I visited Kurobe Gorge three years ago and spent the night at a ryokan hotel in Unazuki Onsen. It was quite cold on the train ride, but that was Nov 19, so October wouild be better. The previous couple of nights I spent at the APA Kanazawa Chuo where I had stayed on a previous trip. Tiny room, quite inexpensive, good location (chuo = central) and a nice bonus: an outdoor bath on the roof.

Also need guidance
 

I could also benefit from some guidance in planning our spring trip to Japan. We are first time visitors. I have already reserved our first 4 nights and last night in Tokyo followed by 3 nights in Kyoto. We then have 8 nights and want to spend 1 night on Naoshima and several visiting Hiroshima and Miyajima.

One of my questions is sequence. Should we go straight to Hiroshima and from there go to Naoshima or vice versa? Any other 'must visit' places we should visit? I've been told Osaka is worthwhile, but I'm concerned that it's a lot of big city time and considering skipping it.

any and all suggestions are much appreciated.

Do you already have Nara on your list? Many visit as a day trip from Kyoto but we did an overnight there, staying in a gorgeous historical ryokan right by Todaiji Temple’s Nandaimon (Great Southern Gate). It was lovely to be able to take a walk in the park in the quieter hours.

We only did one night on Miyajima (after a morning in Hiroshima) and I wish we'd had two nights on the island, to give us more time there.

Not been to Naoshima, is on my list for a future visit.

I'm one of the few who didn't love Osaka. We stayed a couple of nights on our first visit and I gave it another try on the second, but it's just not for me. I did get to try local food specialities, but other than that, didn't fall for it like so many seem to do. Shrug, just personal tastes!

Do you already have Nara on your list? Many visit as a day trip from Kyoto but we did an overnight there, staying in a gorgeous historical ryokan right by Todaiji Temple’s Nandaimon (Great Southern Gate). It was lovely to be able to take a walk in the park in the quieter hours.

We only did one night on Miyajima (after a morning in Hiroshima) and I wish we'd had two nights on the island, to give us more time there.

Not been to Naoshima, is on my list for a future visit.

I'm one of the few who didn't love Osaka. We stayed a couple of nights on our first visit and I gave it another try on the second, but it's just not for me. I did get to try local food specialities, but other than that, didn't fall for it like so many seem to do. Shrug, just personal tastes!

thank you Kavey, so maybe an overnight in Nara after our 3 nights in Kyoto? and from there to Hiroshima....and we thought Miyajima was a day trip, but perhaps a night or two there....

part of what I find challenging, never having been to Japan, is deciding how to sequence the different stops to minimize travel time...

your reply is helpful

Maybe start ypur own thread. I think you will get more responses with a thread specific to your questions.

Yes good idea!

Coming back to this after time for additional research, contemplation, and discussion. We're now looking at reluctantly dropping Matsue but adding a slice of Kyushu. However we slice it, we could use more time but are limited by what we have available. A working itinerary is as follows:

Fly into Tokyo, 4 nights
Train to Kanazawa, 2 nights
Bus to Takayama, 3 nights, stopping in Shirakawa-go along the way and day trip to Kamikochi weather permitting
Train to Kyoto, 4 nights
Train to Kurashiki, 2 nights, day trip to Okayama and Himeji
Train to Hagi, 2 nights
Train to Nagasaki, 3 nights
Train to Kagoshima, 2 nights

We could eliminate Kagoshima and redistribute the 2 nights to reduce some of the moving around.

What do you think of this allocation? We've previously visited Tokyo and Kyoto and are happy with 4 nights in each but all the other places will be new to us.

We also want to stay in a ryokan. We are looking for the cultural and gastronomic experience, but don't want the restrictions that go with it, so we're only looking at doing this once. Do you have a favorite to recommend?

Anything glaring that I'm missing or a fine detail that will enhance the trip?

Thanks again.

