Is my itinerary doable or is it busy?

Hello everyone,
I know that there must be 1000 of these questions but I hope you can give me some feedback and advise.
I'm going to Japan from 1 October til 30 October. Booked my ticket last weekend :) and at this point I think I have a rough idea of my route trough Japan. I'll be using a JRpass for 21 days.
The main thing I would like to know is if what I have planed now is doable or if it is smarter to scratch a few of the places and stay longer at the remaining places? Maybe less exhausting?

01 - Amsterdam --- Narata
02 - Narita --- Tokyo
03 - Tokyo --- Nagano
04 - Nagano --- (Toyama) --- Takayama
05 - Takayama
06 - Takayama --- (Shirakawa) --- Kanazawa
07 - Kanazawa --- Kyoto
08 - Kyoto
09 - Kyoto
10 - Kyoto --- Nara --- Kyoto
11 - Kyoto --- Koyasan
12 - Koyasan --- Miyajima
13 - Miyajima --- Hiroshima --- Kumamoto
14 - Kumamoto
15 - Kumamoto --- Kagoshima
16 - Kagoshima --- Yukashima
17 - Yukashima
18 - Yukashima --- Miyazaki
19 - Miyazaki --- Beppu
20 - Beppu --- Okayama
21 - Okayama --- Kyoto
22 - Kyoto --- Kurama (Festival) --- Kyoto
23 - Kyoto --- Tokyo
24 - Tokyo
25 - Tokyo
26 - Tokyo (Day Trip to Nikko)
27 - Tokyo
28 - Tokyo
29 - Tokyo
30 - Tokyo --- Narita --- Amsterdam

When you say Kumamoto, do you include Mt Aso? Or some of the beaches near Kumamoto? Does nothing much in Kumamoto city to warrant that number of days.

So you might want to cut down on a day and spend the extra day in Kagoshima. You could explore Sakurajima, Satsuma Peninsular, and Kirishima.

Or you could add the day to Yakushima. There are private tours if you are not intending to hire a car. There are also hidden waterfalls and rivers that the locals can bring you to. Book guides early. (I personally was greatly disappointed by Yakushima, I had great expectations based on photos. Thought I would find something extra but the nice parts are all already photoed in this guide. Nothing new.)

I would cut a day from Takayama and add it to Kanazawa. Takyama has nice ryokans, old atmostphere and a morning market. All can be visited in a night and a morning.

Is there a reason why you are visiting Kyoto twice? On the way from Tokyo and on the way back? I would visit Kyoto just the once in late October as that is Autumn color season.

If you are visiting Kyoto first, why not start your trip in Kysuhu? Sleeping on the Shinkansen is a great way to recover from Jetlag. I returned home from Amsterdam recently and my country is one hour closer to Netherlands time and I am still having bad nights. (Oreo icecream was the best I ever had btw)

Hi Dennis,

Greetings to a fellow Dutch person.

You do indeed have a busy trip, but an interesting one. I can make a few suggestions based on my experience and I am sure others will chime in.

I see that you are planning to be in Kyoto at the beginning half of your trip and are returning towards the end of the trip for the Fire Festival in Kurama(I too will be attending this festival in October).

I have been traveling to Japan regularly for the last decade and I usually start my trip in Tokyo and end in Kyoto. I always take the train from Kyoto to Narita to catch my return flight (which usually leaves Tokyo in the evening as I live in San Francisco). Since you are already planning on being in Kyoto on the 22nd and 23rd, you might consider switching your Tokyo schedule to the beginning portion your trip and ending in Kyoto. Depending on the time of your return flight, it is quite easy to get the train from Kyoto to Narita. If you have an earlier flight, then perhaps you can spend your last night in Tokyo.

Also, contrary to the advice given in the initial response, you will not see any autumn foliage in Kyoto proper until November (typically anywhere from the second week of November to the first week of December, but it varies).

Your schedule for Nagano and Gifu looks fine. I would not cut a day out of Takayama as you are planning on making the trip to Shirakawa. I have not been to Kumamoto or Kagoshima, so I will leave it for someone else to answer.

That said, I am so envious that you are going to Yakushima!!! I have only ever heard amazing things about it . Wanted to go on my upcoming trip; however, all of the accommodation is sold out!

As for the Kyushu and Oreo ice cream suggestion provided in the initial reply, I have no idea what he is on about!!

