akshaysinghavi2

Hello folks,

My questions looks vague, but there is no other place, where I can ask this. May be, people who travelled at both location should be able to advice me and help me to plan.
I have been taking vacation of 12 days in mid October and not able to decide, if I should pick one over other. My options are Germany+Austria and Japan. Flight fare and budget is almost same and weather is also not bad at either location, so these may not be decision factors.
I will not be going to such a big trip again for next few years, so I want to pick it carefully.
Japan was always high on my wish list, but when I see pictures on of South Germany+Austria (+Vienna) vs pictures of Japan, Europe side looks stunning in landscapes and architecture. On internet, if I Google beautiful Austria or beautiful Bavaria, there are tons of wow pictures, whereas pictures of Japan are not showing me that factor. am trying to convince myself for Japan, because I have already seen some of France and Switzerland. Am I looking at it correctly ?

I understand that Japan will be on another level and different. But in your opinion, what should I expect from Japan travel in comparison to European country ?

Thanks in advance

BigRuss

<<what should I expect from Japan travel in comparison to European country>>

More Japanese residents.

You need to define what your "wow" factor is and where it comes from. There's plenty of it in Japan, but who knows what you're looking at.

Be less vague and you'll get better information.

kja

I agree that it would be helpful to know what wowed you about the pictures you saw Germany and Austria, and left you less than wowed for Japan. Also: What appeals to you about each place? What are the things you like to see and experience when traveling?

akshaysinghavi2

I am looking from landscape (Alps, mountains, landscapes, river) and architectural (tons of places in Paris and few castles in France) from photographic point of view.
I already mentioned that I liked Switzerland and France, which amazed me. I took so many photographs there, I can make them my wallpaper on my computer. I am not sure, what should be other factors to decide.
I agree, there will be no less beauty in Japan, but I am trying to make me less confuse, while deciding, where should I go in this trip and keep other one for later.

nytraveler

Can you speak/understand any Japanese? English is much more widely spoken/understood in Germany/Austria.

What are your must sees in Japan? Without a list of what you want to see at this very late date for an Oct trip how would you organize it?

kja

While I agree with nytraveler that English is more widely spoken and understood in Germany and Austria than Japan, I would also note that IME, English is spoken and understood by enough people in major tourist destinations in Japan that I would not make that a factor in my considerations. YMMV.

To my eye, the traditional architecture of Japan is just as beautiful as the architecture of Europe, but it is very different. If you look at pictures of temples and shrines and castles in Japan and aren't wowed, then my guess is that you won't be wowed when there.

Likewise, to my eye, the Japanese Alps are as beautiful as European ones, but different.

If your travel time is limited and you are having to convince yourself that you should go to Japan, then to be honest, I'm not sure that Japan would be your best choice. JMO.

akshaysinghavi2

My interest is to photo-shoot beautiful landscapes. That's how I starting searching and tried to decide, which place have more photogenic opportunities. When I search something like "beautiful places in Austria" vs "beautiful places in Japan", result shows me tons of stunning pictures of Austria and Bavaria, in comparison to Japan. That made me confuse, if my photographic need would be satisfied in Japan or not
I am not saying, Japan is less beautiful, but it is just my preference for now, I want to go with more scenic and picturesque place. Without seeing any place, I am not sure, if I am approaching right method to decide or not.

Cowboy1968

The problem is that I have lived in Bavaria for several years but have not been to Japan yet. Though it's on my bucket list - because the photos and videos I've seen gave me a LOT of WOWs.

Same practical items to consider:

Mid October is indeed still a very nice time to travel in Bavaria/Austria. Fall colors and such.. mostly sunny and often still warm. Though there is no guarantee that the weather will the same this year.

As someone who is also interested in landscape photography, I prefer a car over public transport. Those WOW pictures of the Austrian Alps are not necessarily taken in walking distance to the next railway station or bus stop. So to find the perfect "Kodak spots", it is often necessary to roam around a bit.
If you come from North America, it may be easier for you to navigate the roads of Germany and Austria as we drive on the same/right side of the road. If you consider to rent a car, that is.
If you focus on cityscapes and picturesque towns and villages, public transport can be better - or at least cars offer no big advantage over trains and buses.

bigtyke

If your nterest is landscape photos, I would choose Bavaria/Austria. B/A can also be considerably cheaper.

