1 month itinerary

Hi everyone! After weeks of research I've put together an itinerary for my first trip to Japan! I would be very grateful if you could look it over, give me some tips and answer the question at the bottom :)

21.-27. July: Okinawa
27.-31. July: Tokyo (incl. day trip (or overnight?) to Nikko
1. August: to Matsumoto
2. August: to Takayama (overnight)
3. August: Takayama
4. August: to Kanazawa (overnight)
5. August: Kanazawa
6. August: to Fukui/Eiheiji (?????)
7. August: ???
8. August: to Kyoto (overnight)
9. August: Kyoto
10. August: to Himeji (in the afternoon)
11. August: Himeji Castle in the morning to Takamatsu/Kotohira(overnight)
12. August: Takamatsu Obon Dance Festival & Ogijima Island
13. August: to Kyoto
14.-16. August: Kyoto, with day trip to Nara
17. August: to Nagoya (????)(Tsumago/Magome, where to stay?)
18. August: to Climb mount Fuji on Fujinomiya Route. Overnight climbing (leaving at around 8 pm, arrive for sunrise)
19. August: Fuji-san descent to Kamakura/Yokohama (where to stay?)
20. August: Kamakura/Yokohama
21. August: to Tokyo in the afternoon
22. August: Tokyo
23. August: Flight at 2:00 AM

I have highlighted the parts I am not sure about. I don't want to rush things, so I will concentrate on central Japan. I don't think I have to see Osaka, as it is just another big city.

I am on a relatively tight budget and will stay in hostels or even couchsurf for a couple of nights.

Questions:
Transportation: Seishun 18 Kippu Pass, Kansai Pass & Nikko 2 day pass
- I was thinking of buying one or two Seishun 18 Kippu pass(es). Are there any trips that will be difficult with the trains the pass covers so that it would be better to go by bus/coach? F.e. up north region around Matsumoto/Kamakura etc. Do you think it would be good then to buy a 5 day bus pass instead of two 18 Kippu passes?
- For days 10-14. August I will buy a Wide Kansai Area pass to cover Himeji, Takamatsu and Nara. That should be more economic than single rides, right? Is there a different route I can take back to Kyoto, other than Okayama? How long does it take from Takamatsu to Kyoto?
- As you can see, after Kanazawa before Himeji I have a couple of days free. Any ideas? Is Fukui worth seeing? I could also skip those two days Kyoto and go to Himeji on a different route if you have any suggestions. I was thinking Koya-san or Ise but they are far away...
- Is Kamakura or Yokohama a better place to stay overnight? Does it make sense to visit those on the way back to Tokyo from Fujinomiya or should I plan a daytrip instead?

Thank you so much in advance!

18 Aug is a full moon, the most ideal night for the most tough overnight climbing. It is on the Obon week, so you should be reminded of the huge crowds on that night, even on less popular Fujinomiya route.

With such difficulties and the uncertainty in the weather condition, it would be better to avoid to do that on the way from Nagoya to Yokohama. Try to make a chuck of days near Mt Fuji, maybe in Tokyo, and select the best day for that. In that sense, consider other possibilities to get back from Okinawa to somewhere in the west of Tokyo.

We usually have the most stable weather just after Tsuyuake, the end of the rainy season. Such good weather would last as long as ten days or so. Later on, a chance of typhoon hits would increase. From that point of view, the best day could be around 1 Aug. Avoiding the weekend and the overnight climbing as well, using one day after Okinawa while you are in Tokyo could also be a good choice.

Osaka is not another large city. Osaka do have its own culture, making a good contrast to Tokyo. If I dare to say, Tokyo belongs to Anglo-Saxon, while Osaka is a Latin.

18 Kippu costs about 2400 yen per day, but it only allows local trains. You could not get on an express train. Japan bus pass is mainly for city to city transfers. I believe you have to look into local carriers more. Tobu's Nikko 2 day pass is such a kind.

Fukui Eiheiji is famous, but could be another temple. Tojinbo and Dinosaur Museum would be more unique to Fukui.

Nagoya is the third largest city in Japan, having ten million. However, its character could be categorized as a middle between Osaka and Tokyo. Tsumago, Magome and nearby other Kiso valley towns should have some ryokans. Kamakura and Yokohama are close to Tokyo. You could stay there, but they could be done on backup days for Mt Fuji.

I'm going to give you some low cost passes to consider for your trip. You could get the Seishun 18 Kippo pass for a supplement.

Here we go:

For Nikko, look into one of the Tobu Nikko Passes. There are several flavors of these passes, and some have park entry fees bundled in with the pass:

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

You could take local trains on the Seishun 19 Kippo pass to get you to Matsumoto, and then take the Nohi bus to Takayama. I have gone to the Hyperdia site, and plugged in Shinjuku to Matsumoto, and I disabled Airplanes, Shinkansen, Private trains, and Limited Express trains, to give you an idea of what using a Seishun 19 Kippo pass is like. It takes 4 1/2 to 5 hours.

http://www.hyperdia.com/en/cgi/en/search.html?dep_node=SHINJUKU(JR)&ar...

