Hi!
I’m planning a 3-week itinerary to Japan going to the following places:
12/23 – land and fly to CTS and then taxi to niseko (I realize this is a long day) and stay at
Niseko Konbu Onsen
12/24 – snowboard/ski in niseko and dinner at resort
12/25 – bus back to airport and fly to Kyoto. Staying at Ace hotel Kyoto
12/26-12/28 Kyoto
– visit Hiroshima for a day
12/29-12/31 stay in Osaka at The Royal Park Hotel Iconic Osaka
– visit Nara for a day
12/31 – train to Tokyo and stay at Prince Gallery Tokyo
– do NYE hike on mt Takao
01/01-1/03 stay in Tokyo
– visit shrines that are open (I know it’ll be busy! Excited about that)
01/03 – train to Shibu Onsen and visit snow monkey park, stay at Ichinoyu Kati
1/04 – train/bus to Takayama, stay TBD
1/05 – stay in Takayama but potential day tour to Shirakawago
1/06 – bus to Matsumoto, stay at Byaku narai
1/07 – 01/14 stay in Tokyo at Airbnb in Chuo City
Any feedback on where we’re stopping? Would love advice on how to optimize the travel better or more unique places to visit.
![2 weeks of autumn in Tokyo/Hakone/Osaka/Onomichi/Kyoto! [Nov-Dec, week 2]](https://www.lonelyjapan.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/VPvLxqm1G5R6xZeoN1RyXYkWOdtIzFY9cED1uRu814Y-380x220.jpg)
3 comments
You seem to be changing locations most days. This will soak up a lot of your time and likely get very tiresome. Everywhere you’re going is very interesting, and I’d suggest going to fewer places so that you can actually enjoy them. Japan isn’t going anywhere, and you can visit the other places on a future trip.
Regarding being excited to visit busy shrines over the new year, the Japanese routinely accept levels of crowding that would be considered utterly unacceptable in most other countries. This means being squished into places and long waits. The shrines and the public transport leading to them will likely be awful to visit on those days and I’d suggest making other plans.
Hi!
How are you getting to Takayama on 1/4 from Shibu Onsen? Are you planning to do Shibu onsen to Nagano to Toyama to Takayama? If so did you look at train times? there are only 8 trains a day from Toyama and Takayama and they are not always well timed. It’s not like Nagoya to Takayama which has a limited express every hour almost.
Good luck!
Is Niseko a must? Seems really out of the way for one ski day then fly back down.. like what?
If you’re doing that anyway, why not fly to Hiroshima after Niseko so at least your travel is in one direction and you waste less time going back and forth? Like others have said right now you’re spending a lot of time on the road for … No reason?