I don't think it looks too bad. You might consider Fukuoka instead of Kagoshima. It's a lot closer to Nagasaki and you end up going through Fukuoka to get to Kagoshima (so it lessens your travel time). From Fukuoka you can visit Nanzoin Temple and Dazaifu Tenmangu Shrine. You could side trip to Arita as well if the pottery interests you (we enjoyed the little town and picked up some sake cups).
Or, you could take the Kagoshima time and add Onomichi. You can do it as a day trip from Kurashiki. It doesn't have any major sites but it's a lovely little town.
And to be clear I have nothing against Kagoshima- we have an entire Kyushu road trip planned out that was delayed by covid so we hope to see it next year (it's Kyushu minus Fukuoka & Nagasaki which we say on a previous trip). It just seems a bit like a far outlier.
In Takayama we had our one and only ryokan experience. We stayed at Oyado Koto no Yume. Someone on another board scoffed at it as not being a "real" ryokan but it did the trick for us. We wanted a place were we didn't have to eat dinner and when we booked (this was in 2017) they gave the option of doing a half board with either breakfast or dinner. We did breakfast and it was great. And it wasn't too expensive.
We liked the curry at Jakson and the tonkatsu at Masakatsu and tasting sake at the Funasaka Shuzo Brewery in Takayama. They have a nice little courtyard area to sit in.
In Nagasaki we enjoyed dinners at Tarafuku Asa (izakaya) and Osakaya Hamamachiten (yakiniku). Sadly the lovely little sushi place we went to closed.

>> day trip to Kamikochi

How are you going to do this? Just bus to there and back to Takayama? Drive? It looks like I brought up Kamikochi on this thread, and mentioned going one-way, Matsumoto to Kanazwa, across the J-Alps. I might have also mentioned Kamikochi as a good day trip from Matsumoto, but I would not want to do that from Takayama. Maybe you can find a day trip spot\ closer to Takayama. There is a shrine/temple walk/hike just outside the eastern edge of Takayama, maybe still in city limits, quite close, close enough to walk to, but might not be what you want. For all the bus travel in that region I would be looking at schedules now and probably have the bus tickets before I left for Japan.

Sumiyoshi Ryokan is nice, get a room by the river. (would be Best Western for me for the other night(s))
Overnight in Shirakawago is quite worthwhile (rec: Koemon)

>> Train to Kurashiki, 2 nights, day trip to Okayama and Himeji
A bit ambitious, I think to have Himeji as part of this 2-night period, but to do it you would be a bit better off by staying in Okayama. There is some unique loding in Kurashiki and Okayama would be a part-day trip if you keep that to the castle and garden.

>> dropping Matsue but adding a slice of Kyushu.
>> Train to Nagasaki, 3 nights
>> Train to Kagoshima, 2 nights

umm, uhh, okaay

>> >> day trip to Kamikochi
iow, check the bus schedule to see if the travel time makes sense for you. For me, the trip fromTak to Kam was kind of interesting but got a bit tedious, so i would not want to do it both ways on the same day. but maybe worth it to you.

valgalchi and mrwunrfl, thank you both. I will take a look at your ryokan suggestions as well as some modifications to our itinerary.

Perhaps including Kyushu is too much with the amount of time we have considering the other places we are visiting. Just have to come back.

Will take a closer look at Kamikochi. Not looking to overnight as I’m trying to avoid one-nighters. Perhaps visiting the Japanese Alps does not make sense for this itinerary.

As far as Kurashiki, Okayama, and Himeji, we could add an additional night, especially if we’re shifting elsewhere. Does it make more sense to visit Himeji as a day trip from Okayama or Kurashiki or en route from Kyoto?

If we eliminated Kyushu and one night from Takayama (the 3rd night was for a day trip to Kamikochi), we will have 6 nights to play with.

I personally see no issue with your including Kyushu. Perhaps going all the way to Kagoshima, yes, but Nagasaki or Fukuoka I don't see as an issue. We did a trip where we flew to to Fukuoka (through Tokyo) and then headed back to Tokyo with stops in Nagasaki, Hiroshima, Onomichi, Kurashiki, Matsue, and even Sendai (flew from Matsue to Tokyo then train to Sendai for two nights then to Tokyo to fly out). With plenty of day trips as well.
We did do Okayama as a day trip from Kurashiki (seeing only the castle & garden- personally not my favorite garden or castle). And we did Himeji as a day trip from Osaka. You could do it as a day trip from Kyoto but I think seeing it on the way from Kyoto to Kurashiki could work as well (though you'd want to send your luggage ahead & only carry a smaller bag with you).
I would look at Hagi and how you plan to get from there & to your next destination. We left it off our trip because it wasn't well connected and seemed like it would take a lot of our time. Perhaps the connections have gotten better (our trip in that area was in 2017).
If you did want to drop Kyushu you could look at adding Hiroshima & Miyajima since you'll be in that area. We did Miyajima as a day trip but many people love it as an overnight. You could probably do a ryokan there. And we did a day trip to Matsuyama from Hiroshima which was fun.
Have you thought about Matsumoto? We stopped to see the castle there on our way from Tokyo to Takayama (train to Matsumoto then bus to Takayama). We spent 2 nights in Takayama and then went to Kanazawa for two nights (via bus from Takayama to Kanazawa). And then from Kanazawa to Kyoto. So you might think about switching the order for Takayama & Kanazawa and fitting that in. Being able to see two of the three "best" original castles would be nice (considered by many to be the best at least). But depends on your interest in castles.

