Travel Itinerary August 2013

hello,

me and my best friend are visiting japan in august 2013 for 3 weeks.
it is my third visit (been there with my girlfriend back in july 2010 for 2 weeks, november 2012 for 3 weeks).
our Ltinerary is as follows:

Flight (Saturday 10.08.) Arrival (Day 1-Sunday) Narita Airport
Day 1 (Su, 11.08.) Tokyo
Day 2 (Mo, 12.08.) Tokyo/Kamakura,Enoshima, Yokohama
Day 3 (Tu, 13.08.) Tokyo/
Day 4 (We, 14.08.) Tokyo/Fuji Trip (Start 13.08. evening at 4/5 PM)
Day 5 (Th, 15.08.) Tokyo/Fuji Q/Lakeside
Day 6 (Fr, 16.08.) Tokyo/Hakone
Day 7 (Sa, 17.08.) Tokyo/Ito
Day 8 (Su, 18.08.) Tokyo/Nikko
Day 9 (Mo, 19.08.) Tokyo/
Day 10 (Tu, 20.08.) Tokyo/Ishigaki(Flight from Haneda Airport)
Day 11 (We, 21.08.) Irimote
Day 12 (Th, 22.08.) Taketomi
Day 13 (Fr, 23.08.) Ishigaki Return Flight to Fukuoka/Hakata
Day 14 (Sa, 24.08.) Hakata/Nagasaki
Day 15 (Su, 25.08.) Hakata/Miyazaki
Day 16 (Mo, 26.08.) Hakata/Beppu
Day 17 (Tu, 27.08.) Hakata/ Kyoto (3 hours with train)
Day 18 (We, 28.08.) Kyoto/Koyasan
Day 19 (Th, 29.08.) Kyoto/Tottori
Day 20 (Fr, 30.08.) Kyoto/Osaka
Day 21 (Sa, 31.08.) Kyoto/Tojinbo
Flight (Sunday 01.09.) Return Kansai Airport KIX

is it a good plan? should we consider anything?
is august heat comparable with july heat? i have experienced july heat already and it was hot and humidity was very high, but i can endure it.
only my dark shirts were kind of white from salt.^^

iam from germany.

thanks
snkfreak

I recommend to combine Fuji, Hakone and Ito into a side trip rather than returning to Tokyo every day. They are all in the same area, and it will save you are lot of time not to return to Tokyo everyday.

The exactly same problem I see with your Kyushu days. Many of these destinations are far away from Hakata, especially Miyazaki. You would be spending hours on the train everyday if you were to alsway return to Hakata.

Also, Tottori is very far away from Kyoto. I recommend to visit it along your way from Hakata to Kyoto rather than in a side trip from Kyoto.

And Koyasan, in my opinion, is best enjoyed in an overnight trip rather than a daytrip.

is august heat comparable with july heat?

August heat is comparable with late July heat, but not with early July heat.

only my dark shirts were kind of white from salt.^^

That is one reason why I use white shirts.

thanks a lot uji.

i think i will consider your opinions.
hope that we are not too lazy after climbing down from mt. fuji and then visit hakone afterwards.

we have not so many time in miyazaki i know. but we only want to see aoshima and udo shrine. nothing else.
i will check trains for tottori on our returning day to kyoto. but only the sand dunes and museum are interesting for us. maybe that works for a side trip?

when does it get dark in summer so we can enjoy koyasan late evening? i think thats a good time.

we stayed from mid july to end of july back in 2010. i guess iam prepared then.

I will second the advice to not try to go too far from a hotel. Hakata-Miyazaki is about 4 hours either way; so you'll be spending 8-9 hours in a train if you try to do Miyazaki as a day trip from Hakata. Sure you then have 4-5 hours in Miyazaki, but you have to leave very early and return very late, and do that every day.

A few more concerns: when you are you going to visit Kyoto itself? On day 17? There is lots to see there so you can easily fill a day. On the other hand Osaka is not terribly interesting by comparison, you can easily do it in half a day in my opinion. Also I don't see Nara in the schedule. Visiting Nara is highly recommended.

it is my third trip to japan and i have already been to nara, nikko, yakushima, kyoto, matsushima, hiroshima, miyajima, iwakuni, akyoshido, yamadera, matsushima.

i will show my best friend some temples in kyoto for sure (ginkakuji, kinkakuji, kyomizu). :)

nara not again, to many shool classes with lots of questions.^^

day trip to miyazaki should be fine with us. besides tottori that is our longest daytrip. other ones arent that long...

is weather generally bad on mt fuji in august?
i think we climb the mt. on august 13th and start in the afternoon from shinjuku around 3-4 pm.

do you suggest taking a highway bus to kawaguchiko 5th station or should we take the train from shinjuku and then on the last km the bus to there?

dont know if the busses are crowded...

For climbing Fuji it's good to have some flexibility in case of bad weather on that day...