To celebrate our 75th birthdays we are two active women trying to see as much as possible without exhausting ourselves. We land in Tokyo on the 14th of May and leave on the 25th. Plan to spend a few days in Tokyo but not too many as we'll be back a day before we leave. We'd like to see Hiroshima, Kyoto and experience an onsen. My granddaughters were in Japan in May and enjoyed Kanazawa. Wondering what order we should plan for an itinerary and what else could we add. Possibly go first of all to Hiroshima? We will be taking the bullet train as much as possible. I was in Japan with another granddaughter in 2015 and enjoyed Kyoto very much so would like to spend 3 days there. I think we're ruled out Nara and Osaka. Any other suggestions?

If you haven't already done so, spend a LOT of time with japan-guide.com -- a truly amazing resource.

I loved Kanazawa. If you go there (maybe 2 or 3 days there), adding Takayama (also delightful, IMO), makes a lot of sense and you can see Shirakawa-go in between. Maybe 5 nights for that group of destinations.

If you go to Hiroshima, a visit to Miyajima is worth considering. Perhaps 2 or 3 nights for the combination.

When you have a chance, clck the orange triange and ask the moderators to add a tag for Japan to this thread.

Hope that helps!

Thank you Kja, You've helped me so much in the past. Can you suggest a hot springs experience within the triangle of this itinerary? Thank you

I'm glad to know that you've found me helpful!

My onsen experiences were quite limited, so I can't be of much help on that front. You might start with the japab-guide.com web-page on onsen:
https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2292.html

We just returned from Japan and visited some of the places you mentioned. I don't want to be presumptuous, so I'll ask: When you mention going to Hiroshima first, do you mean as soon as you arrive in the country?

Sanja Matsuri in Tokyo will (pretty sure) be the weekend after you arrive. Sanja Matsuri 2026 (Sanja Festival) - Tokyo Travel

The May grand sumo tournament is in Tokyo. It is baseball season. More to your interests than sports, perhaps, is that flowers will be blooming. I would definitely find out when the azaleas will be blooming at Hama Rikyu Gardens Hama Rikyu - Tokyo Travel

May is a good time to visit Kanazawa for Kenrokuen Garden - Kanazawa Travel

mrwunrfl's post just reminded me: Kyoto's Kamogawa Odori is in May:
https://en.kamogawa-odori.com/kamogawa/
I thought it delightful!

And there should be not only azaleas in bloom, but also the beginning of iris.

If you are going to Kanazawa, there are several onsens close by in Kaga, about a 30" train ride from Kanazawa. We are staying at Kayotei in Yamanaka Onsen when we go in November. I've been to several ryokans in northern Japan, so I'll see how this one stacks up. The water in the Kaga area is supposed to be very nice and healing plus Kayotei gets some great reviews. Here is the website:
https://www.kayotei.jp/english/

If you go to the website, be sure and watch the videos about the artists in the area.

>> 14th of May and leave on the 25th
That's a 12-day, 11-night trip with 10 full days in Japan.

Do you already have airline tickets? Which Tokyo airport(s) are you using?

If you are arriving at Tokyo Haneda (HND) then you could get a nonstop to Hiroshima (HIJ) as late as 7:30 PM same day. Economy fare of $73 to $105. Business class fare could be as low as $100 and would be unnecessary to pay more than $200. Flight time is 85 minutes. All the same for HIJ-HND.

I should mention that I skipped Sanja Matsuri to fly elsewhere on the same day.

You could fly home from Hiroshima, connecting at HND or elsewhere.

Same goes if you substitute Osaka for Hiroshima. You can get to Kyoto from either Osaka airport.

If you haven't bought your air tickets yet the am suggesting an open-jaw (aka multi-city) ticket.

Hiroshima to Tokyo on the shinkansen would be 4 hours for about $125. The shinkansen in Hiroshima is a lot easier to get to than the airport. Japanese airports are pretty easy to use for domestic flights, so flying could (probably) take less total travel time door-to-door than the train.