>> Okayama or Kurashiki or en route from Kyoto?
Okayama makes more zsense than Kurahiki because it is a major stop on the shinkansen line, you wquld take JR local from there to Kurashiki. baaically Okayama is between Himeji and Kurashiki, so it would be a good base. But it is nbd if you want to stay at a particular place in Kurashiki
enroute makes sense, sure. easy enough

valgalchi, thank you. We love castles and will take a look at Matsumoto. We're intentionally avoiding Hiroshima and Miyajima for this trip as we would be there around the time of the upcoming G7 summit and expect security zone restrictions, etc.

mrwunrfl, the only reason why we're leaning towards Kurashiki is that it is a smaller place as we're looking for a mix of landscapes given that we're already staying in large urban areas. Will definitely take a look at staying in Okayama as opposed to Kurashiki.

I'd stick to Kurashiki for your overnight. Walking along the canal at night was lovely. Not something you'll get other places.

I second the upthread suggestion to re-order your first part of the itinerary by traveling in the direction of Tokyo>Takayama>Kanazawa>Kyoto. I'd also recommand adding Matsumoto to your overnight stays.

Step 1) take a limited express train from Tokyo -> Matsumoto. In Matsumoto, visit the famous castle (ask for an English Goodwill tour guide near the castle entrance). Then, if you like miso, take a taxi to the Ishii Miso (石井味噌) factory, and have a miso-themed lunch in their shop/cafateria. You may aslo ask for an English tour of the miso factory if you like.

Step 2) Take a Takayama-Matsumoto Line bus from Matsumoto->Hirayu Onsen->Takayama. Either buy a through ticket to Takayama, or buy two separate tickets to break-off the ride in Hirayu Onsen. In Hirayu Onsen, you may store your luggage in a locker, then buy r/t bus tickets on the kamikochi-line to take a detour from Hirayu Onsen to Kamikochi and back, then continue on to Takayama.

The scenery along the Matsumoto<->Takayam line is very pretty.
Takayama-Matsumoto Line: https://www.nouhibus.co.jp/highwaybus/matsumoto_en/
Kamikochi Line: https://www.nouhibus.co.jp/route_bus/kamikochi-line-en/

3) Take a bus from Takayama ->shirakawago-> Kanazawa. Either a through ticket or two separate tickets, depending on if you want to break off in Shirkawago to spend a few hours there for a quick look or spend a night there. The bus seats on this route are reserved, therefore you'll need to purchase these tickets as soon as you arrive in Takayama. Otherwise the seats may be sold out on the day you want to travel.

The scenery along this route is not as pretty as the segment between Takayama-Matsumoto, because there are many tunnels, and you cannot see any scenery from inside a tunnel.
Takayam-Kanazawa Line: https://www.nouhibus.co.jp/highwaybus/kanazawa_en/

valgalchi gave a good enough reason to stay in Kurashiki. You would want to visit Himeji enroute in that case.You can ignore my advice abouit staying in Okayama.
You wanted to avoid one-night stays then you could stop in Matsumoto for a couple nights with a day trip to Kamikochi. Then go around by train via Toyama to Takayama or Kanazawa. There are lots of ways to navigate J-Alps, including from west to eatt, given your next stoo is Kyot

I love Kyushu, but it seemed to appear at random on your itin and I am a big fan Matsue. The G7 thing explains what I was wondering about. Hagi is kind of out there geo-wise, making Kurashiki= Hagi- Nagasaki a bit complicagted or time consuming. Or maybe not, but your time/route options for getting to Hagi and away are not as obvious as, say, Tokyo to Kanazawa.

I'm not the OP, but thank you for posting this. We will be traveling from Matsumoto to Kamikochi (1 night) then on to Takayama. I haven't started looking at transportation yet, but that is on my agenda.

tripplanner001, we are also going in May, just after Golden Week. We just used some info from your recent Thailand trip report while in Bangkok week before last!

There is/was a rail to bus option from Matsumoto to Kamikochi.