Hi All,
We’re a couple in our 30’s travelling to Japan for the first time coming October. I’m working on the itinerary with a few open questions/doubts. Would be great to get some advice:
**Day Destination Activities**
1 Tokyo Arrival Tokyo, Narita Airport, NRT. Akihabara and relax
2 Tokyo Senso-Ji / Ueno park
3 Tokyo Meiji Shrine /Shibuya Scramble Crossing / Shibuya Sky / Takeshita St
4 Tokyo Tsukiji Outer Market / Team lab
5 Tokyo Imperial palace or day trip Mt Fuji
6 Tokyo Day trip Nikko
7 Tokyo > Takayama Hida village
8 Takayama Kamikochi
9 Takayama Shirakawago
10 Takayama > Kyoto Stop in Nagoya
11 Kyoto Arashiyama Bamboo Grove / Otagi Nenbutsuji
12 Kyoto Sanneizaka / Kiyomizu-dera
13 Kyoto Fushimi Inari
14 Kyoto Mt. Hiei
15 Kyoto > Hiroshima Atomic Bomb Dome/ Peace Memorial Museum / Hiroshima Castle
16 Hiroshima Miyajima / Mount Misen hike
17 Hiroshima > Osaka Maybe stop in Hemeji
18 Osaka Narapark, Kasuga-taisha, Todai-ji
19 Osaka Universal studios
20 Osaka Departure Osaka, Kansai International Airport, KIX
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* We would like either a day trip to Mt Fuji from Tokyo or stay overnight. Hakone or Kawaguchiko for a day trip? If we were to stay overnight, which one of them makes the most sense if we have to travel to Takayama?
* I’ve seen many itineraries making a stop in Kanazawa, is that worth an overnight stay or would it be better to travel to Kyoto right away?
* Does it make sense to go to Naoshima if we’re not particular art lovers?
* Does anyone have experience with a day trip to Koyasan (either from Kyoto or Osaka)? I’ve been looking for hotels there but seems most of it is sold out already!
Thanks!
3 comments
Your days are for the most part on the light side, perhaps 20% to 50% too relaxed. Nothing wrong with that, but you could easily add a location or two on days 2, 11, 12, and 13.
Fushimi Inari Taisha could go on the same day with Nara, and you have a full extra day open.
>Takayama Hida village
I think Hida villiage basically overlaps with Shirakawa-go. Maybe just use this day to explore Takayama itself instead.
>We would like either a day trip to Mt Fuji from Tokyo or stay overnight. Hakone or Kawaguchiko for a day trip? If we were to stay overnight, which one of them makes the most sense if we have to travel to Takayama?
I’m personally partial to Kawaguchiko, but neither is easy going to Takayama. The fastest way is still to take some transportation (usually bus) out to a station on the Tokaido Shinkansen first, and then on to Nagoya before heading for Takayama. Technically a line exists that goes from Kawaguchiko to Matsumoto and you can take a bus from there to Takayama via Kamikochi, but it would be *way* slower in reality.
>I’ve seen many itineraries making a stop in Kanazawa, is that worth an overnight stay or would it be better to travel to Kyoto right away?
You could quite easily fit Kanazawa into your itinerary if you want to. Just go to Kanazawa via Shirakawago on day 9, spend day 10 in Kanazawa, and move to Kyoto late on day 10. It take a bit more than 2 hours to get from Kanazawa to Kyoto (e.g., Kanazawa 17:31 ==Thunderbird40==> 19:38 Kyoto) . Kenrokuen is a beautiful garden, but Higashichaya is kinda meh after Takayama.
>Does it make sense to go to Naoshima if we’re not particular art lovers?
Nope.
>Does anyone have experience with a day trip to Koyasan (either from Kyoto or Osaka)? I’ve been looking for hotels there but seems most of it is sold out already!
Staying at Koyasan is quite an intersting experience (though I didn’t like it personally), but otherwise Okunoin can be a simple day trip. You’re just missing out on the option of visiting it at night, though that isn’t for everyone either.
You probably already came across this, but are you going to be checking out Takayama for the autumn festival? Not sure if your day numbers correspond to day count or literal dates.
Just curious as I am also planning my itinerary for this Oct, did you research Mt Fuji conditions for that time? I did a brief search and found it’s not likely to be visible during that time so I don’t think it’ll make the Final Cut. Curious to see if you found info that says otherwise so I can look into it!