Your route by train (mostly shinkansen) c/would be Tokyo- Kanazawa- Kyoto before or after Hiroshima- Tokyo. Kanazawa to Hiroshima is a bit quicker but requires a change of train (maybe at Kyoto) that you wouldn't need to make if you stopped in Kyoto. But, Hiroshima first means you have a shorter trip the day you go to Tokyo (from Kyoto).

That might be more than you want or need to know and I haven't got to your onsen question. Yet.

Hi RandZ, We thought about this option first since Hiroshima would be our furthest destination. Since then I have been studying a 14 day itinerary in the Japan-guide and wondering how we could slim it down to 10 days. It may be possible - we'd have to be fleet-footed but we could spend 3 days in Tokyo with one side trip to Kamakura, then 3 days in Kyoto and then to Miyajima with a side trip to Hiroshima. From there we could go to Kanazawa and spend 2 nights there then back to Tokyo. It would be a lot of traveling. My friend is interested in Hiroshima and I am interested in Kamakura. Also my friend doesn't like to fly although she's okay on the big planes. I apologize if any of my spelling is incorrect.

I travel fast and I travel HARD, and I would find that plan way too ambitious and so very frustrating. YMMV.

I encourage you to consider deferring Kanazawa until you can spend 5 nights for Kanazawa and Takayama.

Thank you for your advice Kja, I'll think I need to have a discussion with my friend and perhaps change our plans completely.

Mrwunrfl, thank you for the flight information. Our international flights are in and out of NRT

I think that plan is not overly ambitious for tourists who are "trying to see as much as possible". IDK what your stamina is but the travel is pretty easy (one exception). You would skip Takayama. It is possible to visit Shirakawago as a day trip from Kanazawa. But those were not on your plan which is fine.

Kamakura is a day trip from Tokyo
Tokyo to Kamakura could be about 76 min each way from Shinjuku with no change of trains, or maybe 95 min with a transfer. From Tokyo Station it is 1 hour.

Tokyo to Kyoto is an easy 2 hr 12 min on the shinkansen.
Kyoto to Hiroshima is easier, 1 hr 36 min on the shinkansen
Hiroshima to Miyajima is about 45 min on a JR local and a ferry
Some fodorites have visited Miyajima and Hiroshima as a day trip from Kyoto. One way is shinkansen to Hiroshima, streetcar to the Peace Park and Museum, and ferry from there to Miyajima. Then ferry, JR local, shinkansen to Kyoto.

Kyoto to Kanazawa is about 2 hours. You take a limited express to Tsuruga and transfer to a shinkansen.

The exception to easy would be Miyajima to Kanazawa. This would take 5 hours. Ferry to JR local to Hiroshima shinkansen and then transfer at Shin Osaka (and Tsuruga). Would be 4 hours maybe less from Hiroshima because fewer transfers.

There is the hassle of getting to a new lodging and checking in/out. This can be minimized by using the brilliant luggage delivery service Takuhaibin (Takkyubin) - Delivery Services. It is an inexpensive and reliable service that I consider to be a very good bargain at today's exchange rate. It is a bit of a luxury, considering I could haul the bags for free, but the service is only in Japan, so I take advantage of it.

If you have two bags, then you can leapfrog them and travel hands free. Or you can send a large bag ahead and travel with a small one.

Kyoto has a same-day luggage delivery service from Kyoto Station to hotels. This allows tourists to do tourists things, hit the ground running. This service is provided because there were too many tourists taking their luggage on the bus to their hotel.

I flew into Narita and sent my large bag to Kanazawa. Went into Tokyo with my small bag and three days later took the shinkansen to Kanazawa. The large bag was there, of course. I spent 3 nights in Kanazawa (my 4th visit there). IIRC, I did some laundry there. I swapped clean for used clothing between the two bags and sent the large bag to Unazuki Onsen. I spent one night in Unazuki at an onsen ryokan hotel and took the scenic train in Kurobe Gorge. Did the clothing swap again and sent the large bag to Nikko. Traveled to Kusatsu Onsen with the small bag for one night and then to Nikko. The large bag got sent from Nikko to my Tokyo hotel.

By large, I mean the largest carry-on size. I don't travel with a bag that has to be checked in.