Where are you flying from?

atgyf

I have visited both in October and would choose Austria and Germany. I live in a part of the U.K. with fine mountain scenery so my response is not influenced by the presence of mountains on my trip which I wouldn't otherwise see.
It would help to know where your home is as otherwise my response can only be very subjective
1. Japan is very densely populated along the railway lines I travelled. The buildings outside of cities are quite small but traditional and pleasing to the eye. The countryside is attractive and largely arable. Some of the mountain views are take your breath away to include Mount Fuji from central Tokyo. We stayed in a guest house on the slopes of Mount Aso which was smoking above us and I looked around the garden and knew I would never forget the moment. We travelled along the north coast of Honshu from Fukayama to Matsue and then on the next day to Matsumoto and eventually Takayama in the Japanese Alps. The sun was shining on the sea and there was a "good to be alive" feel about it. The temples were totally different from anything I had seen before but it was difficult to know when we had seen enough. Before going my daughter had told me that when you've seen one you've seen them all and this was basically true.
In terms of modern construction the train from Kyoto to Matsuyama passed over a series of very high cantilevered bridges which had me holding my breath in the hope they wouldnt collapse. A bit like driving down the Keys or over the Oresund bridge at altitude.
Germany and Austria have scenery in spades -you know that from your experience and research already.
At this stage then I would say that for someone seeking beauty-you will find it in either of your options.

2.Having been to Japan I have no wish to return.There are many reasons for this and they are all things that I have advised other prospective travellers on. I don't believe that they should deter you but I'll mention one or two so that you can decide whether they are important to you
a. We like to travel and experience what is local as opposed to staying in international hotels. We stayed in an unforgettable ryokan in Kyoto with excellent food. However my experience trying to drive the controls on the toilet(which was like those on the flight deck of an aeroplane)was cringeworthy. When a little arm swung out from the rim of the toilet bowl and started squirting clean water upwards and therefore OUT of the bowl was awful. Soaking hessian wallpaper, toilet shoes and a river of water flowing out of the door along the passage of this ancient building....
O.K. its funny now and the owner was fine but we read that Western travellers are not always accepted in traditional ryokans because they don't always understand the ethos.

We stayed in other ryokans.We both found the traditional furnishings difficult. Sometimes in the day the room would have only a small table with an arm support each. You sat on the floor. Your bed was in the cupboard with fresh linen for that night. This was quite hard as both of us are tall and not sufficiently flexible to fold our legs and sit happily
The staff in ryokans were fairly obsessive about bathing and in one place were not keen for you to eat unless you wore a yukata which you put on after your bath. The yukata was Japanese sized and too small for either of us. The washing facility (other than a bath) was public.
The dining room in a ryokan meant you had to sit on the floor crossing your legs.
In one place we decided to skip breakfast and check out and a member of staff came to our room to find out where we were.
Of course the answer to this is to check the facilities available when you book- on the other hand you may fold well and so on.
b. Our total lack of Japanese meant that we couldn't identify things on a menu. A nasty experience with wasabi meant I've never eaten it again. I'm really interested in food but there were items on sale in food shops which I couldn't identify- some vegetable which was blue?. We were served the skeleton of a small fish in Miyajima-an experience! Food on the whole was good. The bonito flakes dancing on my plate added another dimension to being open minded.

Having written this down I now realise that my view of Japan as above has arisen almost entirely from our need to try and see the country as a local would. It may be that you would not want to do this and so all my comments are totally irrelevant to you. Can I say that I am glad we went and that with hindsight I could have avoided the above problems by substituting western-style hotels for ryokans.

I have visited Austria and Germany many times. To some extent they share features with Japan-scenery, good transport, can't speak the language, good food. One reason I'll return is because they are only a short flight from where I live and accessible for a weekend.
Finally I felt very safe in Japan-even walking in Kyoto and Tokyo at night. I have similarly felt safe and cofortable in Germany and Austria although it is a long time since I have visited a city there.

So there we are. Please feel free to ask any questions- or dismiss this as the fairly unstructured ramblings of a 60 year old woman

Whathello

I love Bavaria. I have never been awed by Austria or Switzerland. Nice but for me not mandatory.
We loved Japan. If only because it is totally different from Europe.
I am European.

Now if the question is : would I return to Austria Bavaria or Japan, answer would be : Japan !!!!

