Need help with Japan itinerary
 

We are a couple traveling to Japan for the first time at the end of Nov/early Dec. We are starting in Hong Kong for 4 nights. Then flying to Kansai and have 6 nights to experience Japan before flying out of Tokyo. We want to hit the must see sights, assume we will travel by train. We're simple food people. We would like to try different accomodations but like a private bathroom. Do not know the language.
Would appreciate your ideas on:
1) what cities to stay in, 2) accomodations to try, 3) sights to see 4) Will snow be a problem in early Dec? Any helpful websites to find accommodations?

Labern you don't give any indication as to whether you are the countryside or cities, traditional Japanese or high tech and bright lights. Do you want to spend the whole time in one place with some day trips or move around? A little more info as to what you are interested in would be helpful.

If you would like to try some traditional accommodation have a look at /www.japaneseguesthouses.com/index.htm#popular. Also have a look at www.japan-guide.com which has a lot of info and pictures to boot.

Sorry I was not clear. We would like to see the cities and country side but do not know enough about them to pick out where to stop. We have 6 nights to move between Kansai and Tokyo. Was looking for a train itinerary to make stops in different towns/cities along the way. Is 2 nights at the end of the trip enough for tokyo? Where should we stop/stay the other 4 nights? We want to hit the 'must see sights/towns'. Thanks in advance for help.

Hi, labern116 -

With only 6 nights, you might consider stopping only in Kyoto and Tokyo, dividing your time according to your preferences for seeing traditional vs. modern Japan. I second shandy's suggestion that you do some research on www.japan-guide.com - it has a lot of extremely useful information and is easy to navigate. Hope that helps!

With 6 nights I would do four nights in Kyoto and 2 nights in Tokyo. You will see a lot of "old" Japan within Kyoto as it is one of the few cities spared the bombings of WWII. If you feel the need to connect with a small town you can do a day trip to Nara from Kyoto.

The Japan Guide link listed above is an invaluable one for travel throughout Japan. Search through it thoroughly and you won't regret it. Here are a few more for your research:

http://www.jnto.go.jp/eng/

http://www.japanrail.com/index.html

http://www.hyperdia.com/

Here are some sites for ideas on hotel prices. Not necessarily for booking:

http://tinyurl.com/5b4gj6

http://www.japaneseguesthouses.com/index.htm

http://www.ryokan.or.jp/index_en.html

Also do a search on this site for recent trip reports on Japan. Shandy is doing one right now which is full of good tips and info for the first time traveler to Japan.

http://tinyurl.com/6kpeee

I have done a few. Here is the most recent one and others have done more. Do a search and come back with more specific questions

http://tinyurl.com/4cz6vl

Others will jump in soon with more advice.

Hope this helps.

Aloha!

Obviously it's personal preference but we are very happy we went to Hiroshima and the Peace Park. It's two hours from Kyoto by train.

Thanks All for the great websites! I may be back with more questions.