My partner and I will be going to Japan for our first time travelling internationally ever, and are feeling a bit overwhelmed with our itinerary so far. We want a touch of the typical tourist experience to Japan, but we want to explore a lot of the remote nature more than anything. Finding a balance has been hard, and I'm not sure our itinerary is within the realm of possibility without being way too fast paced.
Most important to us would be:
- hikes, ideally quiet-ish
- finding some of Japan's biggest trees (I already have a big list going, and this itinerary will cover a lot of them)
- volcanoes/hell valleys
- beach time, specifically gravel beaches to look for rocks, and also snorkel opportunities
Obviously, stuff like onsens and food is up there too, but I feel we can find those pretty much anywhere. We are okay with the limited time we have planned in Tokyo.
Here is what we have so far (italics are activities that are particularly important to us, which seem hard to replicate elsewhere):
- Saturday, October 26th: pretty much a write off as we arrive in Tokyo for 7pm, check into hotel and go to convenience store for a quick dinner, then bed
- Sunday, October 27th: explore Tokyo; just grab breakfast, Shibuya crossing, grab lunch somewhere near the Gingko Biloba, walk around the Imperial Palace, have dinner somewhere with a viewpoint of Tokyo skyline (Kagurazaka Saryo maybe?)
- Monday, October 28th: breakfast in Tokyo, go to Ueda to explore the town (either trails in the mountains or something like Anraku-ji Hakkau Sanjunoto), eat lunch, walk around more (Kitamuki Kannon temple), go to a matsutake restaurant for dinner in the nearby hills (quick bus + 30min walk, will probably cab back), stay night in Ueda close to Ueda station
- Tuesday, October 29th: have breakfast in Ueda (Tully's Coffee is nearby the station, probably will get that), do a big hike (Mount Asama) which will pretty much be our whole day, stay the night at a ryokan around the base of Mount Asama
- Wednesday, October 30th: Go from ryokan around Mount Asama to Nagano, go to Ogizawa for Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route which will be our whole day, stay the night in a ryokan at high point of route. We'll walk around a bit and hang out in an onsen, hopefully can catch the sunset.
- Thursday, October 31st: Catch the sunrise, wait for transport to start so we can then complete the alpine route to Toyama, have a quick brunch from Lawson, go from Toyama to Itoigawa for pebble beaches and watch the sunset, have dinner and stay the night there
- Friday, November 1st: Catch sunrise in the morning in Itoigawa while exploring beaches most of the day and grabbing breakfast/lunch, go back to Toyama just to have a quick dinner and stay the night there
- Saturday, November 2nd: breakfast in Toyama, grab a packable lunch, then rent a car to drive 90min one way to explore Hayatsuki River for big trees (series of short hikes in the river valley), maybe see the glass museum if we have time, then have dinner and stay night in Toyama
- Sunday, November 3rd: breakfast in Toyama, go to Kyoto for lunch, see Kinkaku-ji, have dinner and stay the night in Kyoto
- Monday, November 4th: explore Kyoto some more at a relaxed pace – if we have time, go to Kibune River valley, otherwise go up Mount Hiei, have dinner and stay the night in Kyoto
- Tuesday, November 5th: Nara for deer/hikes (Mt. Kasuga Primeval Forest), have dinner in Kyoto and stay the night in Kyoto
- Wednesday, November 6th: go from Kyoto to Hiroshima for slower paced day; war museum and Peace Memorial Park (both during the day and night), have okonomiyaki for dinner, stay the night in Hiroshima
- Thursday, November 7th: Miyajima Island for hiking/beaches near the ferry (either ropeway or climb up to Shishiiwa Observatory and try to catch Mikasa at low tide), have dinner and stay the night on the island
- Friday, November 8th: Miyajima to Kyoto for some more Kyoto exploring (mostly the forests around the city), have dinner and explore Kyoto at night (Maruyama, Shogunzuka Mound)
- Saturday, November 9th: Kyoto to Koyasan for a full day of old growth forest hikes/cemetery/Buddhist lodging, stay the night in Koyasan
- Sunday, November 10th: Brief Koyasan exploring in the morning (temples or more old growth if there is any we didn't see the day before), then head to Kyoto, explore quickly around where we are staying (trails around Shiragiku Waterfall), have dinner and stay the night in Kyoto after seeing Fushimi Inari Taisha at night
- Monday, November 11th: Head from Kyoto to Hakone for the ropeway and maybe teahouse if we have time, have dinner and stay the night in Hakone at an onsen
- Tuesday, November 12th: Go from Hakone to Izu Peninsula to snorkel at Kujuppama Beach and check out the coastline (beaches/hikes), have dinner and stay the night on the east mid-south end of Izu
- Wednesday, November 13th: Atami ferry to Oshima Island to snorkel and hike around the crater, stay the night on the island at or near an onsen
- Thursday, November 14th: Ferry from Oshima to Tokyo for some souvenir shopping (Pokemon Centre, random stores we come across), have dinner, maybe find a live music venue, then stay the night in Tokyo
- Friday, November 15th: Final day. Spend day in Tokyo looking for souvenirs and soaking up the last bit of food, leave at 10pm
What I am looking for is general feedback on this trip plan – considering commuting time (mostly rail), is this within the realm of possibility without feeling like too much? I don't love the idea of bouncing around so much, but it seems hard to find alternatives that could fit better into the trip while checking all the boxes (especially the activities in italics). Maybe there are more efficient options we are missing that we can swap out for our current choices. Maybe it is too fast paced and we have to cut something out. 🙁 It's hard to tell because we have never been there, and it does technically seem doable on paper.
If we had to cut anything out, it would probably be Itoigawa on on Nov 1st so we can spend an extra day in Izu… not sure if that helps the pace of the itinerary much though.
Side note: not interested in Kyushu/Hokkaido at this time, we want to save those islands for future trips since it's our first time in Japan and want to tackle the most popular central part of it.
Thanks so much for any feedback! Looking to start booking ASAP and would love some reassurance/reality check/alternative recommendations if needed before things become finalized. 🙂
by nosesinroses