Is my itinerary doable?

Hello, I was hoping anyone can let me know if my travel itinerary is doable. I'm not sure if I'm fitting too many side trips. My husband and I would really like to be outdoorsy and see beautiful landscapes and we're very into eating and enjoying local cuisines. So this is what I came up with:

Fri, 11/14 - late afternoon arrive in tokyo
11/15 - Tokyo
11/16 - Tokyo - may take a day trip to Nikko?
11/17 - head to Kiso valley to walk the Old Nakasendo stay the night
11/18 - Kyoto
11/19 - Kyoto (day trip out to Nara or osaka or possibly both)
11/20 - Kyoto
11/21 - head to Hakone stay the night
11/22 - leave for Tokyo
Sun, 11/23 - Tokyo in the morning leave for Japan in evening

If we go to Nikko, is it possible to visit okunikko AND see the temples in central Nikko as a day trip? We were hoping to do a nice hike in Okunikko to see a waterfall or a beautiful view but not sure if it's feasible.

Do you also have any advice on when I should start using my JR pass since I'll only be purchasing the 7 day pass and will be in Japan for longer?

We're were also told November is a great time to visit because of the fall weather and foliage. Does anyone have advice to on where to go to take advantage of seeing this?

I'm also very open to any eating suggestions. We LOVE food and would like to try all the great spots that are the most authentic and cultural. We're even willing to change our travel plans for a great culinary experience.

Also, based on my itinerary, which is the best city to have a great ryokan experience? We'd like to splurge on this but can't figure out the best place to do stay!

Lastly, how troublesome is it to be traveling so much with luggage? We plan to just do a carry on but it seems it could be difficult to pull around these smaller cities.

thanks so much!
Angim

16-22 would be the best days for the pass if you go to Nikko on the 16th.

Hi there.

I went to Tokyo in November and it was absolutely perfect. Only one evening of rain the whole trip and all the leaves were beautiful.

I think your itinerary is really good. If you activate your JR pass on 11/16 you will get the most use out of it.

You can definitely see the temples and a watefall in Nikko in one day but you will have to take note of when the last buses/trains are. Otherwis there are also waterfalls nearer to Nikko itself.

As for seeing the foliage you should be fine to see that everywher in Nikko and Kyoto.

If you can manage it, definitely try to go to the Tsukiji marketin Tokyo early in the morning and have a fres sushi breakfast before heading off for the day.

As for luggage it depends on what storage is avaialable at your hotels and what transport you are going to use. But you should be okay in the palces you are going.

Any other questions please ask.

For Nikko, you probably won't be enjoying a lot with day trip (I went there on day trip and realized I missed a lot of places, though I plan to go back there one day and stay at Kinugawa Onsen, which is near Nikko)

With your itinerary, you could probably start using your JR pass on your Nikko trip, since it will be exactly 7 days on your trip back to Tokyo, however, JR is not necessarily the best method to travel to Nikko.

My food advice is, avoid the busy areas and tourists attractions areas restaurant. When I am in Japan, i normally venture outside these busy area into the alleys for restaurant. My reasoning is,
1. I prefer food that has not been modified to suit foreigner taste
2. If a restaurant exists in non-busy alley, there must be a reason why they are still there despite the competition from tourist/busy area restaurants.
The downside of this is, they normally do not have English menu or Picture menu, so you will be required to be able to read Japanese Menu....

There are couple Ryokan area but main questions would be, what is your budget per person, what is your requirement for the room/onsen/bath etc. The better food you pick for your ryokan the more expensive it gets.

Luggage, how big is your luggage? When I was traveling last trip I drag a small luggage with me and never had any issue. If you have big luggage, you could probably leave it in your Tokyo hotel (since you are returning to Tokyo again) if your Tokyo hotel is the same.

Medium to small luggage can also be stored in Locker if needed.

Thank you for your quick replies!

Maybe Nikko isn't the best option if it's difficult to get there by train and we won't see much as a day trip? What's the best way to get there?

