Clark55

We are planning to visit each of these countries during the next 3 years. This year we had been planning to visit India for 3 weeks starting the 2nd week of October but unfortunately our friends who always travel with us are having some health problems so anything we organise will have to be pretty last minute. We would still like to travel to one of these destinations this year so I would like some advice on which we should leave until we have more time to organise everything & which would be possible a couple of weeks before our departure.
Thanks

Cicerone

Well, you need a visa for both China and India, so if you want to go to either you should start organizing that now, to make sure you have them in time. Assumng you are US citizens, You can find downloadable forms on the the Chinese Embassy website at www.china-embassy.org. For India, go to www.indiagov.org. You may need to show hotel bookings or tickets to obtain the visa (I have business visas for both countries so have not applied in a long time for a tourist visa), so you may have to decide soon. Given the potential visa issues, for truly "last minute" travel and if you can't change your October dates, Japan would be your best bet IMO.

Also, given the construction which is on-going in China for the Olympics, my preference would be to leave the PRC until 2008 or 2009 (I would actually recco going to the Olympics, but October 2008 or 2009 would be good too. Note that the PRC has a "golden week" of holiday which occurs for about 7 days every year around their October 1 national day, so you do not want to travel in the PRC during that period in any year. (It seems your trip is the latter half of October anyway, but just wanted to point this out).

November through March is actually a better time in India, although the end of October could be OK in most places, it depends on where you want to go; monsoon patterns are different on east and west coast but to avoid the really hot or wet weather in Rajasthan, where most first-time tourists go, the preferred months are November through March. Take a look at weatherbase.com for info on all the countries you are considering. I think October in Japan is pretty good, is good in most parts of the PRC too.

Clark55

Thanks Cicerone, we aren't US citizens we're Italians but we still need visa's. We can only take our holidays the last 3 weeks in October every year bcoz of work so it looks like Japan is our best bet this year. I know it will be still difficult as I can really only start booking things around the middle of September but I plan on getting as much info as possible before then regarding itinerary's transport, hotels etc. & then try & get it all together within a few days. Thanks also for the info on China you're certainly right that it would be better to wait until after the Olympics bcoz of the work being carried out before then so it looks like that will be the last on our list.

angethereader

We only needed a passport (they stamp it with a visitor visa when you arrive) in Japan.

October is a perfect time to go. The fall weather is great, and if you can catch some Japanese maples with their fall colors, you are in for a sight.

Also, when I made a reservation in Kyoto about 4 months ahead, the woman at the guest house was surprised. She made a comment about people making their reservations so far ahead of time. It seemed as though that was not what she was used to.
There are plenty of people on this forum who have gone to Japan at the last minute, so I think you'll get lots of advice.
Good luck

Clark55

I'm starting to put together a Japanese itinerary & even taking things easy probably 14-16 days is enough to see everything so that would leave us with 5 or 6 days to relax at the end of our trip. I know that Japan isn't a beach holiday destination but if anyone can give me some suggestions as to where we should spend these last few days I would be grateful.

rhkkmk

i think japan would be the easiest to organize quickly

lcuy

Japan is a very easy place to visit last minute. I've gone the last weekend in October with less than a weeks planning!
If you want a beach trip at the end, you might consider Okinawa.

mrwunrfl

What's your itinerary for the first 15 days?

If you stayed in Japan, you could visit Okinawa on a Visit Japan airfare. You could work it into the rest of your itin. For example, fly into Tokyo then go to Kyoto, Hiroshima, Fukuoka, and points in between. Fly from Fukuoka to Okinawa and then fly back from Okinawa to Tokyo for your return trip home. Saves some backtracking.

But if you have seen Japan in 15 days, then you can go to Beijing for 5 days. Get your China visa now. Or make a stop in Hong Kong.

Clark55

I would prefer to stay in Japan for the whole trip so am looking at Okinawa for the last 5 or 6 days. There appears to be an American Military base there. How does that affect the place?

mrwunrfl

What's your itinerary for the first 15 days? Some people would say that you could easily spend the extra 5 days in Kyoto.

Clark55

This is just a rough itinerary as I've only just started to plan the trip so I'm sure I'll be making some changes but this is what I've come up with.

Fri Oct 6 - Milan - Tokyo

Sat Oct 7 - Arrive in Tokyo 9 am. book afternoon tour to get a feel of the city

Sun Oct 8 - Visit Tokyo

Mon Oct 9 - Tokyo - Hakone - visit Mt Fuji - Overnight in Hakone.

Tue Oct 10 - Hakone - Takayama - visit the old samurai houses - Overnight in Takayama.

Wed Oct 11 - Takayama - Kanazawa - visit the park & museum - Overnight in Kanazawa.

Thu Oct 12 - Kanazawa - Kyoto - Afternoon tour

Fri Oct 13 - Kyoto

Sat Oct 14 - Kyoto

Sun Oct 15 - Kyoto - Osaka

Mon Oct 16 - Osaka

Tue Oct 17 - Osaka - day trip to Hiroshima.

Wed Oct 18 - Osaka - ?

We will be returning to Milan on the 28th of October so we can take this itinerary slower by staying longer in some of the places & may stay a day longer in Tokyo before we leave to visit Nikko. Even if we add on a few days here & there it still leaves us 5 or 6 days to relax somewhere before heading home.

