Two weeks: itinerary ok or changes to make?

Hi everybody,
I'm going to move my first time to Japan with my girlfried this November. I studied Japan-guide and many other blogs/sites, but I kindly need your help to confirm the goodness of our itineray:

Day 1 - arrival in Tokyo
Day 2 - full day and night in Tokyo
Day 3 - full day and night in Tokyo
Day 4 - full day and night in Tokyo
Day 5 - full day and night in Tokyo??
Day 6 - Izu Peninsula?? Where exactly?
Day 7 - full day and night in Kyoto
Day 8 - full day and night in Kyoto
Day 9 - day in Miyama
Day 10 - day in Nara
Day 11 - full day and night in Mount Koya, night in temple
Day 12 - full day and night in Ise Shima
Day 13 - full day and night in Osaka?
Day 14 - full day and night in Osaka?
Day 15 - departure from Tokyo

My biggest questions are:
1) day 5, should we spend the day in Tokyo, in Kamakura or is better to leave this day from Tokyo instead of day 6 and spend this +1 day for another place that is not in my itinerary?
2) day 6, we like to have an "onsen break" at the half of the trip and I read that Izu Peninsula is beatiful and on the way of our itinerary, even if there are not high-speed trains there. Which town/towns of Ize can you recommend me to relax? Or maybe there are better place than Ize?
3) day 9-10-12 sleep respectively in Miyama/Nara/Ise or in Kyoto? I know Kyoto is more confortable and have more "possibilities", but maybe is better to experience better this three towns (or even one of them) sleeping there?
4) day 13-14 is better to go in Osaka or in some other alternative place?

My fear is to have choosen too many "similar" places (in the sense of "make and see similar things")... or this is an intinerary various enough?

Thank you in advance and sorry for any possible stupid question :)

Hmm depending on what you are trying to do in Tokyo, you might want to leave a day or two at the end of your trip. Eg. If shopping is one of the reason to visit Tokyo, a day or two at the end of trip would save a lot hassle.

Izu peninsula when I was researching it, probably would be better if you can allocate 2 days there but I might be wrong, I did briefly see a counter on Izu peninsula trip at Shinjyuku station.

Again depending on your interest, Kyoto might have more to offer than Osaka, or vice versa.

Kyoto has more temples and traditional stuffs there while Osaka offers more modern touch of Japan and they have Universal Studio+Aquarium for example.

My biggest questions are:
1) You can combine Kamakura trip with Enoshima, I do recommend a trip to Enoshima, it is one of the places we enjoyed.

2) I've looked into Izu before, my impression is, it is about the same as Hakone where 2 days MIN would be more worthwhile. If your budget allows, you could always stop by at Arashiyama Kyoto for your Onsen/Ryokan experience. Or Maybe a night a Kinugawa Onsen combine with a trip with Nikko?

3) If you plan to spend in a night in various town, would be a better idea to plan your trip so that you do not waste to much time on train traveling back and forth the places.Eg. Ise is on the East side but after that you have plan to stay in Osaka which is on the west...

4) Personal/Biased experience is, I love Kyoto while I have never considered Osaka for any more of my further itinerary trip after the first visit. Where and when is your departure from Japan? Is it Osaka or Tokyo?

Thank you for your answer!

I'll both arrive and leave Japan through Tokyo, but the reasons of my trip are not shopping ones, even if I will visit some stores and shopping streets.

I want to try to know (a little bit obviusly) japanese daily life in cities and towns, eat&drink everything, see shrines/temples/castles but even to have a bit of night life (if possible with japanese people and not in touristic areas).
Definitely, I want to make/see different things without exaggerating doing the same during all my trip (for ex. I'm booking a sake lesson-taste in Kyoto, kabuki theatre in Tokyo, a night in temple in Mount Koya, etc). I want to see either traditional and modern Japan (for this I choose both Kyoto and Osaka) preferring a bit more the traditional part.

The days I will spend in Tokyo must be the firsts of my trip, because I want to see Hokusai exhibition (that ends on 9th november) and Tori-no-ichi (that is 10th november this year if I'm not going wrong).

Regarding Ize Peninsula I've read that it needs even more days than two to be visit, but I don't know if is better to cut something else and have two days for Ize... what can I cut? :(

1) I'll remember myself Enoshima as one-day-excursion from Tokyo for the next trip :)

2) I exclude Kinugawa and Nikko only because I want to concentrate in the area between Tokyo and Kansai, going in Tohoku (and other regions such as Alps and Kyushu) in future trips.
Arashiyama ryokan-onsen are so much expensive?

3) Yeah, I have to plan in which sequence visit towns/cities of Kansai... now I'm trying to understand if these are ok or if I have to change something.
You recommend me to spend the nights in Miyama/Nara/Ise or only to spend day visiting them and always come back to sleep in Kyoto?

4) Can I ask why you exclude Osaka after the first trip?

