**Background:**
* Young couple used to travel (we can handle busy days). First-time travelers to Japan
* Interested on culture, nature, and food!
* Looking to clarify few questions to firm up our intinerary
**Questions :**
* My main doubts are concentrated on the second half of the intinerary:
* We really want to do Takayama in Day 10 to experience the Spring Festival. Are we loosing to much time traveling in Day 11 to Okuhida Onsen for the ryokan onsen experience? I really like the ryokan I have booked but I’m thinking it could be more efficient to fit this experience elsewhere (probably Hakone) and modify the intinerary to visit Kanazawa earlier + **use day 13 to visit Nikko or Hakone instead** (ahead of our stay in Tokyo)
* Are we trying to fit to much with adding both Nikko and Hakone in our itinerary? The Japanese Alps seems like a nice area but I can’t help thinking the detour in day 11 and 12 could prevent us visiting both Nikko and Hakone without getting at least 4 full days in Tokyo
* Should we get **JR Pass for 14 days** (covering Day 2- Day 15), as I hear Suica card is needed for Tokyo and will not be using JR that much) **or JR Pass for 21 days?**
* Any tinerary issues or recommendations we may not have spotted? We have researched travel times and we are aware of the possibility to sleep in Koyo-San but we prefer doing it as a day-trip and use the money to go to a nice ryokan onsen instead
​
|Day|Visits|Hotel|
|:-|:-|:-|
|Day 1|Arrive at Osaka at the afternoon, check in in Hotel in Namba, enjoy Dotonbori at night|Osaka (Namba)|
|Day 2|Go to Himeji (Castle + gardens) + Osaka main sighths|Osaka (Namba)|
|Day 3|Departure from Osaka to Miyajima (explore it during most of the day), afternoon in Hiroshima (main sights) + get dinner prior catching train back to Osaka|Osaka (Namba)|
|Day 4|Departure from Osaka to Koyo-San (full day), return to Osaka|Osaka (Namba)|
|Day 5|Departure from Osaka to Nara (full day), travel to Kyoto in the evening|Kyoto|
|Day 6|Kyoto day 1|Kyoto|
|Day 7|Kyoto day 2|Kyoto|
|Day 8|Kyoto day 3|Kyoto|
|Day 9|Kyoto day 4, take train to Matsumoto in the evening|Matsumoto|
|Day 10|Visit Matsumoto Castle early in the morning (8:30am), Take bus (2.5hours) to Takayama (visit main sights + enjoy the Spring Festival)|Takayama|
|Day 11|Visit Market Takayama + (optional Hida village), take bus to Okuhida Onsen area (1h) for Ryokan stay|Okuhida Onsen|
|Day 12|Return to Takayama (1h) and take Bus to Shirakawago (1h), Visit Shirakawago village, take Bus to Kanazawa (1h) to enjoy evening at Kanazawa|Kanazawa|
|Day 13|Visit Kanazawa|Kanazawa|
|Day 14|Arrive at Tokyo ealy in the morning, Visit Tokyo Day1|Tokyo|
|Day 15|Nikko or Hakkone day trip|Tokyo|
|Day 16|Tokyo visit day 2|Tokyo|
|Day 17|Tokyo visit day 3|Tokyo|
|Day 18|Tokyo visit day 4|Tokyo|
|Day 19|Last morning in Tokyo (final visits)|Tokyo|
3 comments
It shows that you have spent a long time planning this. I may steal a couple of ideas from you! Hopefully someone else can help you
* Day 10/11 should be fine. You just have to reach the ryokan before dinner time for the full experience. Takayama isn’t that big also, so you probably won’t spend more than half a day exploring
* 1 day to Nikko or Hakone should be fine, but both on the same day is a little tight
* 21 day JR pass is most likely not worth it. You can use the JR pass calculator to see if you are getting your moneys worth and play around with the schedule. You can use JR pass to take JR trains in Tokyo. Suica card is a prepaid card that lets you take most trains and buses
* A full day in Nara might be a bit too much. I think most people spend half a day seeing the main sights
What about USJ while in Osaka? They have Mario World and Flying Dinasaur.