I would be grateful on any advice on this itinerary, is there something we should see that I haven't included & where should we stay more nights or spend more time.

Thanks

mrwunrfl

October 11-12 is wrong. Traveling from Takayama to Kanazawa will take some time and you will go through (or bypass) a real gem: Shirakawago.

You could add a second night in Takayama, then head to Shirakawago the next morning. I recommend staying overnight in Shirakawago and go on to Kanazawa the next morning. Or you could stop in Shirakawago for a few hours and continue on to Kanazawa in the afternoon. You should add a second night in Kanazawa, but if you can arrive there by noon then leaving the next day in the early evening would be ok.

On the 15th you could go straight to Hiroshima.

The leaves should be turning color up north, somewhere. There is an ANA nonstop from Hiroshima to Sapporo (then fly back to NRT from there to catch your flight home). But maybe you won't have to go that far north.

Clark55

Thanks mrwunrfl, I've added the night in Shrakawago. I'm still undecided whether to stay longer in places & stretch the trip out in that way or fly to Okinawa but I'm becoming more oriented on seeing more of Japan although I would like to do the country in 2 trips this one From Tokyo going South & another Tokyo going North.

angethereader

Is there a reason you want to see Osaka?
If so, I would do a day visit to Osaka from Kyoto - not far, and stay a couple of days in Hiroshima.
There is lots to see in that area and it's not really that close to Kyoto.
Just a thought.

mrwunrfl

Ok, southern Japan. After adding the overnight in S-go as you have done, and after adding a night in Kyoto you could head south from Kyoto on Oct. 17.

Stop in Hiroshima, certainly. Maybe Kurashiki or Okayama. Better, I think would be to go to Matsuyama for a stop. Then across the Seto Nai Kai to Hiroshima. Visit/stay at Miyajima.

You could easily spend a week in Kyushu, especially if you plan to enjoy hot springs. Fukuoka is interesting, Saga for pottery, Unzen onsen and Shimabara, Nagasaki. Kumamoto castle and garden. Sakurajima in Kagoshima. Aso-san. Beppu for the hot springs. Ibusuki, way down south, is a resort area but probably would be dead at that time.

Or a few more days in Shikoku in addition to a Matsuyama visit. Or the San-in coast visit Hagi and Matsue.

Clark55

Thanks everybody, after more research & a change of flight times (Instead of arriving on Saturday morning the flight arrives at 4pm so really just time for dinner)I no longer have as much time as I thought. Anyway, I still need help with a couple of days.

Arrive Sat 7/10 Evening.

Sun Oct 8 - Visit tokyo

Mon Oct 9 - Visit Tokyo (National holiday. If tourist attractions are closed will probably visit the parks)

Tues 10 - Visit the museums etc. that were closed on Monday.

Wed 11 - visit Nikko

Thurs 12 - Tokyo - Hakone.(Send Luggage on to Kyoto)

Fri 13 - Hakone - Takayama

Sat 14 - Takayama - Shirakawago

Sun 15 - Shirakawago - Kanazawa

Mon 16 - Kanazawa - Kyoto

Tues 17 - Visit Kyoto

Wed 18 - Visit Kyoto & possibly Nara

Thur 19 - Visit Himeji Castle

Fri 20 - visit Osaka

Sat 21 - Kyoto - Hiroshima - Miyajima (Send Luggage on to Tokyo)

Sun 22 - Visit Peace park

Mon 23 - ?

Tues 24 - ?

Wed 25 - Disney

Thurs 26 - Disney

Fri 27 - Disney - Stay the night in Tokyo

Sat 28 - Tokyo - Milan

There's a few things that I'm undecided about. The 1st is regarding Hakone, I've read that there's not much point in visiting there if it's bad weather so I probably won't book any hotel in advance, not only but I also read that it's a bit overrated & not worth the trip. What are your thoughts on this & would you substitute it for somewhere else.

I may have problems getting accomodation in Shirakawago but in that case we will visit & go on to spend 2 nights in Kanazawa.

Regarding Disney after reading emd's trip report I thought it might be the answer to a few days of relax before coming home. We haven't been to a theme park for at least 15 years & quite honestly we were'nt planning on visiting one in the future but emd's enthusiasm changed my mind. Anyway, we'll see.

Angethereader, as you can see I've taken out the nights in Osaka bcoz after some research I realised it's only another big city with not much to see & it would be nicer adding some more time to Kyoto & Hiroshima & doing a day visit (We might even skip it altogether if theres a better alternative.)

I would also like some info on the National holiday so that we can plan around it. What exactly is closed & what is open? Would it be better to visit Nikko on that day?

Thanks again for all your help.

glorialf

Add the two days to Kyoto. You could easily spend two weeks there. Make sure you take a day trip from there to Miho Museum -- it is spectacular. A real highlight. Also don't misss Ohara which is on the outskirts of Kyoto and just wonderful.

Clark55

I've been looking at Yokohama & Kamakura before heading up to Tokyo. Yokohama looks like a big city, pretty much like Osaka so maybe it's not worth the stop but Kamakura looks to be quite interesting with quite a lot of things to visit.

Clark55

mrwunrfl, you've said we would be better stopping in Matsuyama, when we visit Hiroshimo is this bcoz it's nicer or bcoz of convinience.