TRIP QUESTION!!!
 

My husband and I have 3 weeks to travel,

What do you think of following:

I found the following cruise (we are cruise people) that leaves from Tianjun, China on Aug 7
Itinerary is:
Aug 7- Tianjin, China
Aug 8- Day at Sea
Aug 9- Nagasaki, Japan
Aug 10- Kagoshima, Japan
Aug 11- Fukuoka, Japan
August 12- Bsan, South Korea
August 13- Day at Sea
August 14- Tianjin, China

So what we are thinking is-- flying to Tokyo Japan on August 1st and spending a week in Japan, making our way down to Nagasaki by August 9th (figured worth it to get on the cruise late and spend time in Japan). Anything you would definitely recommend doing while in Japan? Do you know if the trip from Tokyo to Nagasaki is doable?

Then cruising from Aug 9-14, and then getting off cruise in Tianjin, China and spending about a week around China.
Any suggestions here?


Does this sound doable/good?

He has been to Hong Kong but never Tokyo- I have never been to either


Let me know what you think of above and/or any other ideas you have!


Thank you!!!!

Certainly the trip from Tokyo to Nagasaki is highly possible. But I'm puzzling about why you would want to spend five days on a cruise (having joined it late) when most of the remaining time is either at sea or in Kyushu (Kagoshima and Fukuoka)--which you have already reached from Tokyo and could see readily by other means. It seems as if the only value the cruise has is to get you to China to begin a week's travel there, with a day stop in Korea en route. Maybe I'm missing something, or else I don't fully appreciate what it means to be "cruise people," but why bother with the cruise at all?

It is doable, but maybe not so good. It is 7 or 8 hours by train from Tokyo to Nagasaki and costs about 25,000 yen.

Aug 1 - Arrive Tokyo
Aug 2 - Tokyo
Aug 3 - Tokyo
Aug 4 - Tokyo to Kyoto (2.5 hours)
Aug 5 - Kyoto
Aug 6 - Kyoto
Aug 7 - Kyoto
Aug 8 - Kyoto - Nagasaki (5 hours)
Aug 9 - join your cruise

You could stop at Hiroshima for a night. It is 2 hours from Kyoto and 3 hours or so from Nagasaki.

Or you could fly into Tokyo and fly to Nagasaki.
Or fly into Tokyo, train to Kyoto, fly to Nagasaki.
Or fly into Osaka, visit Kyoto, fly or train to Nagasaki (maybe with a stop in Hiroshima or Miyajima).

What to do in Japan? Lots, and it depends on your interests, but I've identified a couple of obvious places that are worth your time.

You need to do some research. For starters, scroll to the top of this page and click Destinations. Then Asia. Under Japan look at the info for Kyoto and Western Honshu. Also check out the info about Kyushu, which is where Nagasaki, Kagoshima, and Fukuoka are.

Kagoshima is very very charming. When we went, we stayed on Sakurajima, an island off the city, at the Furusato Kanko onsen hotel - it was one of our favorite experiences in Japan. Food was sublime as were the views from the rotemburo from our deck and the the public onsen/shrine overlooking the East China sea.

Sounds like a great plan...spend time in both Japan and China and relax on the cruise too. This is exactly the type of thing we did this past Feb when we flew to Australia for a month, took a cruise from Sydney to Hong Kong and then visited Hanoi, Angkor Wat and Bangkok over land from there.

mrwundfl's travel plan is very good as to how the divide your time. The train travel in Japan is easy and fast, much better than wasting all the time with check-in, etc at the airports. You do not need to speak or read Japanese to deal with the trains.

We went from Kyoto to Himiji Castle to Hiroshima and Miyajima Island and back to Kyoto in a long day, several years back. Very easy and well worth even that short of trip! We had a wonderful time that day. Left Kyoto at 7 got to Himiji Castle as the castle opened, did the tour and had lunch in town, caught 11:30am train to Hiroshima, road the tram to the "A" Dome and the park then took the tram/local train and ferry the Miyajima Island spent several hours touring the temple and park and the sunset behind the Tori Gate and had an early dinner, took the ferry and local train back to the station, caught the fast train to Kyoto and were at the hotel by 9pm.

I would suggest adding at least Hiroshima/Miyajima for a night stop over. The Island is at its best in the late afternoon and early morning which works well for traveling by train. You can then see the other sights on the way to and from the island.( I suggest the "A" Dome and park, the castle and a the gardens near by are the best and easy to do in a few hours. You can walk from one to the other. We didn't do the Museum in Hiroshima as we had previously been to the one in Nagasaki.) With some care in planning with the train schedules, you could also work in a stop in Himiji on the way from Kyoto to Hiroshima, you need about two hours to get from the station (walking) see the castle and get back. It is a beautiful castle and one of very few that isn't a reconstruction.

If you can add a day or two the the trip that would be great, but if not, if it were me I would take a day from Tokyo and make the stop in Hiroshima then go on to Nagasaki. Meeting you ship there the next day would give you enough time to see the sights in Nagasaki the day you get on the ship.

Kyoto is wonderful and well woth three full days.

Hiroshima with the overnight night on Miyajima is also worth the time.

We have been to Kyoto, Nagasaki and Hiroshima twice now, but have flown in and out of Osaka. Osaka is OK, but we love Kyoto and find Hiroshima and Nagaski very enjoyable. We have never been to Tokyo.

My suggestion:
Aug 1 - Arrive Tokyo
Aug 2 - Tokyo
Aug 3 - Tokyo to Kyoto (2.5 hours)
Aug 4 - Kyoto
Aug 5 - Kyoto
Aug 6 - Kyoto
Aug 7 - Kyoto - Himiji - Hiroshima (total train time maybe 3 to 4 hours)
Aug 8 - Hiroshima - Nagasaki (I don't know, but doable)
Aug 9 - join your cruise

This would give you a great experience in some great places. Also you should think about doing the all day trip the the ancient capital from your South Korea port if it is offerred. We did it and it was one of the best ship's tour we have ever done..and we really don't like the ships tours.