Hello,
Just wanting some second opinion or advise on our itinerary for me and my GF’s first trip (3 weeks) to Japan this October. I am especially concerned about going to Wakayama and the Nakasendo trail – is it worth it?
We are planning to see a bit of different things – city and nature.
For now our minds are set on getting the JR pass before the price rise for the full 3 weeks.
We haven’t decided which days we will see what under each stay mentioned below.
For now the itinerary looks as this:
Day 1-5: Tokyo
– Explore shinjuku area – Golden Gai etc, piss alley
– Visit fish market – Tsukiji
– Explore shibuya – the crossing, yoyogi park, meji jingu
– Explore asakusa – senso-ji temple, Tokyo sky tree, maybe Sumida Park
– Explore Akihabara
Our Tokyo itinerary is not complete yet.
Day 5-7: Nakasendo trail – Kiso
– Ryokan stay in Kiso-Fukushima is booked for now. Actually want to do the trail from magome to tsumago, so is this a inconvienent place to stay?
– Two nights enough in this area?
Day 7-12: Kyoto
– Day trip to Nara
– 1/2 day trip to Osaka (just to visit the centre of the city looking for food)
– Visit bamboo forest
– Visit fushimi Inari Shrine
– Kiyomizu-dera
– Visit Nishiki market
– See Yasaka Pagoda
– Philosopher’s path
Day 12-14: Hiroshima
– day trip to Miyajima
– Visits a-bomb site + museum
Day 14-18: Wakayama Prefecture
– temple stay in Koyosan for one night
– Visit Yunomine onsen to relax and stay in Ryokan
– Do the Dainichi-goe route (part of the Kumano Kodo Pilgrimage Route)
– Visit a few shrines, including Kamikura-jinja Shrine, Nachisan Seiganto-ji Temple, Kumano Hongu Taisha Grand Shrine.
Anyone tried visiting Wakayama? I do not see a lot og people having this on their Itinerary. Is the time better spent on visiting takayama/kanazawa or spending time in Hakone?
We have also been thinking of changing this for Izu-Kogen. Any opinions on that?
Day 18-21: Tokyo
– day trip to Nikko
– Visit team lab planets – I think this will be nice as a last day visit.
– Catch up on things we did not see on the first Tokyo stay
Appreciate all the help we can get! Thank you very much.
5 comments
For the hiking but ,I think it would be better going to kamikochi and just pick a trail that fits you.
Since you’re spending more than a week in Tokyo, sounds like at most a 14 day JR pass would suffice. I doubt it’s worth it though, need to do the calculations.
I would pick either wakayama of Nakasendo and then like somebody else said go to Kamikochi or Tateyama instead.
We did Wakayama/Kii peninsula and loved it. Train to Wakayama and then rented a car to explore for 4 nights. We really enjoyed Kii peninsula; great mountains, lots of waterfalls, lots of walking/hiking opportunities, amazing shrines and temples and great coastlines.
We did Kanazawa too, but not Takayama.
I was in Izu this April and it was the highlight of my trip. Went down to Dogashima and got to see a lot of cool stuff on the way. I stayed in a hotel called Il Azzurri- highly recommend!
As for the JR pass, make sure it’s worth it before you buy. I’d HIGHLY recommend squeezing all your shinkansen time into the 14 day pass instead. For reference, I got a 14 day pass for my last trip. Took the shinkansen from Tokyo to Mishima to Osaka then back to Tokyo and it was barely worth it. Had to add in some local Jr lines to make it worth while, and those are pretty limited.