I just started thinking about going to Japan next year for about 16 days at the end of March. I have to start thinking early, because I would like to use my miles to buy tickets. I am thinking about flying to Tokyo and coming back from Osaka. I only have done some preliminary research. Here are a few questions I have so far:

1. I can travel starting last week of March, or first week of April, or second week of April. Will it be preferable traveling in April rather than in March – for weather or any other reason?

2. It looks like I am traveling around cherry blossom time – will I have many problems finding the accommodation in Kyoto?

3. I will be working on my exact itineraries later on – but the places I would like to see are – Tokyo, Nikko, Kyoto, Nara, Takayama (Kanazava, Shirakawa go? –not sure), Hiroshima, Miyajima island, Matsue (Tsuomo- not sure), spent a night at Mt. Koya.
Is it reasonable within 16 days? How is the weather in Japanese Alps around beginning of April?

As always, thank you in advance for your invaluable help!

Answering your questions

1. I would start out in the last week of March next year to be in time for the cherry blossoms

2. Yes, you will have problems in Kyoto if you don't start booking now.

3. Weather in the Japanese Alps will still be cold with snow in the mountains. Actually a real nice time to visit imho....unless you don't like that kind of weather.
With 16 days you could do Tokyo for 4 nights and Kyoto for 5 nights with the rest of the time dedicated to the other places you mention for one or two night each.

You should also try to nail down your ff air tickets as they are getting harder and harder to get at a later date.

Aloha!

Hawaiiantraveler,

Thank you for your response!

I have my ff tickets on hold.

I need at least to identify my route to start booking in Kyoto. The Frommers suggestion to go this way Tokyo->Takayama->Kyoto->Mt Koya->Hiroshima. Is this the best route?
This way I need to figure out how long to stay in the Alps, and then the dates I will be in Kyoto.

Also, I just tried several Japanese hotel websites, and they are ALL in Japanese. What is the best way to book a hotel there? Is it better to call or use some type of booking website?

I planned a lot of trips, but feels like a first time here
Thank you again!
Helen

Yes that is a good route. The spring festival in Takayama will probably be the 18th or maybe 11th of April.

Yes as mrw says, that is a good route

You should cut out some places for your length of stay and stay with the above cities, Tokyo->Takayama->Kyoto->Mt Koya->Hiroshima/Miyajima

Tokyo 4 nights + w/ 1 overnight in Nikko
Takayama 1 to 2 nights
Kanazawa 2 nights
Kyoto w/ day trip to Nara 4 to 5 nights
Koyasan 1 night
Miyajima/Hiroshima 1 night each

What hotels are you trying to book in Kyoto and what is your budget?

You should try direct to the hotel websites first. There are many in English. For Japanese websites you can try literal translations at:

http://babelfish.yahoo.com/

You might be able to understand some with the site

hawaiiantraveler, mrwunrfl,

Thank you!

I tried several hotels recommended by Frommers (just trying this quickly, from work), clicked on their websites, and could not follow any directions
Then I went to Expedia, and Orbitz, and Hotels.com, plugged some approximate dates, and found like 1 or two choices. The rest of them have no rooms. Are they booked already??? I am on budget. I plan to splurge one or two nights (maybe, but in general would like to stay under $200, if possible. Ideally, even under $150.
I’ll do a little bit more research, and will see what happens. I have never heard of Koyasan, so I need to do some reading. I was hoping to see some ‘old’ Japan, therefore Matsue or Tsuomo. But it looks like, no time.

Hi, helen63 -

If you want to see the cherry blossoms, you might want to consider reversing the order of your trip - I think they start blooming earlier further south. (Perhaps someone else can chime in on that.)

> the places I would like to see are – Tokyo, Nikko, Kyoto, Nara, Takayama (Kanazava, Shirakawa go? –not sure), Hiroshima, Miyajima island, Matsue (Tsuomo- not sure), spent a night at Mt. Koya.
Is it reasonable within 16 days?

Sounds like a lot to me! Others have given you some good suggestions about narrowing it down a bit.

> I have never heard of Koyasan

Koyasan = Mt. Koya.

Hope that helps!

Kja, I don't have any specific goal to see the cherry blossom. It just happen that we can travel around this time (also because they only want 50,000 miles on AA until May, instead of regular $65,000). So, if I catch the blossom, it will be a bonus, otherwise it is OK.
Normally, I do more research before asking question, but this time I wanted to secure the dates/tickets, so I did a very brief research on what I would like to see. I realize that I listed too much for the time I have...
I'll do more research and decide. In the meantime,it seems like all hotels in Kyoto are booked for Suturday, Apr 5. Is it a cherry blossom viewing Saturday?
Thank you for the explanation on Koya-san. I should of known... It is just like Fuji-san

a few very good sites for your Japan research

http://www.japan-guide.com/

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

http://www.japanrail.com/

hotels and ryokan online sites

http://www.toyoko-inn.com/eng/

http://biz.knt.co.jp/jho/sys/index.asp

http://japaneseguesthouses.com/index.htm

http://www.japanican.com/index.aspx

http://www.tokyuhotelsjapan.com/en/index.html

http://www.ryokancollection.com/eng/index.htm

Seeing the cherry blossoms are a major reason for most to go to Japan....really spectacular stuff

If you are not interested in seeing the cb's then going about the first week or so in April for 16 days would be nice, just try to in time to leave before Golden Week.

Any way check out these sites and come back with any questions you might have.

Aloha!

Hawaiiantraveler,

Thank you so much! Such invaluable help!
Currently, I have my tickets on hold going to Tokyo on Mar, 26, and back from Osaka, on Apr 12. Does it make sense to fly to Osaka, and come back from Tokyo as KJA suggests increasing chances to see the blossom? I wanted to go to Japan for a long time, so I did not think of cherry blossom being my main reason, but if I get a chance to see it, I would be really happy!!!

Here is a site that lists the average and the latest cb blooms in the past couple of years.

http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2011_when.html

The obvious challenge is to be there in the right place at the right time. As you see from the list the times change year to year. Peak cherry blossom viewing days occur about 7 days after the first bloom.

If I were to bet I would be betting that Tokyo will open on March 22 with Kyoto following on March 27, 2009. It's really still too early to tell as a lot depends on how cold it is in Japan this winter but just a semi educated guess.....

Aloha!

Then, based on this table and your guess, it is the best for me to stay with my current plan - I will be in Tokyo on March, 27, so should be able to catch a glimpse of it!

Thank you for your guess!

Sorry for the poor advice about the cherry blossoms, and thanks, hawaiiantraveler, for providing better information!

KJA, there was no poor advice! Any advice is really appreciated!

We are going to Japan in November during high season for fall foliage and also had trouble finding hotels with availability on the internet. Japan Travel Bureau in San Francisco was able to get us reservations in a hotel that was not available from the hotel website or expedia. I think because they are a big travel agency they may reserve blocks of rooms in advance. Their telephone number is (415) 986-4764. The agent I have worked with is named Akiko Oguma. She is very nice and also very efficient and competent.

A p.s. to the message I sent earlier. The hotel we reserved is the Westin which has very mixed reviews and is expensive. We chose it for a number of reasons, but if I could redo our decision (now too late) I would choose the Granvia or the Hyatt (even more expensive). We opted out of a ryokan in Kyoto because of wanting to take a midday break from seeing the city in our hotel.

Cmstraf, thank you! I will give a try if I have problems reserving in Kyoto for my dates. So far, I can not determine the dates I will be in Kyoto.

bookmarking - thanks