2) Arashiyama ryokan-onsen are so much expensive? - There are reasonable ones, there are also very expensive ones.

3) I would recommend you to stay mobile after your Kyoto stay if you already have plan for a night in other town. Definitely a stay at Miyama or Shima Peninsula i feel, since Kyoto - Shima is 2hours journey, a round trip would be 4hours wasted on train... I have never been to Shima area or research on it, is it even possible for a day trip?

4) Hmm, probably personal taste issue, and couple bad experiences in that town haha..


Both of my trips to Japan were designed to avoid tourist areas so I did a lot of detours when traveling to a certain area, for example the mountain trail to the supposed site of Takayama castle (for the whole time I see no one there) or the trail at Gero Onsen near the Jomon Site etc etc.

You interchange the usage of Izu and Ize (Ise) , which are you referring to actually? They are different. Izu is in Kanto, Ise is in Kansai. Though both probably require more than a day, and preferable a rental car to explore properly.I would probably say just cut it from this trip, depending when are you going to Japan.

If you are keen for less tourist experience, you can make it a habit to explore outside these "famous/known" area. You will be surprised to find new stuffs now and then, or at least I do, and it is part of exploration fun i guess...

My personal preference recommendation for places you might be interested with:

Castles-
Hikone - One of the 12 original castles remaining, Biwa lake area, pretty close to Kyoto.
Himeji - The famous castle also the 12 original, but it is under renovation till 2015 i believe.
Inuyama - Another one of 12, it is near Nagoya.

Nightlife area-
Pontocho - restaurants and such
Gion - Explore the alleys
Shijo-Kawaramachi - the alleys..
Kabukicho - I don't really like the place, only went there for Unagi restaurant
Shinjuku areas
Roppongi areas (didn't explore)

Shrines - (i'm not fond of shrines visit so i would only recommend the ones that I like or remember)
Kinkakuji - I went both times
Daitokuji - There are a few beautiful zen garden inside the temples (there are more temple inside Daitokuji)
Fushimi Inari - Go at night
Yashaka Shrine - Go at night

Try to visit some of the less known neighbourhood in Tokyo if you are keen with knowing about Japanese lifestyle etc (I prefer using Metro Subway when doing train hop around different neighbourhood).

Do be aware these are a matter of personal taste and preference :p

Regarding No2,
If you will go to Izu peninsular,
famous hot-spring spot are Atami, Ito, Syuzenjji.
By the way, Hakone is nearer place than Izu peninsular from Tokyo.
Will you purchase JR pass?
Atami can be accessed with JR pass without additinal cost.

Please refer the below for your itinerary.
http://www.atamispa.com/atami_ex/english/
http://itospa.com/�iJP only�j
http://www.shuzenji.info/english/
http://www.hakonenavi.jp/english/

I've did Enoshima and Kamakura in one day before. Since it's November you are talking about, daylight may be shorter, so I do recommend not staying too long at Enoshima alone, which I did. Be in time to ride this certain railway that goes along the coastline, the sunset is awesome.

Personal opinion, but I wouldn't go back to Osaka after my first trip either. If you are wondering where to go in Osaka, I would personally recommend the Kaiyukan Aquarium in Osakako. Even if you aren't a fan of fishes, the aquarium is spectacular. Be in time for their penguin feeding times!

If you find yourself wanting to try out Nikko without dedicating more than one day, you can try for the day-trips operated by Hato bus.

Kyoto wise, I can't speak for myself, since I'm going there for the first time this coming December, but relatives have advised me to simply stay in Kyoto itself while I make day trips out to Nara.

Izu Peninsula... I'm headed there this coming trip too, but I would think that the number of days you spend there depends on what you do. If it's just to experience the hot springs and the coastal routes, two days might suffice. I myself am only staying for one night due to insufficient time, though.

I do recommend the last day to be a free-and-easy day, where you can do your last minute shoppings and stuff. Since your last day is in Osaka, do not forget that you need to travel back to Tokyo for your flight. Depending on whether you use the JR Pass and your flight time, you might find it better to stay in Tokyo for your last night.

Hi everybody,

I read your answers and thought about in these days. You and a friend of mine have persuaded me not to go in Osaka (maybe I'll go there for a night in a future trip).
Talking with my girlfriend, we now presume that maybe the best thing to do is to use two of our days in Izu Peninsula, to have a break between days in a big city (Tokyo) and days in another big city (Kyoto).
Then, as Pumpkin recommends, is better to spend last night in Tokyo, to be well prepared the day after for departure.

This is the new itinerary we have meditated: it should be good balanced between cities-towns-temples-nature-nightlife?

