Both my wife and I first time in June, so planning to see south japan. We pretty torn if we mapping this correctly.
We want to see the Kusatsu Onsen, but it seems out of the way.
Would it be better if i simply book a night bus from Karuizawa to Kyoto just to be over with (on a side note, booking bus tickets seem a lot less complicated than bullet trains)
or should i rotate it around, and go Toyko (3 nights)- kyoto (3 nights)-Osaka (3 nights) – Kusatsu Onsen (1 night) then Toyko (3 remaining nights), so split toyko?
or simply take out kusatsu onsen ?
High-level Looks like this:
Toyko – Day 1 to Day 7 (6 nights)
\- Day 1 Arrive – Asakura Area (Senso-si, Kaminari-mon, Nakimise Dori, Sanrio gift Gate), Ueno Park, Akihabara
\- Day 2 Western part – Harajuku, Shibuya Crossing, Shibuya Sky, Meat Alley, Gotukuji temple
\- Day 3 Southern Toyko – Toyko Tower, Obaida, Gundam Status, TeamLab, Pokemon Cafe
\- Day 4 Day Trip Mount Fuji
\- Day 5 Shinjuku, Sanrio Puroland
\- Day 6 anything I miss
Kusatsu (1 night)
Day 7 – Take direct bus to Kusatsu Onsen either from Karuizawa or Toyko
Kyoto – (3 nights)
\- day 8 Get to Kyoto somehow (?!?! bus, train, etc)
\- Day 9 – Gion Kyoto areas (Gion, Zaka, Temples)
\- Day 10 – the other parts of kyoto (monkey park, bamboo, relax)
Osaka (3 nights)
Day 11 – get to Osaka, hangout around the Dotonbori and Shinsekai
Day 12 – Maybe nara park, umeda sky building etc, hang out again in Dotonbori, and Shinsekai (foodie)
Day 13 – Go to Kobe for a bit
Day 14 – fly out either Osaka or Toyko (flexible here)
2 comments
I don’t think you have South Japan on your itinerary, where are you talking about? Also, there are two Kusatsu Onsen, one in Gunma Prefecture and one in Shiga Prefecture, which one are you talking about?
This itinerary is a bit confusing…
At first when you wrote South Japan, my assumption was that you meant like Kyushu or Okinawa side lol.
And at first I thought you meant staying at Kusatsu Shiga Prefecture but seeing Karuizawa and bus, I think you meant going to Kusatsu Onsen in Gunma?
I think for your itinerary and looking at where you’re going, it’ll be better to stay at a ryokan with more direct routes or along the way, like Arima Onsen, Hakone area or Kinosaki Onsen (you could do a Osaka then Kinosaki Onsen then stay at Kyoto for example or your kobe trip can lead into Arima Onsen). Hakone area is also nice.