29 nights in Japan

planning to visit Japan for 29 nights from the end of October. will buy a 21 day jr pass.
our plan so far:

4 nights -Tokyo
1 night - Nikko
3 nights - Takayama-Shirakawago-Kanazawa
4-5 nights - Kyoto
1 nght - ? Koya mt
1 night - Naoshima
3 nights - Hiroshima
3 nights - Hakone -Kawaguchiko
???
4 nights - Tokyo

Does the order make sense? we are slow travelers. but still can add and change.
will be gratfull to hear your advice.
Marikaz

Hi just to suggest that after nikko, you may want to return to Tokyo for another two night before you move to Takayama. The journey from Nikko to Takayama is very long ride. Actually you can do a day trip to Nikko too which I did last Dec.
Since you will be in Japan for 29 night wow, you may want to consider few days at Osaka and Fukuoka . Cheers

thank u. will consider doing one day trip to Nikko. Then go from Tokyo to Takayama. It looks also a bit dofficult to spent 1 night Takayama, one in Shirakawago and one in Kanazawa. too much traveling with luggage. Is it possible to stay in one of the places and make day tours to the other?

3 nights in Hiroshima is maybe too much, I'd recommend 2 nights instead.
You may also consider to visit Okayama and Himeji on your way back to Hakone, or spend a night or two in Osaka.

You may want to check out the Nohi Bus webpage that I am posting:

http://www.nouhibus.co.jp/english/index.html

It is possible to take a Nohi bus from Tokyo to Takayama, b ut it takes about a hour longer than using the JR trains. It is also possible to take a bus from Takayama to Kyoto, but again, it is about a hour longer than taking JR trains.

If you are willing to put up with the extra two hours of transport, you could reduce your JR pass to a shorter version, and save some money. You would then activate the JR Pass once you leave Kyoto.

Even if you do not do this, you could stay in Takayama, and use the Nohi bus system to go on day trips to Shirakawa and Kanazawa. There is a tour of Shirakawa with an English speaking guide.

If you look at the bottom of the Nohi bus page, you will also find a cablecar package that looks interesting. That is, if you wanted to spend an additional day in Takayama.

I hope this helps.

hi ebaychucky311
Thank u for your advice. if i do so, i have to go to Nikko and back from Toyo without the jr pass, than from tokyo to Takayama with Niho bus, and than from Takayama (or Kanazawa?) to Kyoto, and only than activate my jrpass.
the difference between 14 day pass and 21 day pass is about 13,000 yen.
Do u know if all the trips i mentiond (Tokyo-Nikko_Tokyo-Takayama-shirakawago-Kanazawa-Kyoto) will cost less than that??
thanks again

hi aerond
you are right 3 days is too much in Hiroshima. i consider 3 nights which means 2 days (including Miagima) and the third day leave early....

With regards to your Takayama-Shirakawago-Kanazawa
Either
1: Use a locker to store your luggage at a stop by point (Kyoto/Nagoya/Takayama) and collect it when returning
2: Use a luggage forwarding service. Any decent Japanese hotel would help you forward your luggage to the next hotel.
If you can do the above, you can make Shirakawago a half or quarter day affair. You can then spend an extra day at Kanazawa.
Or you could still stay the night at Shirakawa and wake up in a village. And take away a day from Kyoto for Kanazawa.


Regardless, at Taka and Shiraka EAT THE SOBA!! No. 1 in Japan

You are spending much time in Tokyo. You might want to count down on that. Maybe take away one or two days at the end of the trip and put it in Osaka/Mount Fuji Five Lakes/Okayama or something

Hi Joshua Hugh
too many days in Tokyo because of the 21 day pass. I have to figure out when to activate the pass, and which journy (near Tokyo) we should do without the pass.
29 days is a bit long, but its a journey we will do once in life, so dont want to rush, but enjoy every day :)

I'd sugest in that case put together your days in Tokyo at the beggining of the trip, and activate the pass when about to leave, then put two days at the end of the trip for more sightseeing and last minute shopping. Don't be afraid to put as many days in Tokyo as needed. You could spend the whole month there and still not having seen everything!