Is Hakone worth it to visit? I've heard its beautiful but its very touristy and would like to avoid crazy crowds or anything too non-authentic.

As for a ryokan, we're willing to really splurge for a great experience. We want it to be beautiful and with the best food. We're considering a ryokan with an onsen which is why we are considering staying in Hakone but I'm wondering if we can do this in Nikko instead?

Any suggestions would be great!

Thanks!
Angim

For some, Tobu-Nikko might be a better choice to reach Nikko however it is not covered by JR Pass. With JR pass, you could take train to Utsunomiya and change for Nikko train, be aware of this train, I believe it is 1 train per hour, and if you miss it you have to wait for 1hour (Utsunomiya is gyoza town, so you could probably spend some time there if you have more time allocated on Nikko)

Staying at Nikko or Kinugawa Onsen might be a better way to enjoy that area. For Hakone, a night stay is also more preferable as compared to day trip.

I realized that you are traveling in November, most Ryokan will have their winter menu by then. Few weeks back, someone in forum asked about a Ryokan in Kanazawa that serves Crab cuisine, but i remember the price is around 80000 Yen for 2 person. So for ryokan, budget is still the main issue. There are more expensive ones in Kyoto too if you prefer ...

Not really part of your itinerary, but http://www.bouyourou.co.jp/contents/reserve/plan_stayw.html

If you scroll down, best room and rates per person is 70000 Yen, so Ryokan has no limit on price ^^;

There are couples onsen area around Kyoto, assuming Arashiyama, here are few ryokan in that area.

http://www.togetsutei.co.jp/ (We stayed here last time)
http://www.hotespa.net/hotels/kadensho/
http://www.hanaikada.co.jp/
http://www.benkei.biz/

There is also Arima Onsen at Kobe area.

your interests seem similar to ours. I don't know that I would stay away from the tourist areas to eat (sorry poster above!@) because sometimes it is quite difficult to order outside of the tourist areas, the menus are often not in English and don't have pictures etc. Also I don't really like Hakone so much for walking - it is way too steep. I liked Nikko.

Personally, if I had a week this is how I would spend it :
1.

oops, got ahead of myself!
1. Tokyo Station Hotel - great food, stay for breakfast which is awesome! Expensive, but worth the experience;
2. Karuizawa - stay Tsuruya Ryokan - awesome food, great location 1 hour out of Tokyo, hiking trail next to the ryokan. They have English menus for the Kaiseki meals, and an onsen. Probably the best "catering I've seen to westerners in a ryokan;
3. Kamikoichi (if you can get there - it is a bit of a production from Karuizawa via Matsumoto). We stayed at the Onsen hotel, brilliant natural food, good outdoor onsen. Lots of hiking and trails, nicer early and late without all of the tourists;
4. Kyoto - we like to stay at the Hyatt, but you are spoiled for choice there. Hotel Brighton is pretty special if you want to splurge;
5. Nara - lots of walking. We stay at Nara Hotel, in the old section. Go to the website and you'll see why. it's like stepping back in time. The European food is great there, the Japanese there isn't so much to my taste. But there are heaps of Japanese restaurants in town, about 5 minutes away. Stay for breakfast, you'll feel like royalty

6. consider Enoshima. The island has heaps to offer, much more than the web page suggests. We stayed at Iwamotoro Honkan - excellent food, awesome historic baths. Views of Mr Fuji in the early morning. Not much English though.

Most the time those alleyway restaurants are good, but as mentioned too high chance they will not have English or Picture menu.... so yea...

And Enohisma is great place, one of the places that I visited that I actually enjoy most the time.

I went to Hakone in not so good weather, i.e. I couldn't even see Fujisan that day, even if it was THAT close. And even then, it was really crowded on the round trip, especially for the tour boats.

With what few time you have, I would skip Hakone unless you know for sure that there will be beautiful weather that day.

Thanks everyone for your recommendations! I wish I have two more weeks to fit all this in... :( I'll keep you posted on my final itinerary! I'm still figuring out and digesting all your great details/advice!

Angim