My partner and I are planning the itinerary for our first trip to Japan in November. In total it will be 17 days with arrival and departure from Tokyo. I’ve used communities like these in the past and found great suggestions, and I would like some advice, especially for some waypoints and commutes.
We’ll spend the first 5 days in Tokyo, we’re pretty relaxed about this and we don’t have too many doubts, there are far too many guides, you just have to choose.
On 6th day, in the morning we thought of moving to Takayama in the Gifu prefecture, we saw that it takes about 6 hours to travel, this is where one of the first questions arose because I didn’t quite understand **how it is better to book the transfer to Takayama from Tokyo**. Late afternoon visit of Takayama.
On the 7th day, we planned to go from Takayama to Shirakawa Go in one day, visit this small town which seems to be very charming. In the evening return to Takayama. Here’s a new question, **is it feasible to go from Takayama to Shirakawa Go in the day and return to Takayama in the evening?**
The 8th day involves moving from Takayama to Kyoto which will be our base for the next few days. I haven’t checked yet but this move shouldn’t be too difficult, I think with 4h and a couple of trains we should be there. Early afternoon arrival in Kyoto and first visit of the city.
On the 9th day visit of Kyoto, the day entirely dedicated to the visit of the former Japanese capital.
On the 10th day trip to Nara from Kyoto, an obligatory stop on tourist itineraries, nothing to say, even here too much information available online. Return to Kyoto in the evening.
11th day we move to Osaka, we will spend a day visiting the city quickly, we don’t intend to stay there long.
12th from Osaka to Naoshima we move to this intriguing island that has been highly recommended to us for its many museums. Indicatively we should be in Naoshima in the afternoon. Sleeping in Naoshima won’t be easy, as an alternative, we are thinking of visiting Naoshima for the day and then sleeping in Uno to amortize the costs.
13th day in the morning return to Naoshima for another half day, in the early afternoon, return to Tokyo and stop in Hakone to visit the Mount Fuji area and also try the Japanese “onsen” experience. Here is another doubt, **is it feasible to go to Naoshima and Hakone?** The idea is to arrive on the evening of the 13th day in Hakone.
Day 14 wake up in Hakone and explore the area, as mentioned the idea is to try an “onsen” and also enjoy the naturalistic landscape with the view of Mount Fuji.
15th day we are moving from Hakone to Tokyo, where we will spend the last two nights before the flight that will take us back to Italy.
It’s a nice ride, and that’s why I would like some advice to understand if it risks being a rat race rather than a holiday, regardless of the most famous stages, we have added both the Takayama and Naoshima parts, while leaving us a nice slice to see Tokyo. I leave it to the reader to judge.
**Thanks in advance for the help!**