Itinerary Review for 2 Week Trip to Japan

Hi,

I will be traveling with a friend to Japan in November. We have 14 full days from November 3 through November 16. We're particularly interested in some of the more historical aspects of Japan, so as you can see we have several places in mind that would correspond with that interest. We're also interested in crafting an itinerary that might not leave us too exhausted/constantly changing cities, although any type of travel will entail this to some degree. With these admittedly very limited details offered, I'm wondering if anyone has suggestions on our itinerary below. I think we have a fairly good idea about the cities we want to visit but not necessarily the order/travel logistics/time allocated per city. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thank you in advance!

David

Nov 2: Arrive in Tokyo at night
Nov 3-Nov 8: Tokyo (6 days, including day trips to Nikko and Kamakura; leave night of Nov 8th for Kyoto)
Nov 9-Nov 12: Kyoto (4 days, including day trip to Himeji castle)
Nov 13: Leave Kyoto early to Hiroshima in morning, spend night in Miyajima
Nov 14: Spend part of day in Miyajima, then travel for overnight in Nara
Nov 15: Spend most of day in Nara, travel to Mount Koya for overnight
Nov 16: Spend half day in Mount Koya, overnight in Osaka
Nov 17: Bullet train to Tokyo in morning for early evening flight (6:30 pm)

Do you really need to spend 6 days in Tokyo?

Looks like a pretty good itinerary but I notice you're staying in Tokyo for a while then staying in Kyoto for a while then you're moving from place to place each night after that. I myself find it easier to mix it up so I don't overtire myself.

Thank you for your responses. I agree that I there are a bunch of 1-day overnights towards the end. Any suggestions for how to split that up? Are there any places that maybe we should drop? Mount Koya? How many days would you suggest spending in Tokyo? I was under the impression that 6 days in Tokyo, including 2-3 day trips, was not too long a time to spend there. Thanks!

Kamakura is definately a day trip from Tokyo, but I personally find Nikko a bit far from Tokyo for a day trip (unless you don't mind quite a bit of travel).

Using a city as a base does make life easier, especially moving luggage around.....

Thanks for your advice. Perhaps an overnight there would be a good idea. I heard there are hot springs/onsen there as well.

! - Too many days in Tokyo.
2 - If you use a JR Pass, you ought to stay at least several nights near SHIN-OSAKA station. That is the Shinkansen terminal. From there it's only 14 mins to Kyoto and all the other places are easy to go to from there.
3 - Include Himeji castle on the way to or from Hiroshima/Miyajima.
4 - Study about Koya-san. In my opinion, you can see the same kind of temples in Kyoto and even stay in one overnight. Koya, again in my opinion, is basically a huge cemetery.
5 - For a real slice of history, there are 69 emperor's tombs in Kyoto, most that can be seen by anyone. For details you can e-mail me (click on my name).

Thanks for your advice. I'm very surprised to hear that 6 days in Tokyo and the surrounds is too much. I would have thought that would be just right given the size (isn't it three times the size of New York!). I would appreciate anyone else's thoughts as well. Thanks!

Depending on what you plan to do in Tokyo, 6 days maybe too much or too little.

Personally for my trip, it's too little. The reason is, I was less interested with the tourist attraction and more on the Tokyo neighbourhood. For example, I train hopped on Oedo Metro Line from a neighbourhood to another.

And since I am also in Tokyo to shop, books, fashion, cooking ingredients etc, more time allows me to explore each area with more time.

Really dependent on what you are keen with, if you are only there for the famous tourist attractions then 6 days in Tokyo might be too much for some people. On my first trip, I only went to Nikko, Kawagoe and Enoshima though (3 days day-trip though I wish i would have stayed in Nikko/Kinugawa area..).

Since you asked...

I completely disagree about six days in Tokyo being too much, especially since you are taking some substantial day trips. I personally think it would be an excellent way to start your trip! Tokyo is one of the world's greatest cities, and indeed, there is a LOT to do there. I can never get enough of it myself.

Ultimately, you need to trust your own instincts. For some people, one day in Tokyo is too much, while other people have no trouble spending a week or more there and having the time of their lives. It's very much a matter of your own personal preferences.

For further information I was in Tokyo for more than 1 week last trip, and I still was not able to visit some of the neighbourhood, I did not have time to visit Jiyugaoka for example.

Though, I would suggest you to split Tokyo Trip into 2 if you haven't booked the hotel, 2-3 days as you arrived and 2-3 days before you leave, this is only good if you have some plans for last minute shopping etc.