Finally, you mentioned that you just booked your plane ticket. Have you booked your accommodation yet? If not, do it as soon as possible. I booked a few months ago and places were already filling up (e.g. Yakushima).

Hope this helps :)

May I ask why you're going to Nagano, but skipping Matsumoto?
Instead of going to Toyama you should go to Matsumoto.
Toyama Castle is boring compared to Matsumoto Castle.

So, you don't really want to spend any time in Hiroshima?
As it looks right now you will only have a few hours there.
Have you been there before? Or are you not interested in Hiroshima?

It's YAkushima not YUkashima. ;)

Your time in Okayama and Beppu might also be a bit too short. You don't need several days, but a full day would be more pleasant to explore everything.

So, maybe you want to spend 1-2 days less in Tokyo and instead add those days to the things I've mentioned above? ^^

No one goes to Toyama for the castle. I'd presume they were interested in seeing autumn colors along the Alpine Route or the Kurobe Gorge, no?

Doable? Sure...
Those first 4 days seem a bit busy though.
Also, I would reshuffle destinations a bit after checking a matsuri calendar.
For example, 9-10 october (I think) there's the Takayama matsuri, which is one of the most popular in Japan.

I'd probably go a bit less south too. Either spend less time in Kumamoto and more time in Kagoshima/Nagasaki, or skip Kyushu and spend more time in Chukoko, Tohoku, maybe even Hokkaido (Sapporo/Hakodate). You'll probably see more fall colours in the North.

I don't know what everyone's going on about, saying you've planned too much time in Kumamoto.

As far as I can see, you'll arrive there really late one night (coming from Hiroshima), and will only spend a single day there before moving on.

Kumamoto is a lovely place and you can spend a good day there (the castle, the local crafts museum, the garden a little outside the city centre, and the contemporary art museum which is right in the middle of the shopping area - really only worth 20 minutes, but DO go and see the James Turrell and Marina Abramovich pieces in the library, and the Yayoi Kusama room under the stairs to the upper floor).

The rest of your trip looks busy to me, but of course it's do-able. If it were me, maybe I'd save a day by just going straight from Narita to Nagano at the beginning of your trip, rather than passing through Tokyo for 1 night. I'd probably also save one or two additional days by reducing the time in Tokyo at the end of your trip and I'd fill that space with a stop-off in somewhere like Okayama (see the garden, stay in Kurashiki, perhaps?), or I'd expand the Kyushu portion of your trip and go to Kurokawa (which is a wonderful onsen town with baths set alongside a river, and a complete contrast to the concrete and bright lights of Beppu).

Hi Everyone, Thanks for all the comments! This is really helping me a lot! I've made some changes to the itinerary last night but don't have it at hand since I'm at work now. I will post it later today and might make some additional changes based on the feedback I've received so far.

Something that might be good to know is that I'm not planning on renting any cars during my stay in japan. And the reason for staying this long in Tokyo and surroundings is because of my 21 days rail pass. I'm considering buying an extra 7 day pass.

After reading some of the comments I get the feeling that it might actually be nicer to have a rail pas for 30 days so I don't have to cram every thing in those 21 days.

@Joshua: Reason for staying at Kumamoto was indeed because of Mt Aso. Arriving in Kumamoto in the evening, Spend the next day in Kumamoto with a trip to Mt Aso. Leave Kumamoto the next day.

@Ohara: When I almost finished this itinerary I found out the festival in Kurama on the 22. So since I had to get back to Tokyo anyway because of my rail pass I thought why not make a stop at Kyoto so I can visit the festival from there. Maybe I'll see you there!

Also I haven't booked any of the accommodation yet but did check if there are things available last night.. It is getting a bit scares at some of the places. I'll give my self till this Friday to figure out the exact itinerary and want to start booking accommodations this weekend. Might have to change a few things because of available accommodations. (Was kind of an impulsive idea going to Japan this October)

Did check availability on Yakushima for 16-18 oct. and there are still places to stay if I have to believe bookings.com! (Nothing fancy though)

@zoomingjapan: I might actually consider going straight to Takayama from Tokyo and skip Nagano all together. Reason for going to Nagano was to see the Jigokudani monkey park. Maybe I can add the extra day at some were else.