As far as getting to Nikko and back, you should look into the Nikko Passes. I used
the world Heritage pass, which does not seem to be available right now.

The two day Nikko pass allows you to go up one day, stay in an Onsen, and then go back to Tokyo the following day. These use the Tobu private train lines, which are not covered by a JR Pass. When I went, I stayed in Kinugawa. Here is the link showing all of the flavors of Nikko Passes:

http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2358_002.html

This takes care of the Tokyo to Nikko Part.

If you go to the Nohi Bus website that I gave you, you can get information about the Tokyo to Takayama bus, and the Takayama to Kyoto bus, including the price. The costs are 6690 and 4200 yen, which comes to 10890 yen for both. This is less than the 13000 yen, which is the difference between the 14 and 21 JR Pass.

The thing is, you have Koyasan, Naoshima, Hiroshima, and the Hakone area left, and you plan to do those in seven days. You may only need a 7 day pass. In this case, you may be looking at about the difference between a 7 day, and a 21 day pass, which is more like 30,000 yen.

By the way, getting to Koyasan is through a world heritage pass that uses the Nankai private rail system, so that also will not be covered by the Jr Pass.

http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2358_012.html

Getting around Hakone and mount Fuji are is also not covered by the Jr Pass, and you will probably be getting some flavor of Hakone or Fuji Passes. More links:

http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2358_008.html
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2358_014.html
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e6905.html

Some of these passes will get you back to Tokyo, so the Jr pass only needs to get you from Hiroshima to Odawawa, which is the station where the Hakone or Fuji-Hakone passes start.

Your 7 day JR Pass would be effective to do the following:

(1) Last day in Kyoto: Day trip to Nara.
(2) Travel to Osaka: To go to Koyasan.
(3) Travel to Okayama: to go to Naoshima
(4) Travel to Hiroshima
(5) Day trip to Miyajima Island
(6) ???? Open Day ?????
(7) Travel to Odawara: to go to Hakone.

If you do not know what to do with the open day, I would suggest using it to reposition from Koyasan to somewhere near Okayama, and then do Naoshima Island as a day trip. Kurashiki is nearby, and would work:

http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e5750.html

This would make this part of the trip look like this:

(1) Last day in Kyoto: Day trip to Nara.
(2) Travel to Osaka: To go to Koyasan.
(3) Travel to Kurashiki
(4) Day trip to Naoshima
(5) Travel to Hiroshima
(6) Day trip to Miyajima Island
(7) Travel to Odawara: to go to Hakone.

Here is information on travel to Naoshima Island:

http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e5476.html?aFROM=5475_5700

This is just a suggestion. What you may start to understand is that the JR Pass is great for distance travel, if you can clump it together, but local travel is sometimes best by other transportation.

I hope this helps.

Just a note
Since it is the end of October, I recommend doing Kyoto and then the Kanazawa-Takyama at the end of the trip

Japan has beautiful autumn colours in these areas and they would be better coloured the nearer to mid november the days are.

As the person above said, Tokyo is very large, but you don't have to see everything. Since you said this is a once in a life time trip spending about 4 nights in Tokyo is sufficient.
Having 3 days in Hiroshima might be a day too much, but it depends on your pace.

I would like to suggest to spend a night at Izumo for the Izumo shrine festival (random week in Oct-Nov). Beautiful shrine that becomes even more amazing during the festive period. Old town with nothing much but a beautiful lake to the east and a beach to the west. Just a full day to relax from the traveling. Have some snacks at the festival too!

thx ebaychucky311 and Joshua Hugh

waooo... so much information. i have a lot of homework to do.

the Nikko pass is good, but an onsen hotel in Kinugawa is too expensive.there are nice cheap guesthouses in Nikko.

