My partner and I (21f & 23m) have just spent a magical month in Japan! Since I used this forum for my research I thought I’d give back with a report of my experience ☺️
Dates: 10 November – 10 December
Did not use JR PASS (only spent approx $500 on all our trains when JR PASS for that time would have cost approx $850 before the price increase)
Used global pocket wifi (worked fantastically)
I can’t remember what days we did what so I’ve just given a rundown of what we did/overall vibe from the city
Report below ⬇️
Tokyo (2 nights in Asakusa)
– Dinner at hoppy street
– Sensō-ji temple
– Imperial gardens
– Ginza
– Akihabara
– The street food and markets surrounding Ueno station
We did all of above in 1 day and walked almost 40,000 steps… we were very over zealous and excited, I wouldn’t recommend doing all that in one day.
Matsumoto (3 nights)
– Matsumoto Castle (take the free tour! The guides are so passionate about the castle it was beautiful)
– Matsumoto city art museum
– Torii pass hike from Yabuhara to Narai (this was gorgeous! Just note the train back to Matsumoto is only every 2 hours, so be mindful of timing)
– Kamikochi (HIGHLIGHT OF THE TRIP!!) We went on the last day it was open for the year and were so lucky to have snow everywhere and also sunshine! We took the 5:30am bus and had the trails to ourselves most of the morning till 12 when tourists arrived and the snow began to melt. If you can 100% go to Kamikochi early in the day
Nagano (1 night, wish we stayed 2)
– snow monkey park (very touristy and expensive bus tickets, the monkeys are cute but I would pass if I redid the holiday)
– Zenkō-ji temple
– Togakushi hike (amazing! allow 3 hours to hike from the bottom temple to the top of you want to take it all in)
Kanazawa (2 nights)
– Kenrokuen gardens
– Castle grounds
– Omichio market
– Samurai district
Unfortunately is poured rain the whole time we were in Kanazawa, a local told us that it rains 5 days a week in Kanazawa in autumn, if I knew this before I probably wouldn’t have gone here. My bad for poor research.
Koyasan (1 night)
– stayed in a temple with the monks
– Explored the town
– Okunoin cemetery (walk all of it, it’s worth it)
– Participated in the morning prayer
Note: there were no restaurants open after 4:30 and the convenience closes at 6, if your accomodation does not provide food, plan ahead.
Osaka (4 nights)
– dontonbori
– Explored vintage/second hand shops
– Nara (we thought it would be too touristy but it was amazing and so beautiful and the viral mochi place is worth the hype)
– Namba
– Rock climbing (my partner was missing his sport 😂)
– Osaka castle
Kumano kodo (5 nights)
– HIGHLIGHT OF THE WHOLE TRIP
– We walked the whole trail from Takiri-oji to Nachi.
– a lot tougher than anticipated, we are both very active people and experienced hikers and found it challenging in a fun way. If you are not an active person You would not be able to do this hike without training.
– The guest houses along the way were amazing and the hosts so kind and generous. I recommend 3rd house for night 2 and @koguchi for night 4. these were the best meals I had in the whole of japan I was here.
– If you find yourself in the Wakayama prefecture, Nachi was a gorgeous place and can be easily visited without doing the Kumano Kodo.
Kyoto (3 nights)
I’m sure Kyoto is wonderful if it’s the only place you visit that is more traditional however, since we had such amazing traditional experiences on the trail. The contrast from being alone in the mountains to surrounded by people was overwhelming. Kyoto was so busy and tourists everywhere. Controversial opinions but I feel there are better places to visit Japan to experience temples and culture such as Nikko and Koyasan.
Take this with a grain of salt as we were knackered from 5 days of hiking and also a bit templed-out. We actually ended up going back to Osaka on our second day in Kyoto because we couldn’t bare another temple
Kawaguchiko/ Mt Fuji (2 nights)
– From Kyoto, took the Shinkansen to Mishima and then the highway liner (book in advance)
– AMAZING we were so incredibly lucky to have blue skies and no clouds. We got up super early and walked to the north side of lake kawaguchiko before there were people around and watched the sun rise over mt Fuji.
– Swan paddle boat (lots of fun!)
– Unfortunately we both started feeling sick so didn’t get to do much else in the area
– Limited dinner options: we were staying near the station.
Nikko (2 nights)
– I ADORED Nikko!!
– The temples and shrines here were by far the best we saw the whole trip, and trust me we visited many shrines/temples. A completely different style then others we had visited and the cedar forest surroundings made it all 100x better
– Lake Chūzenji
– Lake Yunoko – gorgeous and snowy!
– I would say Nikko is a must for anyone who likes a more quiet experience and it can definitely be done in a day trip from Tokyo (2 hour train from Asakusa)
Tokyo (5 nights in Shinjuku)
– Explored Shinjuku, Shibuya, Harijuku, Ueno.
– Thrift shopping (mode off was my fave)
– Oi race course flea market (big slay if you are an antique lover)
– Yokohama
– Ueno Park Zoo – do not go, we did not do any research. The animals looked so sad and the cages were tiny. Would not recommend
– Karaoke
– Nightlife Shibuya and Shinjuku (seriously becomes a differed city after 10 😂)
The trip was even more amazing than I could have imagined. My highlight is the people! We interacted with the most kind beautiful and generous people we had ever met.