Dear all, my wife and I will be traveling to Japan from Dec 22-Jan 10 (17 days excluding arrival and departure days).
After reading a bit, I came up with a few of the places of potential interest and days to stay at each destination below:
TOKYO 3-days, (day trip to hakone to see owakudani hot springs)
NAGOYA 1-day; osu shopping district, SCmaglev and railway park, honmaru palace, endoji shotengai shopping street, shikemichi
OSAKA-2-days; maybe trip to himeji castle
HIROSHIMA-1-day; visit onomichi (onomichi shopping arcade)..and kure yamato museum; atomic bomb dome
OSAKA-2 day; dotonbori, shinsekai, kuromon ichiba market, osaka nipponbashi denden town, shinsaibashi-suji shopping street, hozenji yokocho, dotonbori glico sign
KANAZAWA 2-day; omicho market, hibachi chaya district, nichi chaya district, (day trip to TAKAYAMA, miyagawa morning market, sanmachi suji)
KYOTO 4-days; fushimi inari taisha , kinkaku-ji, arashiyama, nijo castle, nishiki market, shijo-dori, sanneizaka shopping, gion corner, teramachi-dori
TOKYO 3-days; sensoji, nakamise shopping street, ameyoko shopping street, imperial palace, omoide yokocho, rainbow bridge, samurai museum, yanaka ginza,
Is there any place you would recommend adding to the trip, or removing, and is the number of days in each place reasonable?
Myself and wife, love to shop for authentic goods, e.g. souvenirs, arts etc, love to walk around the city, eat well, and relax a bit and also importantly we would like to experience the true Japanese culture.
We hope to take in a geisha dance, sumo wrestling match, kabuki performance, visit an onsen, ryokan, and happy to accept any other suggestions.
I was a little concerned about too much time spent traveling from city to city and trying to seeing too many destinations to enjoy. We plan to take the shinkansen everywhere we go and hope to be able to get the tickets in advance. I heard to sit on the right side for a beautiful view while coming from Tokyo to the South.
Should we cut out Nagoya, Hiroshima, and/or Kanazawa from our trip for a smoother time?
Also not sure if there are any specific recommendations on lodging for the main hubs above.
Thanks in advance.
3 comments
Go here for Sumo tickets, we just preordered ours for a Jan 15th date:
https://www.buysumotickets.com
> HIROSHIMA-1-day; visit onomichi (onomichi shopping arcade)..and kure yamato museum; atomic bomb dome
Not sure if this is going to work. Onomichi, Kure, and Hiroshima (city) is pretty separated.
I think the length in each city is ok. Hiroshima is a bit rushed trying to see both Hiroshima and Onomichi in 1 day. I would just pick one or the other. Also Hiroshima can be done as a long day trip from Osaka if you want to save moving luggage.
2 days in Kanazawa is about right but trying to add a Takayama day trip might be a bit too much.
I would also change up the order of things. Maybe go Tokyo > Kanazawa > Osaka > Hiroshima > Kyoto > Nagoya > Tokyo.