked from 11/18-11/25 that is north of Asakusa. My other thought was to just do a day trip to Fuji and forget staying here while also booking a Ryokan somewhere else during this week where the object is not to see Fuji. **What would be the best recommendation here?**
11/20-11/25 Tokyo sight seeing. I have not set out any plans on what to do yet outside of getting more Unagi. I know on Tabelog Kabuto is the highest rated place (from what I can tell). I was considering having my japanese friend make me a reservation there. However, from what I can tell it seems you can’t just order a giant bowl of Unagi don. It is a set meal course which I am not sure I want to do. The other place I seen recommended on here was Hitsumabushi Bincho which is another one I am considering.
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This is my first time doing one of these itinerary checks so if I did anything wrong please let me know. Thank you for your help in advance.
3 comments
>My worry is that if I keep this booking I run the risk of not seeing Fuji. However, if I wait til the last minute as recommended by some that I might not be able to find anywhere to stay
It’s *peak* season for Kawaguchiko. Like, the better ryokans will probably be booked out the day they open for reservations (some only open roughly three months in advance, so you can’t reserve a November ryokan until August 1st). If you want to stay at a ryokan with views of Fuji at all, it’s likely you’d just have to grab whatever date you can, and pray the weather is nice.
I would just stay in 1 place in Kyoto. Arashiyama isn’t that far away that you should have a dedicated hotel for it.
Re Nara, autumn leaves are nice everywhere. I tend to enjoy going new places unless I loved it before.
Fellow fall traveller here! Did you go this past spring or earlier?
For Kyoto, it would likely work better staying in one place for simplicity (if possible). We stayed near Sanjo Station and it wasn’t too difficult to get to/from Arashiyama. Gosh, the Park Hyatt would be a dream! That area is beautiful as well. I hope you enjoy Kiyomizu-dera this time around! Philosopher’s Path is really nice, I went in the spring but we got there just after dark. Harder to see everything but had an interesting vibe!
I didn’t know about the Suntory Distillery! I would love to do that, though the friend I’m travelling with probably wouldn’t want to go. Apparently you need to make a booking on their website for a tour. I’m likely going back to Nara since my friend hasn’t been there, I bet it’ll be nice in the fall.
For Kawaguchiko, it’s probably doable in a day trip from Tokyo. However, you’re more likely to see Mt. Fuji in the morning. We managed to see Fuji for about two hours (9:30-11:30 ish) after arriving on an early bus from Fujinomiya. Then we didn’t see it at all during our ryokan stay there! It’s really hit or miss for seeing Fuji all in all, but it wouldn’t hurt your chances to overnight there. Do you have a place in mind in this area? We stayed at Kaneyamaen/Bessho Sasa, and it was worth the price even though we didn’t see Fuji from there.
Happy planning! I hope to do an itinerary check at some point too once my friend and I have our hotels booked 🙂