I am interested in Hiroshima and changed some things so I have a bit more time there. (will post new itinerary later)

ps. Sorry for the typo ;-)

@Winter Visitor: Reason for staying in Tokyo the first day was because I thought I might need a day just to relax a bit after the flight before starting the whole travel routine. But You might be right about skipping Tokyo completely in the beginning!

If I decide to take any extra rail pass for the last 7 days I'll won't be spending this much time in Tokyo

Again thanks for all the comments!

It's going to sound tedious (but actually it will only take you about half an hour), but I'm going to suggest that you use Hyperdia and log the cost of your big train journeys.

If you put them on a spreadsheet, alongside the date of travel, and then you can see whether 21 days (or even 28 days) of JR Pass is worth it for you.

In some circumstances (the Kyushu leg of your trip, as a possible example, or the time you're spending in Kyoto), it makes more economic sense to use JR Passes for part of your trip and then just buy regular tickets for the rest of your trip. If you're not doing a lot of long distance travel on consecutive days (or you're travelling long distance but not using shinkansen), then the value for money of a rail pass can dwindle.

Putting the dates and costs on a spreadsheet will easily let you do subtotals for various 7/14/21 day periods so you'll quickly see what length of pass works best for you and which days are best to start and stop the passes on.

I've just come back from a trip (mainly) to Kyushu and one thing I'd say is that you might well want to consider NOT going to Aso from Kumamoto. It's not an enormous distance in terms of miles, but nearly the whole journey is on small roads with predominantly 50km/h speed limits, so it takes a while to get there (I'm assuming you'll plan to take a bus tour day trip, since you say you're not going to hire a car).

I'd consider going to Aso after Beppu (i.e. Beppu to Aso region to Kumamoto, where you're back on the shinkansen line and can be in central Honshu within half a day). Mt Aso itself has an exclusion zone around it (I'm pretty sure this is still in place) after a recent eruption, so you can't go up to the caldera. There are train lines (and a road) that circle the mountain and give you good views, but actually these places are pretty close to Beppu and so if you're going to Beppu in any case I'd not try to go to Aso from Kumamoto.

Kumamoto itself is a really nice town and you can easily spend a day there. There's a fair bit more to do in Kumamoto than in Kagoshima imho (unless you're very lucky and have clear skies in Kagoshima and can spend a long time looking at the volcano).

Re getting over jetlag, I know we're all different, but we've found on several trips (flying out of the UK - departing at around 8pm and arriving mid-afternoon in Tokyo, iirc) that we're already so tired on arrival (I can never get to sleep on flights) that it makes no difference pushing on for another couple of hours and getting to our first destination

The last time we did this, we went through to Kyoto directly after arriving - and we were travelling with a 3 yr old at the time. It was fine. Another time when it was just me and my wife, we got straight onto a night train to Matsue, which was also fine. I find it much easier to recover from jetlag in a city of less than 30m people. Tokyo is many fantastic things, but restful isn't really one of them.

Alright! So I changed quite a lot on my itinerary. Removed some things and added a few new ones. Tried to take some of the advices that were given here. So again thanks everyone!
Stil need to check a few thing.. For example I might move the Kyoto part of my trip to the end of my itinerary so I can visit the festival in Kurama on the 22 of October.

Apart from that I think I'm quite happy with the itinerary til the Yakushima part of it. After that I'm not a 100% sure yet.

Anyways here is my new itinerary :) what do you guys think?