I wanted you to know the tradeoff of time -vs- money.

Instead of taking a train to Mastumoto, there is a direct bus to Takayama from Shinjuku. The bus is a hour longer than the Shinkansen/Limited Express train route, and will be a lot faster than riding many local trains. The bus is run by the Nohi bus line, which also has busses from Takayama to Matsumoto, and Kanazawa through Shirakawa-go. https://www.nouhibus.co.jp/english/

For getting to Kanazawa, and Kyoto, there is a very good bus/train pass called the Takayama-Hokuriku Area Pass:

http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2361_takayama_hokuriku.html

You may want to use the last day of this pass, if you have one, to go to Osaka, and then pay the rest of the way to Himeji. This could save some money.

Since you will be in Kyoto on the 7th, you might want to go to the Tanabata Festival. Here is a link:

http://www.deepkyoto.com/kyoto-tanabata-festival/

At the end of your time in Kyoto, you might get the Wide version of the Kintetsu rail pass. Use it to do a day trip to Nara. On the following day, you will use it to go to Namba in Osaka, and use one of the airport ticket from the Kansai Pass to get to KIX.

http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2357_006.html

From there, take a train to Wakayama to catch the ferry to get to Takamatsu:

http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2355_01.html

Your return trip is Ferry to Wakayama, train or bus to the airport,
a another airport ticket to get to Namba, and then a Kansai limited express train to Nagoya. If you would rather do hiking around the Kumano Region, you could also look into the Ise-Kumano-Wakayama Area Tourist Pass:

http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2361_ise_kumano.html

A link to the Kumano Hiking trails:

http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e4950.html

This pass will also get you to Nagoya. So I would use it instead of the Kintetsu pass.

I really suggest that you use Hyperdia to figure out the cost of different train legs using local trains, and not the Shinkansen and Limited express. This is a serious amount of time that your will be using.

I hope this helps.

Oops... It's still the Seishun 18 Kippo pass. I didn't have much time to re-read my post, so you are going to find it littered with typos.

To get from Nagoya to Tokyo is still a several hour journey. I wanted you to understand this. Just for timing information, the JR Hikari Shinkansen take about 2 hours, and the slower Kodama Shinkansen takes almost 3 hours. Here is the Hyperdia link for Nagoya to Tokyo:

http://www.hyperdia.com/en/cgi/en/search.html?dep_node=NAGOYA&arv_node...

The total travel time is 5 to almost 6 hours. There is a discount Kodama ticket that you can get that will cost 9300 yen (look at the "Busy" dates tab). This is one train ride -verses- jumping from train to train five times with your luggage. It might be worth it to you.

If you still plan to hike along the Kiso Valley, it will not be so bad. You will get partially there getting to the valley, and so it will not be a 6 hour train ride, but two smaller ones. This will also cost you two days on the Seishun 18 Kippo pass, so it will cost 4740 yen for the two days. The discount Kodama ticket is still more, but it does save your time.

Finally, I forgot to mention that if you want an inexpensive Hot Springs Onsen experience, try going to one of the Kinogawa, which is near Nikko. Most of the Tobu Nikko passes usually cover trains to Kinogawa, and the onsen will also have a dinner and breakfast included with the stay. I also know that there are some without a meal plan for less than 7,000 yen/night for two people.

If you do decide to do the Kumano Pass, I would recommend staying in Nachi-Katsuura. It is close to Nachi Falls and the busses that will take you to the interior of the Kumano trails. Here is a link to the Tanabe Tourism website, which has trail information:

http://www.tb-kumano.jp/en/kumano-kodo/maps/

This has difficulty ratings, as well as elevation change information.

Once again, I hope this helps.

7 days Okinawa, why? 3, maybe 4 would be enough.

If it was me, I'd put the Okinawa days in the middle of the itinerary to give you a relaxing portion of you trip in the middle of it all.

Go nuts walking and sightseeing for 10 days. Relax at Okinawa for 3-7 days. Again go nuts walking and sightseeing for 10 days.

One thing I'd also do is to clump you hotel stays together more. No good doing Kyoto twice on 2 different hotel stays. That is lugging luggage around for no reason.

Yokohama/Kamakura are do close to Tokyo. So no need for separate stay in Yokohama/Kamakura.

Also Himeji is so close to Kyoto, so no need for a separate stay in Himeji.

Sorry, I'd also like to point out the rail passes you have proposed to use equal 33,000 yen. That is only 13,000 yen short of a 14 day nationwide rail pass. 18yo x2, Kansai and Nikko passes.

And I have not included any other buses or one off short train journeys you will take that will add onto the 33,000.

If you delete one Okinawa night from your itinerary, you'll have made the savings to buy a 46,460 14 day JR rail pass. The convenience of faster trains will make you trip a lot better for sightseeing.

But I'm sure there are other ways to find 13,000 yen savings in your itinerary also.