Thank you very much for your helpful responses. I'm not into "touristy" things per se and love to walk around neighborhoods, shop, etc. so I think I would find plenty of things to do in a week. My inclination now is perhaps to do an overnight at Nikko. I'll skip Mount Koya towards the end of the trip so there's less moving about. Something like this:
Nov 2: Arrive in Tokyo at night
Nov 3-Nov 9: Tokyo (7 days, including day overnight in Nikko)
Nov 9-Nov 11: Kyoto (3 days (4th day on Nov. 15))
Nov 13: Leave Kyoto early to Hiroshima in morning, spend night in Miyajima
Nov 14: Spend part of day in Miyajima, then travel back to Kyoto, including trip to Himeji castle)
Nov 15: Kyoto
Nov 16: Nara day trip
Nov 17: Bullet train to Tokyo in morning for early evening flight from Kyoto (6:30 pm)

Himeji castle is still closed for visits.
http://www.city.himeji.lg.jp/s60/2851146/_21909/siro-weekly-photo.html

If you like neighborhoods, poking around, shopping, and such, you might want to think about staying in Osaka after Hiroshima, especially if you've already spend three nights in Kyoto. Osaka is well-positioned for a Nara day trip, and has some great districts for wandering around. It seems to be almost universally dismissed as a "concrete jungle," but I think that's baloney myself. Kyoto is all well and good, and I do love it, but I think a lot of the people who spend all their time there and don't even bother with Osaka are missing something.

For what it's worth, I also think Osaka is one of the best cities in Japan for hotel bargains. I've had some really enjoyable stays at nice, comfortable hotels with marvelous city views there. (Not at Shin-Osaka, though. I'm talking about Umeda and Namba. Actually, I've been known to go to Osaka JUST to indulge in a nice hotel or two, at a far better price than I could get in Tokyo or Kyoto.)

I completly agree with the proposal of visiting Osaka. This town is one of the best places I've been in Japan during the twenty times... or more, I visited Japan. Some of my experiences here:http://www.soleilrouge.org/osaka-carte-des-lieux-visites

Most of the exterior cover around the main keep is scheduled to be removed by August. You can see the schedule at:
http://www.city.himeji.lg.jp/s60/2851146/_21909/siro-weekly-photo

Thanks again for the advice. We are looking to fit an overnight in an onsen/hot springs town. I'm thinking an overnight in hakone on our last night of the trip would be convenient for then making our way to narita for our night flight. We would appreciate any other suggestions for nice hot springs town near tokyo or kyoto. Thanks!

Besides Hakone (which would be a good choice), Izu Peninsula is another possibility. I once had a lovely stay at a ryokan in Yugawara. It wasn't the kind of place where you would stroll around the town streets outside your ryokan, but the ryokan was nice enough that I wasn't inclined to stroll. The same can be said for any number of places along the rail line between Odawara and Ito (Shimoda is a bit far, and not fully covered by the JR pass). If you are just staying one night and getting to the town around check-in time and checking out by midmorning after breakfast and maybe a last soak in the baths, the atmosphere of the ryokan is at least as important as the atmosphere of the town or the natural setting.

I usually look for ryokans by selecting a wide area that will work for me in terms of transit, and then I try to find the highest-rated property (as in favorable guest reviews) in my price range.

If you have a night flight from Narita, you will have plenty of time to get from Hakone or Izu to the airport, but it's best not to tempt fate by cutting things too close. Sometimes there are accidents or other events that cause train delays of an hour or more, and the farther from the airport you are, the more likely that is (although generally unlikely).

Your trip looks quite balanced (personally, I'd never spend so much time in big cities, but your preferences seem to be different).

One other option would be to reverse your itinerary and use a JR Pass for the first 7 days, ending in Tokyo. One thing that's definitely true about Tokyo is that it's A Very Big Place. As such, it might be a bit overwhelming and might not be the best place to start a trip if you've not been there before. Hiroshima, on the other hand, is a lot more relaxed.

If you found that you were really enjoying more rural Japan, you could always extend your time and cut back on time in Tokyo (a lot of hotels will allow cancellation without penalty if you give 24hrs notice)

Also, if you plan 6 days in Tokyo, you might be thinking about staying in two areas of the city to cut down on intra-city travel. If this was a good idea for you, you could spend 3 days in Tokyo at the beginning of your trip and then 3 days at the end?

You might find it worthwhile to use Hyperdia.com to cost out your train fares and see whether, if you can fit some of the main journeys into a 7-day period, a 7 day JR pass would pay off for you.

Oh, and you could stay in a ryokan on Miyajima if you wanted (if you're planning to go there anyway).

Thank you very much for your suggestions! I think we are particularly looking to stay in hot springs resort areas, so I know Hakone is a good place, although we would be open to other towns as well.