Hey guys! Saw tickets for half the price we paid for our last trip in June 2019, so here we are again. In 2019 we did the golden route of Tokyo > Kyoto (Osaka, Nara, Himeji) > Hiroshima (Miyajima) > Kawaguchiko. This time I was hoping to catch a glimpse of the cherry blossoms, so decided to head up to Northern Japan. It’s the beginning stages of planing and I’m having doubts about accomplishing everything I want to. Our first trip was rather slow paced and I’m having trouble figuring out if this one is too fast paced. So far it is looking something like this:
April 24th – Fly out of Toronto
April 25th – Arrive in Narita and travel to Akita prefecture
April 26th – Travel to Kakunodate for a day trip to see cherry blossoms
April 27th – Travel to Lake Tazawa and up to Nyuto Onsen for the night (I have tattoos so this is still up for debate)
April 28th – Travel to Aomori prefecture in the city of Hirosaki
\- See the cherry blossoms and castle
April 29th – Spend the whole day relaxing and enjoying cherry blossoms
April 30th – Travel to Fukushima prefecture
May 1st – Ebisu Spring Matsuri at Ebisu Circuit
May 2nd – Ebisu Spring Matsuri
\- Travel back to Tokyo in the evening
May 3rd – Wait out the remainder of Golden Week in Tokyo
May 4th – Ghibli Museum
May 5th – Kameido Shrine
May 6th – Travel to Kyoto/Osaka
May 7th – Osaka Aquarium
May 8th – Travel to Onomichi and start the Shimanami Kaido
\- Stay overnight on one of the islands
May 9th – Visit Okunoshima Island and complete the Shimanami Kaido
May 10th – Travel from Imabari back to Tokyo
May 11th – Possible day trip to Gunma area for Initial D cafe
May 12th – Odaiba for Sega Joyopolis and shopping
May 13th – Finish any souvenir shopping
May 14th – Travel to Fuji Five Lakes Region for the pink moss around Mount Fuji
May 15th – Rent bikes and explore Fuji Five Lakes region
May 16th – Travel back to Haneda for flight home
My main concern with this itinerary is obviously the amount of travel and hotel switching. Trying to travel from up North all the way down to Onomichi is a lot of time spent on trains. As it’s our second trip and I’m unsure if another trip would be anytime in the near future, I desperately wanted to check things of of my bucket list, which would be to see cherry blossoms and complete the bike route of Shimanami Kaido. The plan was to get a 21 Day JR Pass since we lucked out on the ticket price, but Im wondering if flying from Sendai to Osaka and completing the Tohoku and Onomichi area of the trip would be smarter, and only purchasing a 14 Day JR Pass. Any advice or criticism would be greatly appreciated. Has anyone done such extensive travel on their trip before? Thanks!
5 comments
It might be a bit late for cherry blossom, it depend every year, but I have a guess that one week earlier would be better.
Going straight to Akita from Narita will take time, like at least 4h to Kakunodate and 3h30 to Morioka, so just make sure you have time to do it.
Obviously what is making your trip more challenging for me is the Shimanami kaido and kansai stop, it add a lot of travel time overall and that make you need to have a JR Pass, while just north can work with regional pass… actually that could be an option do to 1 week Tohoku pass and 1 week JR Pass. The other option would be to not do the break in Tokyo so a 14 days pass would work, but I understand the logic on staying for Golden week.
I’ve done [Tokyo to Nagasaki to Hakodate](https://www.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/comments/ctsuml/trip_report_21_days_around_japan_from_nagasaki_to/) with 21 days JR Pass, one new city every day. I think that your plan is possible, but other will say there is too much. Of course it require more logistic planning on hotel reservation, having a plan on when to take the train and not miss on visiting hours, carrying luggage (I go backpack and use coin locker when needed but sometimes did carry it all day), etc, but it’s doable.
I visited Tokyo, Osaka/Kyoto, and Fukuoka in March. I took flights Tokyo-Fukuoka, Fukuoka-Osaka, and Osaka-Tokyo for less than $300 total. Only local trains on this trip (e.g. Osaka-Nara).
Good idea to stay overnight on one of the islands for the shimanami kaido. I went january this year and its realy hard.
Try to reach the end of it by sunset so you get the awsome view of the 4km bridge 🙂 made the whole journey worth it 😀
Sounds good.
Your Kakunodate and Hirosaki dates are fine. I was in Kakunodate this year on April 23 and 24 for full bloom. Also in Hirosaki on May 3 and it was just past full bloom. So if this year is early, then you’re fine for next year.
You can fly from Haneda to Akita for around $54, plus or minus depending on exchange rate. Search JAL Explorer Pass. There’s a cheap taxi shuttle service from Akita Airport to Kakunodate that you have to book in advance. Could potentially give you some buffer time so you can start your JR rail pass later.
In my humble opinion, most rail travel goes by pretty quickly. Plus, you’re going the full length, Akita to Onomichi, only once, plus Onomichi to Tokyo, so it’s really not that much time when spread out over three weeks.
Sounds good.
May need to consider emergencies though. One earthquake can immobilise the Shinkansen plus train network and those are unpredictable. You may want a plan B just in case (Bus/Air alternative).