Tohoku Plans

Hello!

I am planning a trip to Tohoku Oct 24 (roughly). I was planning for 4 nights, but realistically I have a bit more flexibility here. I have two itineraries that I planned. They are more nature-oriented, but still wonder if I’m missing out on something obvious that is not nature.

note: this trip to japan is very last minute 🙂

Plan 1: This seems to be the more reasonable plan in terms of travel time.

D1: Tokyo -> \[Komachi 3h 52m\] -> Akita (day + night)D2: Akita -> \[Resort Shirakami 5h\] -> Hirosaki (sleep)D3: Hirosaki \[2h bus\] -> Oirase Gorge + Lake Towada \[3hr taxi + train\] -> Hiraizumi (sleep)D4: Hiraizumi (genbikei gorge) -> \[2h JR\] -> Matsushima (sleep)D5: Matsushima (matsushima bay) -> \[2h JR\] -> TokyoTravel time: 4 + 5 + 2 + 3 + 2 + 2 = 18 hPlan 2: I prefer the distribution of this one a lot better, but it leads to some inefficiencies in terms of travel.

D1: Tokyo -> \[3h JR\] -> Matsushima (matsushima bay) -> \[2hr\] Hiraizumi (sleep)D2: Hiraizumi (Day) (genbikei gorge) -> \[4h JR\] -> Akita (sleep)D3: Akita -> \[Resort shirakami 5h\] -> Aomori (day + sleep)D4: Aomori -> \[2h bus\] Oirase Gorge -> Lake Towada -> \[taxi or bus 1/3h\] -> AomoriD5: Aomori (day) \[4h JR\] -> TokyoTravel time: 3 + 2 + 4 + 5 + 2 + (1-3\] + 4 = 21-23 h

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General thoughts:

* I am going in autumn, so that’s a focus.
* I am more nature-oriented than culture-oriented in this particular trip.
* I am spending almost no time in Akita, because I felt somewhat underwhelmed by what I read.

My general itinerary atm is:

Kyoto (4d) -> Tokyo (3d) -> Tohoku (5d) -> tokyo (3d) — I wanted to spend more times in cities and maybe do day trips. I am less concerned with the typical travel plans (which I’ve done several times already)

Thank you in advance for any help!

Edit: Lake Towada -> hiraizumi may be quite ambitious…so maybe I should stay in aomori and add another night to the trip

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