Day 0 - Departure from Italy
Day 1 - arrival in Tokyo in the afternoon
Day 2 - full day and night in Tokyo
Day 3 - full day and night in Tokyo
Day 4 - full day and night in Tokyo
Day 5 - day in Kamakura/Tokyo (we can decide the day before), night in Tokyo
Day 6 - Atami (visit at MOA), Ito (??), Jogasaki Coast, night in Shimoda
Day 7 - Irozaki and night in Seven Waterfalls
Day 8 - full day and night in Kyoto
Day 9 - full day and night in Kyoto
Day 10 - day in Nara, night in Kyoto
Day 11 - full day and night in Miyama
Day 12 - full day and night in Mount Koya (night in temple)
Day 13 - full day Ise Shima. Night there or we have time to leave again and maybe sleep somewhere like (for example) Hikone?
Day 14 - night in Tokyo
Day 15 - departure from Tokyo in the morning

What do you think about?

Looks good, but still you should at least have a half a day in Osaka, every individual has their own preferences, there is always a chance that you might like Osaka. Do visit it at least if you have time.

Hikone is nearer to Kyoto than Ise, and from Ise, Hikone is to the West while Tokyo is to the East. However since Hikone is just 1 stop away from Maibara where you could hop onto Shinkansen to Tokyo, it's probably doable too.

Perfect!
Another question, please: someone says me "too similar to do in the same trip"... what do you think about doing one day in Kamakura and one day in Nara (considering even two days in Kyoto, one in Mount Koya and one Ise, but these are not erasable in my desires)?
Maybe one between Kamakura and Nara are erasable or there's no reason to risk to get boared?

If you don't do both what would you be doing instead?
I personally don't mind skipping Nara
But if there's nothing else in Kyoto that interests you...
Or you could spend some time in Osaka
Nara is really just a town with really large temples, open fields and free roaming deer. If that ain't your thing , you should spend some time in wakayama after ise

I don't believe there is really places that are feels similar. As Joshua has mentioned, Nara is about big temple and deer pretty much (though I like the place) while Kamakura is just about more big temples and buddha statue.

The similarity is temples, there are so many temples in Japan that it is mind boggling, before I went to Japan, I knew I was not fan of shrines/temples visit. And I am right, after the first 4-5 temples, I start removing temples from my trips (though there are some that are really good like Daitokuji, but I remember more of its zen garden rather than the temple itself..)

Best advice I could give is, have alternatives/back up attraction spots that you are interested with, in case something comes up along the trip you could switch to plan B. eg. bad weather, landslide on train line (happens on my last trip where I have plan to visit Kiso Valley but there was a landslide at one part of the JR line there.. so I switch to my Plan B and went to Gero)

I thought about what you said and other things, so I made some changes.
In particular we can rent a car in Atami and make a more comfortable trip of Izu Peninsula. Two days after leave the car in Atami and take shinkasen to Osaka, visiting Hikone during the day.
Changed the order of the stops to lose less time in train transfers.
What you think about?


Day 0 - Departure from Italy
Day 1 - arrival in Tokyo in the afternoon
Day 2 - full day and night in Tokyo
Day 3 - full day and night in Tokyo
Day 4 - full day and night in Tokyo
Day 5 - day in Kamakura/Tokyo (we can decide the day before), night in Tokyo
Day 6 - rent a car in Atami, east coast of Izu Peninsula (Shimoda, Kawazu) night in Seven Waterfalls
Day 7 - Irozaki, west coast of Izu Peninsula, night where?!?!
Day 8 - left car in Atami, take train. Stop&visit Hikone, night in Osaka
Day 9 - full day and night in Mount Koya (night in temple)
Day 10 - full day and night in Kyoto
Day 11 - full day and night in Kyoto
Day 12 - full day and night in Miyama
Day 13 - full day and night in Ise Shima
Day 14 - night in Tokyo
Day 15 - departure from Tokyo in the morning

Looks good except is there any reason you do not want to do Miyama after Koyasan?

I am not sure about Miyama but seems like it will be extra time required (longer distance?) from Miyama to Ise Shima.

The problem is that Miyama and Ise needs to lose much time to be reached, cause they are not far from Kyoto and Osaka, but badly linked with them.
So this is my reasoning: I have to choose if lose much time in one of this travel Koya-Miyama or Miyama-Ise Shima. I choose the second because even if I will arrive late in Ise Shima there are not many problems, cause I can use even some hours of the day after (in the morning) to finish the visit of Ise Shima before the departure to Tokyo.

The journey to Kamakura can be an adventure in itself. Take the Yokosuka line to Ōfuna. Switch to the Shonan (suspended) Monorail. The monorail ends at Shōnan-Enoshima. A short walk and you are at Enoshima Station on the single-track, privately run Enoshima Electric Railway. This runs on tracks down the middle of the road and really close to back gardens. Go to Hase station. A short walk up the hill and you will reach the giant Buddha (Daibutsu). For 20 yen, you can go inside it. Back down to the station and take the train along the coast to Enoden Kamakura station, next to JR Kamakura station. It's a 20 minute walk down to the beach. You can go through this on the web/streetview first for your connections, but it's hard to get lost and there are lots of signs. [Originally sourced from 'Japan by Rail']