01. Amsterdam �\ Narita
02. Narita �\ Matsumoto (+/- 4hrs)
See castle, Probably tired from flight so have some diner and off to bed
03. Matsumoto �\ Yamanouchi (+/- 3hrs) �\ Takayama (+/- 5hrs)
Leave for Yamanaouchi early to visit the Jigokudani monkey park and maybe see surroundings if I got some time left. Leave for Takayama in afternoon!
04. Takayama
Take a day to explore Takayama
05. Takayama �\ (Shirakawago) �\ Kanazawa (+/-??hrs)
Leave in the morning by bus to visit Shirakawago. Take some time wander around there before leaving towards Kanazawa. (try to arrive in Kanazawa late in afternoon/early in the evening
06. Kanazawa
Take a day to see kanazawa
07. Kanazawa �\ Kyoto (+/-2.5hrs)
spend the morning seeing some more of kanazawa.
Leave for Kyoto when ready spend the rest of the day in Kyoto
08. Kyoto
Take a day to explore Kyoto
09. Kyoto
Take a day to explore Kyoto some more
10. Kyoto
Take a day to explore Kyoto even more ;-)
11. Kyoto �\ Nara (+/- 1hr)
Leave for Nara in the morning and spend the day there
12. Nara �\ Koyasan (+/- 3hrs)
Leave Nara in the morning for Koyasan and spend the rest of the day at Koyasan
13. Koyasan �\ Osaka (+/-2 hrs)
Leave Koyasan around noon for Osaka. Spend the afternoon/evening seeing a bit of Osaka
14. Osaka �\ Hiroshima (+/-2hrs) �\ Miyajima (+/-45 minutes by train/ferry)
Leave Osaka early in the morning for Hiroshima, Spend the day in Hiroshima and leave for Miyajima late in the Afternoon.
15. Miyajima �\ Fukuoka (+/-2hrs)
Spend some more time seeing Miyajima, take the ropeway and if possible a short hike at the top before leaving for Fukuoka. (try some food at the the food stalls)
16. Fukuoka �\ Beppu (+/-2.5hrs)
Leave Fukuoka in the morning for Beppu.. Take some time to see the hells and maybe go to an onsen. (not really sure if an onsen is my thing but figured you�fve got to try it at least once and Beppu might be the place for it!
17. Beppu
Just to reduce the fast pace a bit take an extra day in Beppu. Saw some things I can do there apart from the obvious onsen visits on tripadvisor if I feel like it
18. Beppu �\ Nobeoka (2.5hrs) �\ Takachiho (1.5hrs by bus)
Leave Beppu when ready to drive to Takachiho by bus hopefully arriving in the afternoon. If possible visit the Takachiho Gorge that same day
19. Takachiho �\ Kumamoto (2hrs by bus)
explore Takachiho some more and get the afternoon bus towards Kumamoto
20. Kumamoto �\ Kagoshima (1.5hrs)
Spend some time exploring Kumamoto before leaving for Kagoshima
21. Kagoshima �\ Yakushima (+/- 2 hrs by ferry)
Do some exploring in Kagoshima before taking the ferry towards Yakushima
22. Yakushima
Take a day to explore Yakushima, take one of the shorter hiking trails
23. Yakushima �\ Himeji (+/- 4hrs)
Time to leave kyushu! Leave yakushima and head towards Himeji.
24. Himeji - Kobe
Explore Himeji some more and head towards Kobe to visit Flatark bmx contest and meetup with some friends?
25. Kobe �\ Tokyo
Explore Tokyo
26. Tokyo 
Explore Tokyo some more
27. Tokyo �\ Nikko �\ Tokyo
Day trip To Nikko
28. Tokyo
More Tokyo
29. Tokyo
Prepare to head back the next morning
30. Tokyo �\ Narita �\ Amsterdam

Just to say.

Himeji is not that big. Plus, after spending so much time on the train you probably would have the energy to explore it in totality on the day you arrive. Even better, why not night out at Kobe?

You can do a longer hike on 22nd and the short hike on 23rd. 21st it is best to arrive in Yakushima late. Do note that restaurants are practically impossible to find. (Not literally)

Do book your ferry tickets online. Jetfoil. Tours can also be booked online.

From what I hear, Yufuin is a nicer place as compared to Beppu for just chilling. Small shops, old streets, local sweets. Beppu has more in terms of attractions. XXX districts and the hells.

Nice to see appropriate amount of days for Osaka, Koyasan, Kyoto, Kanazawa, and Takayama.

I recommend a bicycle to sightsee Hiroshima, Osaka, and Kyoto. Just a few hours to see the city as the locals do instead of taking the tube and appearing magically at the other end of the city.

@Ohara: I had the oreo ice cream at Njijmegen. Really the best cookies and cream ice cream.

As to Kyoto having autumn colors in November, it is truly true. But i am betting that there may be a chance of it coming a little earlier this year. Why not too, unless doing Kyoto near the beginning of the trip has a substantial cost difference.

Thanks again for your feedback and tips Joshua! found them really helpful. Also I like the idea of renting a bike at some of the places!

