For now, this is my latest iteration of my itinerary and, so far, it works the best for our purposes:

Osaka-2
Takamatsu -3/4
Hiroshima -2/3
Onomichi-2/3
Himeji-1
Kinosaki -2
Kyoto -5

Thoughts:
-I considered combining Onomichi and Hiroshima, but I’d rather leave them separate. The evenings in a smaller place, to me, are often special. Do you recommend another option?

-I know most folks don’t recommend staying over in Himeji but it sets us up to go to Kinosaki, which, for now, is still very much a place I’m interested in visiting. I don’t see a good alternative.

-I’m a bit mixed about 3 nights in Hiroshima. It gives us the option to do a day trip to Miyajima, though I’m less interested in that as it seems to get very crowded. And a day trip to Matsuyama is a bit longer than we generally do, much as this sounds more up our alley. Still, it may make sense to keep the “extra” night here.

- I’m also considering adding it to Onomichi so we can do a day trip by ferry to Setoda or a day trip to Tomonoura, either of which sound fun for us and balances out the smaller stops with larger stops nicely.

- Or, we can add it to Takamatsu and stay there for 4 nights, using the extra day to either visit Teshima, the Noguchi Museum, or Ogijima/Megijima islands. My primary reason for staying here is to visit Naoshima but also see some other sights. Please note that we’d arrive in Takamatsu on a Sunday. We wouldn’t be able visit Naoshima or the Noguchi museum until Tuesday though we could visit the other islands on Monday.

Looks very good , progol!!

Himeji has a free guide service for the castle -
https://i-guide.jpn.org/

Thanks, Mara! And I�ll definitely try to use the free guide service at the castle. I love the volunteer guides - we had one in Tokyo and in Kanazawa, and it really added to our experience.

Me too! Have had many over the years in various places!! Never had a problem...

So having looked at PJTravels’ latest plan, I started playing around with the itinerary, and came up with this:

Osaka -2
Kurashiki -2
Takamatsu -3
Matsuyama - 2
Hiroshima -2
Kinosaki -2
Kyoto -5

I could stop and see Himeji Castle on the way to Kurashiki, so that works and we wouldn’t have to stay in Himeji, as most people seem to think it’s not an interesting town to visit.

I’m just debating between Onomichi and Kurashiki. And I’m really torn. I don’t see visiting both. Kurashiki seems to win the “cuteness” award while Onomichi seems a little more traditional. I like the idea of the historic district in Kurashiki. I like the idea of the temple walk in Onomichi.

Thoughts?

Edited to add: the more I look at this plan, the more I like it!

Your itinerary options look good. You got rid of the one sorta-broken part, going from Naoshima to Onomichi.

I thought that you "are not the type to get off a train to check out a sight and then continue on to the next destination".

>> most people seem to think it’s not an interesting town to visit
Am one of those people but it was probably because I didn't look very far beyond Himejijo to see what the city has to offer. Am sure that I did see what there was to offer but didn't see other word heritage sites or best of Japan kind of thing. I think of Matsumoto the same way. We did have a report years ago where they stayed in Himeji for a couple of nights and enjoyed it.

Well, I was perfectly happy with your early morning plan....but this one adds Matsuyama which I liked....as far as Onomichi and Kurashiki - I vote for Onomichi - Kurashiki has the little historical area...Just re-read my Kurashiki notes from 2009 and I said 'sort of cheesy.' On the same trip I went to Onomichi, but didn't stay over, did the Temple walk, saw the art museum part of the way to the top and later the Movie Museum - seemed more of a real place as against Kurashiki - but that's obviously my taste....

Himeji has one of the twelve original castles so definitely worth a detour imho - I have been to all 12!!

Thanks, Mara! You are really a great help! My gut also tells me that I’d like Onomichi more than Kurashiki. I’m not sure that the second plan works as well with Onomichi, though. I’ll see if I can make it work, but if not, I’m back to the first plan.

I’ve been playing with including Onomichi into the newer itinerary and it kinda works in an interesting way:

Osaka-2
Takamatsu-3
Matsuyama -2
Onomichi -2
Hiroshima -2
Kinosaki-2
Kyoto -5

Matsuyama to Onomichi would be an interesting trip though a bit of a schlep, with ferry, bus and train. Possibly worth an adventure though definitely a crazy route. I’ll play with it a little more because it does look interesting.

Theoretically, we could stop and see Himeji Castle if we travel to Kinosaki from Hiroshima, but we’re less likely going to stop for a visit when we’re on our way somewhere on a longer travel day (for us).

mrwunrfl,
I missed this response with the flurry of activity, so I�m not sure which itinerary you�re referring to. As of now, I�m back to the one I wrote up this morning, so I�m glad you mentioned that at least one person enjoyed staying in Himeji! For one night, I�m sure it�ll be more than fine.

Osaka -2
Takamatsu-3
Hiroshima -3
Onomichi -2
Himeji -1
Kinosaki -2
Kyoto -5

I did create a second itinerary that worked very nicely, too, but it works well with Kurashiki but not Onomichi. I really tried to make it work with Onomichi, but the travel to the various locations become too complicated and it�s not worth it, much as I�d like to add Matsuyama (I know you�re a big fan).

Osaka -2
Kurashiki -2
Takamatsu -3
Matsuyama - 2
Hiroshima -2
Kinosaki -2
Kyoto -5

In addition to the castle, you could also visit Kokoen while you�re in Himeji. I thought the gardens, though small, was worthwhile. And if you do stay overnight in Himeji, you could think about going to Mount Shosha for its temple. It�s enough off the beaten path that you shouldn�t encounter crowds. We had it on our list but ran out of time.

