Hello,
I am a little overwhelmed getting started with planning, hoping for some guidance. We’ll be in Japan Oct 29 – Nov14 and are thinking about visiting the following places: Tokyo, Kanazawa, Kyoto, Osaka, Fukuoka. Can I get advice on what makes sense order wise(we fly in and out of Tokyo) and how long to stay? I heard Fukuoka is great for ramen/food, but thinking it might be too out of the way? Would you recommend skipping? Getting around, what order of cities makes sense? The railway is great, so thinking day trips would be good too. Sorry for lack of details, I know most posts are more organized and detailed, but I need help starting.
4 comments
Exactly the order in your title would work and fly from Fukuoka to Tokyo. Or cut Fukuoka and train to Tokyo, again same order. Or completely reverse.
Make a day by day itinerary, it will help you figure out how many days you need in each city. But Kyoto is minimum 2-3 days, Osaka 1-2 (+1 if USJ) plus as many days in either for day trips to places like Nara, Kobe, Himeji.
Tokyo is minimum 4-5 plus as many days as extra day trips/amusement park.
Of course those numbers only my minimum to see the highlight of each city, but you can easily spend much longer in each.
That’s funny I’m doing a similar trip the same dates as you. I’m doing 2 weeks in Japan: 1 week in Tokyo area, and 1 week split between Kansai & Kyushu. We’ll be starting in Tokyo and moving down south using the train and ending in Kyushu area (flying out of Fukuoka). If you have 3 weeks, you’ll have plenty of time to visit all of these. I don’t know much about Kanazawa. For me, I’m spending 4 days in Kyushu region and 3 days in Kansai region, which is tight, but you’ll have more time.
For Fukuoka (Kyushu), there’s a lot to do there, I’m going to spend 2 days in Fukuoka and do day trips to Nagasaki and maybe Kurokawa
If I can make a suggestion OP. Spend a few days searching the subreddit by Itinerary and Travel Report thread flairs and some other resources like JapanTravel and get a feel for some of the things you’d like to see.
Plot all of those things on Google Maps and start clustering activities geographically, or by interconnecting transport links and plan your days this way.
There may be a better method but that’s how I am planning my trip… Still overwhelming as hell.
In terms of the grander “what order to I visit these places in” question… Pass. I am Tokyo to Kyoto and back again with day trips throughout. Nice and simple.
I’d probably cut out Fukuoka with the time you have – it’s nice enough but it’s nothing special in my opinion, just a normal big city.
I’d do something like this Tokyo (5 days) -> Kanazawa (2 Days) -> Kyoto (4 days) -> Osaka (3 days) -> Tokyo
Tokyo and Kanazawa are 2 hours apart by Shinkansen, Kanazawa and Kyoto about the same on the limited express, and Osaka and Tokyo about 2 and a half on the Shinkansen.
You can do day trips to Nara and Hiroshima from Osaka/Kyoto, and day trips to places like Nikko/Kamakura from Tokyo.