As for the autumn colours.. It would be nice if I can see a little bit of those. But if not it's not that big of a deal since everything is going to be impressive anyway ;-)

Think the above itinerary is almost final. Wil check out if Yufuin is a better stop than Beppu.. First impression from what I found on the internet were pretty good!

Will check out that Oreo ice cream next time I'm in Nijmegen ;-)

Ah. I forgot to mention why you can do a short hike on the 23rd.
Most of the guided tours began at 5am or 6am. Depending on the month, that may or may not be before dawn.

You would probably finish the walking tour in 3 hours, 3.5 hours, or 5 hours depending on the chosen short tour. Meaning you can catch any ferry out that is after 12pm. Note that Yakushima has two ferry terminals.

You can bring forward or delay your departure time as long as seats are available and you do it in advanced. I remembered I reserved a later ferry departure and finding I completed the walking tour even with the hindrance of rain and snow. I called them up. The number can be found on the ticket/pamphlet given on the Kagoshima-Yakushima ride.

I had to take a taxi though as the bus would be cutting it close with 5 minutes. But I gave myself an hour plus more in Kagoshima. Plus, after all the walking trails resting on a ferry is time efficient. As opposed to resting at the B&B.

The longer tours are 9 to 11 hours.

If you're into onsen (and if you're going to Kyushu, you really should at least try a few), then I'd consider taking a couple of days in the Yufuin/Beppu/Kurukawa area and visiting them all.

Beppu - it's like a (tacky, but amusing) seaside town. Predominantly ugly architecture (faceless concrete ryokan), brash, neon, fun (including "adult" fun in some areas of town, but it's not as if it really spills out into the streets so it won't bother you). There are the "hells", which are interesting, but I'd rather poke myself in the behind with a sharp stick than stay the night there.

Yufuin - more scenic, more relaxed, more genteel. No "hells", but there's a nice mixed bathing place on the little pond and it can be nice to hire a bike and toddle around. There are nice ryokan here, but they tend to the upscale end of the market and if you're going upscale I'd definitely just visit Yufuin in the daytime and stay the night in.....

Kurokawa - which has a range of ryokans (mostly traditional buildings - or at least newer buildings which are made to look traditional), some of which have exquisite bathing (e.g. onsens alongside fast running streams, with the feeling that you're in the middle of nowhere). A day in Kurokawa, using their onsen pass and visiting a few of the different baths (many of which can be done on foot for a pleasant day's gentle walking) is something that I think most people would remember for a very long time - and would be a complete antidote to the time you're going to spend in busy cities.

I know you say you don't plan on hiring a car, but this area is possibly somewhere where a 24 or 36 hr car hire could really help. The three places above are quite close in terms of miles but can take a bit of time and planning (and getting your connections right) in order to visit them all by public transport.

Might consider the car rental. Depends a bit on the rail pass I have at my disposal at the time.

Little bit of topic maybe but in your experience is traveling by public transportation in Japan difficult? I get the feeling that it's not going to be to much of a problem but maybe I am underestimating it?

Hi Dennis

I think (as a Brit) that public transport in Japan is great, and I love the rail pass deeply. However, if you're going off the beaten track a bit, then sometimes the public transport connections are few and sometimes far between.

All the way down the east side of Kyushu, the train lines are fantastic. However, if you're planning to get into the middle of the island, and want to visit two or three places in a day, a car is well worthwhile (especially given that typical rates for a small car are completely reasonable).

When we were in Kysuhu this March/April, we used a JR pass for most of the journeys, but we used a car twice:
- once for a 2 day period to go from Kumamoto to Aso/Kurukawa, where having a car allowed us to pick our own routes, stop off at random scenic places en route (that we would never have known were there until we happened upon them), and;
- once for 12 hrs when we were in Kagoshima and wanted to see the sights around Chiran and that peninsula (which is accessible by public transport, but connections are more tricky and would eat up much more time, as well as not allowing us to linger at places we found we liked).

On previous trips, we've often used a one or two day car hire in conjunction with a JR Pass when we want to head into the quieter regions (e.g. when we went up to Echigo Yuzawa to see the art sites up there, which are scattered around a wide area, or when we were in Hokkaido).

My first place to look for car hire is ToCoo (there's a link on the car hire page of the main japan guide website). You pay a small premium, but for that they provide an English language booking system, and they work with all the main car hire groups (Toyota, Mazda, etc).

Hope that helps.