Japan Itinerary - Help Please...
 

Hi,

I posted a while ago when I thought I might be going to Japan in December, but my trip was cancelled. But now, I have again decided to give Japan a go and will be leaving this Thursday.

The following is my itinerary. I haven't booked any hotels yet, I just wanted people's advice as to whether the itinerary is too busy or if I am not including the right things, or the right things in the right order.

Here goes -

Day 1: Arrive in Narita at 5:30 PM. Night in Tokyo.
Day 2: Explore Tokyo. Night in Tokyo.
Day 3: Day trip to Nikko. Night in Tokyo.
Day 4: Travel to Takaragawa for an onsen experience. Night in Takaragawa.
Day 5: Travel Takaragawa to Matsumoto, see castle. Night in Matsumoto.
Day 6: Travel Matsumoto to Nakatsugawa. Hike Magome to Tsumago. Night in Tsumago.
Day 7: Travel Tsumago to Nagoya. See Sumo match and cormorant fishing. Night in Nagoya.
Day 8: Travel Nagoya to Kyoto. Night in Kyoto.
Day 9: Explore Kyoto. Night in Kyoto
Day 10: Explore Kyoto. Night in Kyoto
Day 11:Explore Kyoto. Night in Kyoto
Day 12:Explore Kyoto. Night in Kyoto
Day 13: Travel Kyoto to Hiroshima. Explore Peace Park. Travel to Miyajima. Night in Miyajima.
Day 14: Explore Miyajima. Travel to Okayama. Night in Okayama.
Day 15: Explore Korakuen garden. Travel to Osaka.
Day 16: Travel Osaka to Mount Koyasan. Night in Mount Koyasan.
Day 17: Travel to Osaka. Leave from Osaka 4:30 PM.

Any advice is appreciated.

Thanks,

Amy

To me, your itinerary does seem a bit busy - some days are imo an awful lot of traveling. One example is Day 5 Takaragawa to Matsumoto - assuming you are taking the train, maybe you are driving....it is over a four hour trip from the Minakami JR station and you have to get there first.....

Also since it is the rainy season you might have an issue with the Magome to Tsumago hike but you can substitute bus rides.

Anyway, I am a person who has all my hotels reserved before I go - so that would be my first issue at this point.

On the whole the logic of your travel direction seems to make sense...

Enjoy your trip!

Mara - thanks for the input.

Takaragawa is so far from everything. Would there be a better way to travel from Takaragawa to Kyoto between days 5 and 8?

or is there an onsen that would fit better in the itinerary?

http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e7463.html

I am not a big onsen person - but above link is where I got my info on traveling as well as using hyperdia.com.....Takagawara seems particularly remote - maybe the link will give you some other ideas for closer places...

http://www.onsenjapan.net/
Just got that from a quick google search - sorry I'm not more helpful.....

Day 3 - staying overnight Tokyo while day tripping to Nikko is a waste of the expensive Tokyo digs. Either skip Nikko or overnight there and go to onsen from Nikko. It is over a two hour commute from Tokyo to Nikko and more than 4 hour round trip. Or you can skip Nikko and go to Takaragawa Onsen on Day 3 gaining an extra day which you will need on this kind of schedule. You won't see anything of Tokyo on day 3 but your room anyway.
Maybe give that extra day to Matsumoto so you can actually visit the magnificent castle there instead of just arriving too late and check into your hotel in the late afternoon/evening. If you do stay two nights here, we did love this place with a castle view. The surrounding neighborhood has businesses and establishments that have been around a few hundred years and date back to the 1600's. The extra bonus is the onsen in the basement level of this hotel.

http://hotel-kagetsu.jp/englishtop.html

I would nix the idea of cormorant fishing in Nagoya with only one evening and concentrate on the sumo basho July 7 through the 21st.

Make hotel reservations <b>now</b>

Aloha!

Takaragawa Onsen......I just assumed you were going here:

http://www.japaneseguesthouses.com/d...a/osenkaku.htm

If not why not and if you haven't already made a reservation all this talk about onsen in Takaragawa maybe moot.....

Cormorant fishing in Nagoya? I think you mean in Gifu which is a 20-minute train ride from Nagoya on JR. There is another railway that connects those cities - the stations are not close together, IIRC. Anyway, you will be staying at the sumo tournament until 6PM to see the main match. The cormorant fishing is at night, isn't it? Figure you won't get there (arena to Gifu fishing) until 7:30 or 8PM.

I would see if there was a Chunichi Dragons baseball game in Nagoya that night.

The Dragons will be home in Nagoya July 3-7. I would still be tempted to go to Gifu.

I watched the cormorant fishing in Gifu and was glad I did. But note that if you are even a little late, you might not see that much. Bring binoculars to maximize what you can see!