If you are not planning on going to Miyajima, have you considered going to Hiroshima as a day trip from Onomichi. If you concentrate on the Peace Memorial Museum and Park, you should have enough time plus get in your okonomiyaki. I assume Onomichi will serve Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki too as it was also available in Fukuyama and Tomonoura.

Don�t get me wrong - I�m all for staying over in Hiroshima. Given your priorities of smaller towns and that Onomichi is so close to Hiroshima, it�s worth a thought.

I made a similar suggestion earlier in the thread, tripplanner001, but progol seemed to want to experience both places...

At this point I have lost the drift and not sure which itinerary/itineraries are being considered.....

Maybe I should think more about mine since I leave in ten days....

Sorry I missed that, Mara. Perhaps I was not looking at the most updated version.

Ten days? That�s exciting. Where are you going? Hopefully you�ll catch some of the plum blossoms and perhaps even some early sakura.

Thanks, Mara and tripplanner,I appreciate your comments.

For the record, the CURRENT iteration of the itinerary is this:

Osaka -2
Takamatsu-3
Hiroshima -3
Onomichi -2
Himeji -1
Kinosaki -2
Kyoto -5

Mara, I�m sorry if you�re feeling like you�ve lost the plot with me! I�ve gotten a lot of help from your comments and I�ve taken them to heart. I did go back to the itinerary from yesterday morning that you liked as I did appreciate your comments about Kurashiki and I sense I�d feel similarly. I then went back to the earlier plan since the second plan I came up with, which included Matsuyama, just doesn�t work with Onomichi very well.

Please focus on your own trip! Where are you going?

tripplanner, as Mara said, I do want to experience both places, though you do raise the question about visiting Miyajima. I�m torn. Some folks still love it as a day trip and say the crowds are manageable and one can avoid them while others felt the visit wasn�t that enjoyable. If I remember correctly, you seemed to have mixed feelings. I�m still torn.

I do have 3 days allocated to Hiroshima. That third day could be allocated elsewhere but I�m not sure where, should I decide not to go to Miyajima.

The crowds at Miyajima was the worst throughout our trip to Japan. That�s because the island is small and the sites are concentrated, especially the main shrine and torii. You could try to go early or late.

From Hiroshima, perhaps you could consider day trips to Iwakuni or Yamaguchi as points east are already on your itinerary. We didn�t go west Hiroshima as we didn�t have time.

Thanks, tripplanner, I’ll need to check them out. I did note Iwakuni at some point and it looks like a nice option.

I think I need to take a break! It’s getting a bit overwhelming again just as I try to keep things simple!

progol and tripplanner01 - no need at all to apologize to me!!
I am enjoying helping progol and the least I can do after the fabulous pictures she posted here!! Brought back many memories!! I never recall such a detailed preparation on the forum - progol, it's almost like you are thinking aloud which is a bit of fun....I will look up my notes on Iwakuni, etc. later this afternoon.

I first went to Japan in 2004 - one week in Tokyo - I got a really cheap fare. Since then I have returned almost every year - each trip getting longer and longer until now I am there over two months. I go to Tokyo at the beginning and end and Kyoto in the middle. I take a few side trips - this year I am going to Okinawa and Ishigaki for a few days and Ise - have never been to the shrine there. Maybe Sado Island from Tokyo - I was planning to go last year but got sick and had to cancel.

For many years I had a very inexpensive sort of studio in Kyoto but they went out of business after Covid so now I have found another place that is a bit more money. Of course, the $/円 is very favorable...I have cooking facilities so that helps with the expenses..

Okayama can be a base for Kurashiki, Naoshima, and Himeji. Okayama has a nice castle and famous garden
Interesting to look at the map and see how much farther away Himeji is from Okayama than Kurashiki is. In distance, I mean, but train travel time is about the same:

Okayama to Kurashiki is 18 minutes on JR local
Okayama to Himeji is 19 minutes on the shinkansen
.
That would work well for travelers who like to have a base and day trip instead of moving lodging locations. That approach is most common on this forum. I prefer moving and don't like backtracking but the 38 minutes of backtracking is negligible

I did a trip to the area west of Hiroshima a few years ago. I went to Iwakuni for one night where I saw the Kintaikyo Bridge and the Kikkawa Museum while avoiding the white snake museum. The next day to Tsuwano where I was able to get a ticket on the Steam Locomotive Yamaguchi - SL trains are one of the things I often look for - saw a couple of shrines/temples and then a Yabusame - a traditional Japanese archery on horseback. There was a pretty big EQ that night and my train to Masuda was very much delayed so I took a bus to Hagi and saw a lot of the temple and castle town. The next day I stopped at Masuda on the way to Yamaguchi which I think is Number 2 on the NY Times list of places to travel this year...so all in all it was about a week long trip to see that area....
Obviously you could go to one or two places as a day trip from Hiroshima...

Mara, thanks again for all the ideas. I love your story about your ongoing connection to Japan and even having a place that is yours in Kyoto.

By the way, in a way I am posting my thinking process here as it does help me develop my ideas.

mrwunrfl, thank you for your thoughts. I’m less inclined to use Okayama as a base for Naoshima as it’s still a long commute while Takamatsu seems well positioned for a day trip to the island and also has a wonderful garden, but I am toying with the option of staying there for a couple of days.

Oh, and Mara and tripplanner- I’m now considering staying in Hiroshima and visiting Onomichi as a day trip. In my initial research, I saw train times between the 2 of about 1 1/2 hours, which (for us) is too long for a day trip. But I did see there are Shinkansen trips of 40 minutes, which makes it much more realistic. This possibility does change things a bit.

Of course, I keep getting tempted with other options, especially traveling into Kyushu, but I have to keep reminding myself that this trip is following 2 1/2 weeks in Taiwan and I want to keep the trip relaxed.