I am visiting Japan for \~3 weeks in November solo, with my primary goals being to experience the autumn foliage and try some new things. I’ve been to Japan and done the classic golden route before. This time, I thought I would include the Shimanami Kaido into my trip.
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At the moment, my itinerary is basically a ‘re-do’ of my previous trip – and I don’t mind that as I’ve recently gotten into photography and it would be nice to revisit some of these places. That being said, I am very open to revamping my trip entirely if anybody has any suggestions! The only thing that is locked in is that I’ll be starting in Tokyo and will need to end up in Kyoto to meet up with a friend.
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|Date|Location|
|:-|:-|
|10 Nov|Arrive in Tokyo (from Europe – is the jet lag bad…?)|
|11 Nov – 17 Nov|Tokyo, with day trips to Kamakura (new) and Nikko (new)|
|18 Nov|(JR Pass Day 1: Tokyo to Hiroshima) Hiroshima (been here before)|
|19 Nov|(JR Pass Day 2: Hiroshima to Miyajima) Miyajima (been here before)|
|20 Nov|(JR Pass Day 3: Hiroshima to Onomichi) Shimanami Kaido (new)|
|21 Nov|(JR Pass Day 4) Shimanami Kaido|
|22 Nov|(JR Pass Day 5: Imabari to Matsuyama) Explore several temples along the Shikoku Henro|
|23 Nov|(JR Pass Day 6) Explore several temples along the Shikoku Henro|
|24 Nov|(JR Pass Day 7: Matsuyama to Kyoto) Kyoto|
|25 Nov -|Kyoto, Nara, Osaka with IC card|
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Looking at the itinerary, a few questions came to mind:
1. Would the 7-Day JR Pass be worth it here? If I’m not mistaken, I think it pays off but the caveat is that I am forcing myself to finish the Hiroshima/Shimanami Kaido all within a 1-week timeframe.
2. Is travelling from Tokyo to Hiroshima in the morning, and then visiting the Peace Memorial Museum realistic in one day? An alternative I could think of was maybe to take a night bus instead — but then that would make getting the JR Pass redundant.
3. Is my plan too fast-paced? I’m interested in coming back to Hiroshima/Miyajima for the nostalgia, but admittedly it’s been included mainly due to its proximity to Shimanami Kaido…
4. Any other suggestions? I’m not desperate to do the Shimanami Kaido, just thought it’d be an interesting challenge for myself! If anybody has any other ideas for a second-time traveller, I’m all ears!
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Thanks everyone! Hope you’re able to help, I’m super excited to be back in Japan again 🙂
2 comments
I think with the JR pass at the old rate it just breaks even. But like you said why force yourself to have time constraints? Especially when the savings aren’t big. Just buy the tickets directly and allow yourself some buffer days to train out.
At the new JR pass rate it’s a solid no for the JR pass.
Not sure how feasible it is on public transport (I did it by bicycle), but you could check out the Iya Valley and Kochi on Shikoku? I enjoyed them a lot, as with everywhere else on Shikoku.
You could ditch a few of the repeated locations and extra days in Tokyo to really get out there and explore !