I did not want to pospone the Taka-Kanazawa part because afraid it might get too cold.
will check the hibo bus fare to Takayama area. and check if they have JR service there.

Could not find any dates for the Izumo shrine festival. and the place is out of our way, but a festival is a good reason to consider it.
Thank u. i am sure i will have more questions. its a great help what u r doing!!

I have been to the Izumo shrine, and it is wonderful. I looked into the Izumo shrine Festival, and I believe that Joshua is talking about a matchmaking festival that is called Enmusubi-taisai. It is held on the 15th and 17th of the 10th month of the lunasolar calendar. I believe that the first month of this calendar is the Chinese new year, but I do not know how long each month is.

I can give you a more solid lead on a festival. It is south of Hiroshima near Fukuoka. Here is a link to the Karatsu Kunch, which is on November 2nd-4thi:

http://www.goldenjipangu.com/141102karatsu.html

If you wanted to include this in time that you have the seven day pass, You would drop off and just pay for the trip from Kyoto to Nara, and from Kyoto to Osaka. These two days were just filler to get the most out of your pass. Long distance travel, like going to Fukuoka is where you see the biggest benefit from a JR Pass.

I also think Joshua is correct about shifting Kyoto and Takayama to the end of your trip. The Fall foliage will be better. It is possible to reverse the order that I gave you on the seven day pass, which ends in Kyoto.

At this point, I would like to remind you that this is just advice, and that this is your vacation. You have the final say, but if you still want more help in shaping it to best fit your needs, do so.

I can tell you that I like to visit Miyajima Island close to a full or new moon, to take advantage of the extreme tides, but you do not need to heed my advise. The full moon happens on November 7th, but you do not have to tailor your trip so that you have your day trip to Miyajima on the 7th.

If you are curious about what that is all about, just respond to the thread, But again, this is your vacation.

Hi ebaychucky311
I saw the recomended 21 day tour (20 nights) in this site. They recomend the 21 day jrpass.
their trip is not far from what we are planning. they have in adition one long ride to Nagasaki. but is this the reason to choose between 21 or 7 day pass?

I find myself calculating so much... doesn't the 21 day pass will give me a free mind, free to add or change routes .
maybe in the end i will pay 50-100$ more, but i will gain some freedom.
Am i thinking wrong?

I will change Kyoto and Takayama to the end for the better foliage.
I checked the Karatsu festival. Will consider it.
the advices are helpful, good and challenging. thx for that!!

If you do decide to stay longer in Hiroshima, you could do a day hike at Sandankyo Gorge. It looks beautiful! Here is a website with instructions for a day hike from Hiroshima, nice and slow and returning later afternoon:
http://visithiroshima.net/plan_your_trip/tour_plans/sandankyo.html
The hike is not too strenuous and you have extra time to complete it slower if you don't want to visit the onsen at the end like the guide did.
The website itself is all about Hiroshima travel and has some other good day guides, so maybe you could find something else if a hike is not your thing!

I definitely recommend seeing Kyoto for the autumn colours and rich heritage if you feel like you have too much time in Tokyo. I have a 31-day trip to Japan scheduled for later this year also, and I am staying for nine days in Tokyo - I haven't been before so want to see as much as possible, and four of those days are reserved for Nikko, Kamakura, Hakone and Disney (I am a big child!).

Kyoto foliage
At night do go to Chion-in & Eikando.
This two are the best night spots.

I researched the Izumo festival and the days are Nov20-25.
The Japanese believe that all the gods have an annual meeting at izumo. So all the other shrines in Japan are empty. And heaven too. Izumo becomes the holy place.

Sorry for the late reply, they needed to convert the dates from the old lunar calendar to the gregorian one.

I researched the Izumo festival and the days are Nov20-25.

Fudge, I'll be there on the 22nd (yes, I hadn't researched festivals...), hope it won't be too crowded.

thx Joshua Hugh. We will be already back home on the 20th November, so will miss the festival.