After writing all that I realized that you probably know about takkyubin. I don't get a commission from Yamato for all that. The service was just not affordable when it was 110 yen/usd or even 125/$

. Ok, then you can spend your first night in Kyoto by flying from NRT to Osaka ITM. Depart at 6:25 PM on JAL or at 5:35 PM on ANA. Economy fares of $66 or $80, repectively. No business class. Both flights are on Boeing 737s.

Those flights are (almost surely) scheduled for passengers connecting from international flights. I bet that if you searched for a trip from your home airport (which one?) to Osaka that one option would be to make that connection at NRT.

I have done it, both ways, and recommend it. It is just a matter of verifying that the two flights use the same terminal. I would probably do it even with a terminal change as long as it could have been scheduled to connect to my international flight

For LAX-NRT-ITM the connection time was not a lot, 2 hours or less, but I got through I&C and had plenty of time waiting at the gate for the flight to ITM.

For ITM-NRT-LAX the connection time was probably 1 hr 30 minutes. IIRC, I got to the line at passport control with 50 minutes to go (until boarding or until departure, IDR). I was sweating it, unnecessarily. No problem.

The cheapest JAL domestic tickets can be cancelled for no charge 55 days in advance for free or maybe 200 yen or $2, so close enough to free.

Am not sure what you mean by that.

Hot springs baths are offered at some traditional ryokans, ryokan hotels, and at a few public baths. The ryokans of both types open their baths to the public during scheduled hours. These are typically communal, but they may also offer private baths.

You can visit during the day or you can stay overnight. Expect a kaiseki dinner and breakfast to be included in the overnight rate. Some offer an option of lodging with no meals or maybe an option with just breakfast. You can also stop at one of those places to have a soak on the way to somewhere else.

You can find that in Kaga as bellinghamsters mentioned. Daytrip or overnight from Kanazawa. Or in Hakone, near Tokyo, for sure. There you can find magnificent views of Fujisan, weather permitting, and see other sights in that national park area. Hakone Travel Guide - What to do in Hakone

There are a couple of other places that I could mention. Hakone would top my list though I have soaked but not stayed at a ryokan in Hakone.

If you are interested in a kaiseki dinner, and you should be, you can find that at some stand-alone restaurants.

Wow - that's a lot of information mrwunrfl. It's going to take a while to digest all this but I like your approach. I did mean hot spring baths when I mention hot spring experience. Thank you.

IME, people differ in what they mean by "trying to see as much as possible." Does that mean catching glimpses, even if it means spending a lot of time in transit? Maximizing the ratio of time spent exploring / experiencing relative to time in transit? As I said, I would find the last proposed itinerary unpleasantly rushed and frustrating, but that's just me. I'm sure kerrylou and her friend will end up with some wonderful memories no matter what they choose.

I will be going to Japan towards the end of October. We are a couple (64 and 72). I have 13 nights in total.
We are doing Tokyo (5 nights - which is 4 full days) > Hiroshima (2 nights) > Kyoto (5 nights) and then returning to Tokyo for final night.
I decided do do Tokyo to Hiroshima for the first leg because going back to Tokyo from Kyoto would be a shorter train trip.
We will be doing day trips rather than moving and staying in different locations.

kja, am not interested in arguing with you. You gave your opinion, and I gave mine which is obviously different. Nothing more needs to be said.

Yes. When you get to it, my last post is asking about the "experience"

I stayed in an APA hotel in central Kanazawa that had a bath on the top floor, including a rotenburo. Am not sure if it is actually hot springs. Same for a ryokan on Miyajima that might have a bath.

You could cut Kanazawa. Two nights is a rush and ok if you have a strong desire to visit Kenrokuen.

The hotel I stayed in while visiting Kanazawa was the APA Hotel Kanazawa Chuo, which has a rooftop onsen described as fed by a hot spring. I found it pleasant, though I, personally, wouldn't describe it as a "hot springs experience." The hotel's recent reviews are generally positive, but not positive enough for me to feel comfortable recommending it.

@ mrwunrfl: It was not my intention to argue with you. Quite in contrast, I was trying to articulate one possible reason why different people might quite reasonably reach different opinions, something I did in the hope that it would prove helpful to the OP.