WisconsinTed

My wife and I will spend a week in Tokyo in late September and have an additional 6 days on our trip. We’ve spend 4 days in Kyoto on a previous trip and are definitely considering a return (with day trips to Himeji Castle, Kuroshiki?, Kanazawa?; Nara although we did go there on our last trip). I’m also thinking about an alternative. We would travel from Tokyo to Matsumoto, spend some time in Matsumoto, and based there, also take some day trips to a few other places such as Takayama, Kamikochi, not sure if Kanazawa is a realistic day trip from Matsumoto. We will have JR passes, and are not planning on driving at all. We prefer to stay based in one place rather than be making multiple moves. We would be interested in some moderate hiking but no serious mountain hiking. Any thoughts on this plan, or suggestions on a different base than Matsumoto, or other destinations in that area would be appreciated. Thanks for any feedback.

kja

If you haven't already done so, I strongly recommend that you spend some time with japan-guide.com FWIW:

• I thought 6 days too little for an introduction to Kyoto & Nara; YMMV.
• I thought the combination of Kanazawa and Takayama worth a minimum of 5 days.
• If you mean Kurashiki, I thought it worth a day -- but be sure to spell it correctly, as search engine are sensitive to spelling.

Hooe that helps!