MarthaT

I love Bavaria. I have been to Japan and it is beautiful I found even in tourist areas no one spoke English. I found no English menus( you could point to the plastic foods in some places)and it was hard reading signs. That said, it is beautiful there also in a totally different way.
If you are looking for landscapes Bavaria is the place to go. I have been around 6-8 times and love it every time.

ticino

That was easy. Japan. I go to Vienna and Innsbruck once a year because my husband has family there, and have been to Bavaria a couple of times, and while I like Austria a lot (Germany not so much) Japan is a lot more fun to visit. I have been going there every other year since I first went there 6-7 years ago. I also think that both France and Switzerland have much nicer places than Austria and Germany, so if I were you I would definitely go to Japan.

akshaysinghavi2

Thanks for all good insights.
I am based in Los Angeles (California). We don't have greenery or high mountains here, but I travelled in US (many places) and Switzerland, France and Canada. Flight-fare wise, Japan and Germany/Austria will come very close, so that may not be decision factor.

atgyf : Thanks for detailed reply. I understand one may feel temple-burnout after a while. That is reason, temple and castles are my second preference or may be third. My primary interest is landscapes, forests (be it lush green or autumn), nature. After seeing few best architectures, I will hunt for natural photographic places.
Sorry to hear that you had some strange issues there. I believe, these are practical issues, which can be avoided by choosing substituting western-style hotels, so in our case, I can rule this out from decision making factors.

Kathie

You ask on the Europe forum so you are getting Euro-centric answers.

If you can move your trip into November, then I would highly recommend Japan. We were in Japan for koyo (autumn color) a couple of years ago. You might find it useful to look at some of our photos: http://www.marlandc.com/Japan-2013

I understand that one of the respondents above found the wonderful Toto toilets hard to understand, but I know someone who was so impressed with them that he ordered one as soon as he got home to California. And many Ryokans offer both Japanese and Western rooms (although all would have the fancy toilets). Even the Hyatt Hotels have the Toto toilets - no one in Japan would find it acceptable to have an American-type toilet in a hotel room.

While there are plenty of temples to visit in Japan, our favorite part of the temple visits were the gardens which are stunning, indeed. The temples in Japan are plainer and often, without Buddha images, unlike the temples in SE Asia.

You aren't just comparing apples and oranges here, maybe apples and lotuses - these experiences are so different from each other.

Happy planning!

Sassafrass

Tossing something new into the mix for your consideration. Right up front, I don't usually mention or recommend places I have not been, and I have not been to this area. I am also not very interested in most landscape, but this one is so magnificent in the images that I look at them frequently, and I want to go. It also has interesting architecture in small villages and old hotels and castle-like homes. So google images of
Swiss Saxon National Park (Germany)and
Bohemian Saxon National Park Czech

It looks amazing and is listed near the top of the 100 bests sights to see in Germany.

Another place that has the most spectacular landscape I have seen is Cappodocia in Turkey.

kja

To add to what Kathie said, even if you don't go to Japan during koyo (autumn leaf viewing) or Sakura (cherry blossom season), the gardens of Japan, which are often (but not necessarily) attached to temples or shrines or palaces or whatever, can be exquisitely scenic, IMO. Do a google image search for "Japan koyo." And if those images (or the ones kathie linked) appeal, see if you can adjust your timing to include it. Here's a projected schedule:
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2014_when.html

And FWIW, I've never reached "temple burn-out" -- any more than I've burned out on churches in Bavaria or mountains in the Alps or whatever -- and I've pushed the limits! Maybe I've just selected a sufficiently diverse set of these things, but I suspect that we all have different levels of interest....

Loacker

If you've already been to France and Switzerland I would vote for Japan.

The scenery in Austria or Germany won't be much different than France or Switzerland. They're all alpine countries.

Plus, if you won't be travelling for a few years, why not try a different continent? October isa great timr to visit Japan.

If you're set on Europe, have you considered Italy or Spain? Both have the most diverese landscape in Europe. Italy, imo, has the best scenery in Europe. (Tuscan hill towns, lake Como, the Dolomites, the islands, and Sardinia beaches)

kja

Sorry, but I find Loacker's response misleading: (a) While parts of Austria and Germany, and parts of France, are Alpine, these countries also have huge areas that are not Alpine, and even if you were to visit only the Swiss Alps or only other Alpine destinations, there are distinct differences among the types of Alpine landscapes you would encounter-- and IMO, there can be some value to experiencing those differences! (b) I don't know, and can't easily identify, the criteria by which Loacker determined that Italy and Spain have more diverse landscapes than other countries in Europe. But even if true, you wouldn't necessarily be able to meaningfully experience that diversity in a trip of 12 days in length.

Loacker

Umm Italy has beaches, mountains, lakes, rolling hills, sea towns, a Mediterranean coast, an Adriatic coast... Spain has forests, mountains, beaches, and a semi desert.

Austria has mountains and more mountains.

Not saying that's a reason not to visit Austria. All I'm saying is it won't offer the same diversity as Italy or Spain.

In just a few hours you can get from Lake Como to Venice or from the Dolomites to the Cinque Terre.

So please let's not oppose others just for the sake of opposing.