efarr99

Hi Japan experts! I’m in the beginning phase of planning our 3 week visit to Japan next March. I was able to book award travel today and we’ll be flying into and out of Narita. I tried booking our return flight out of Osaka so we didn’t have to backtrack but there was no availability. Now I realize we could fly home from Hiroshima- it’s not direct to SF but only a one hour layover in Tokyo. Would you suggest doing this? Or would you return to Tokyo for a few days before flying home? Thanks for any insight!

kja

efarr99

Ha that’s my problem! I don’t know our itinerary yet. I tend to do things backwards- book flights first, then fill in the blanks. I haven’t had a chance to fully research yet and the award tickets were dwindling ... I’m guessing Tokyo, Hakone, Takayama , Kanazawa, Kyoto and finishing up in/near Hiroshima. I know there are many other places and I’ll look into it of course! Just wondered if this is a reasonable beginning itinerary. I have the chance to change my award tix by tomorrow and I’m mulling it over.

kja

That loop would likely work -- whether it would suit your preferences for climate, events, etc., is another question entirely. But it sounds like you won't have time to take any of those considerations into account....

efarr99

Thanks for your comments kja- I appreciate it! You helped me refine our itinerary in Andalusia last year and our trip was fantastic. I went ahead and changed our flight to return from Hiroshima -it just seemed easier. Now I can relax and start researching. I find this forum so very helpful for advice and ideas.

kja

I'm glad to know that my comments have been helpful!
For Japan, spends lots of time with japan-guide.com

efarr99

Hi! I’m putting together my first iteration of a 19 day trip to Japan in early March 2019. I’ve secured our airfare- flying into Narita and out from Hiroshima. I’d love to hear any comments or suggestion from the Japan experts! I know I’m missing many amazing places but we’re kind of slow travelers and don’t want to make too many stops. Do you think this itinerary will give us a broad cross section of the country for a first time visitor?

Fly into Narita- spend 5 nights with daytrip to Kamakura ( considering staying Shinjuku or Asakusa)

Train to Kanazawa- 3 nights

bus to Takayama-2 nights

train to Kyoto-6 nights with daytrip to Nara

travel to Kurashiki- 1 night

Miyajima-1 night
Hiroshima-1 night

fly home from Hiroshima.

Thanks for for sharing your experiences!
Ellen

RoamsAround

You might want to ask the moderators to move this question to the Aisa Forum - you'll get lots more replies there.

Moderator1

your two threads have been merged into one

kja

Sounds like a great trip to me!

Kavey

It does look like a great itinerary, and I think your timings are pretty good for how much time to give to each place. Depending on the time of your flight home from Hiroshima, I might do 2 nights in Miyajima and take the early ferry back across to Hiroshima, but that completely depends on flight times, of course.

As you know your route, you can already go to Hyperdia.com and work out costs for the bullet trains and see whether you'll benefit from a JR Pass to start on day you leave Tokyo... it covers JR ferry to Miyajima as well.

efarr99

Thanks for the input Kavey! I did decide to spend two nights in Miyajima since our flight out of Hiroshima is not until 2:30pm. I’ve already booked Auberge Watanabe and I’m excited about it. I think I learned of it from one of your posts! 🙌

Kavey

Wonderful, I hope you enjoy it as much as we did. I wish we'd given 2 nights to Miyajima, we loved it but would have explored more on Mount Misen and spent more time just pootling around the town, had we given it two nights.

Boveney

efarr99, when you're there, just let the Auberge Watanabe know the time of your flight from Hiroshima and they will l figure out the schedule: what time they will drive you to the ferry, to catch which train to make which connexion etc. Super helpful staff.

efarr99

Thank you Boveney-that’s good to know!