First of all, thank you so much for taking your time. I'll definitely consider all your tips and make an excel list to compare different travel prices etc.. I will let you know what option I came up with :)

@Luisjp: Yes, I was actually worried about the crowds because of Obon week. Maybe I'll indeed try to fit in Fuji-climbing after Okinawa while I'm in Tokyo. Fujinomiya route would still be better to avoid, crowds, right? I'll have to look into the travel distances and such. I do want to climb overnight, as I want to save money on an overnight stay on fuji-san, and I wish to see the sunrise.
I will consider visiting Osaka, then.

@ebaychucky311: Thanks for such a lengthy reply! The Takayama-Hokuriku pass looks pretty decent, I'll look into it. As far as I could see, there is no direct ferry from Wakayama to Takamatsu, just one from Kobe. I thought the Kansai Wide-area pass was a good deal as it allows to board the shinkansen to Himeji/Okayama from where I can get easily to Takayama, as well as Kyoto/Osaka/Nara. But I'll compare and see :)
And yes, I originally thought if I travel only short distances each day, I don't mind the slower rides. It is also more scenic than a shinkansen, where everything just flies by.

By the way, I would love to see Tanabata festivities, but they're held 7th of July, right? I'll be in Kyoto 7th of August :(

@hakata14:
I can see why Okinawa seems like a long time. However, I will be visiting two friends of mine ther, who're workin at a hostel in Naha. We just want to spend a relaxing week together :) Reason why I am doing it in the beginning is that I am entering Japan via Seoul-Okinawa. So I didnt have to book a round trip from Tokyo.
I wanted to stay in Himeji because people have said himeji castle is super crowded. I wanted to get a head-start by getting there early directly from the hostel to avoid long queues. I also prefer staying in a variety of hostels and places to discover different neighborhoods and such :)
I think you misunderstood, if I take another 18yo pass, it would be instead of the wide kansai pass, so the total would be 26,370 yen as opposed to 46,460 yen, which is a huge difference. 20,000 or even 13,000 are a lot of money to me. In okinawa I am staying in a hostel that costs 1,200 yen per night... Anyway, thank you for your input, I don't think a Japan Pass will be very worth it, but I'll look into local passes that also allow me to travel with Shinkansen or limited express trains, like the Kansai Wide Area pass.
And yes, I might change the two Kyoto stays...

Thanks again :)

Hard to give good advice when super specific details like those are left out of the first post/question.

Sound like you have it already planned well. And also sounds like you have friend/family there also, so you know what you are doing and not going in blind.

If you do want the overnight climbing, let's wish a clear full moon night on the 18th Aug. Without an enough light until the sunrise, you could get very tired of watching your path carefully all the way to the summit and such tiredness could also get you quite sleepy soon. Moonlight could be blocked by clouds, the mountain, or you, depending on the actual status of the trail and your position. If you go with a powerful headlight or something, any night might be OK.

So far, one of the crowd calendar on the web predicts Aug 18th would be not so bad compared to the other days (no red nor yellow there).
http://www.camp-outdoor.com/tozan/fujisan/time.shtml#b

Fujinomiya Trail is the second crowded one and then the facilities would be the second grade. Yoshida Trail is the most crowded one, but it would be better to a beginner with its less steepness and the first grade facilities. Gotemba Trail is the least crowded.
If you really want to do with your own pace, this could be your choice.
http://www.fujisan-climb.jp/en/trails/index.html

Kyo no Tanabata, "Schedule of events Saturday. August 6 to Friday. August 12. 2016.", seems to be held on the old (or Eastern) July 7th.
http://www.kyoto-tanabata.jp/en/horikawa/
http://www.kyoto-tanabata.jp/en/kamogawa/

To Hakata14: My intention was to give several passes and other transportation options (such as the ferry) that may have been overlooked. I also think the bus systems are overlooked a bit. When I first went to Japan, I bought the JR Pass, thinking that I was now covered to go everywhere. What I found is that the pass is great for getting from city to city, but local passes seem to better at attractions. In Kyoto, for instance, with the exception of going to Nara and the Inari Shrine, my JR Pass just sat in my room, while I used the bus system to get to attractions. The same thing happened in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, where I got a day trolley passes. If someone is thinking of traveling on the Seishu 18 Kippo pass, some of the other passes, such as the Kintetsu Wide area Pass, which cost 5860 yen for five days, is worth looking into, since the Kippo pass cost is 2370 yen/day.

Some of the passes, such as the Takayama and the Kumano passes, include bus transportation. When I stayed in Natchi-Katsurra, and wanted to go to Hongu-Taisha (a shrine on the Kumano Trails) the cost for the bus each way was 1800 yen, for a total of 3600 yen/day. This is not covered by the JR Pass, and if I was going to spend 2 days hiking along some of the Kumano trails, this pass becomes a bargain, because it not only gets me trains transportation, but the bus transportation as well.

If I wanted to go from Takayama to Kanazawa, and I wanted to see Shirakawa-go, there is no JR train, but only busses. The bus part of this journey is 3390 yen. The JR pass does not cover this expense. Once again, the bundled pass, which includes trains and busses, is a very good value.

My intention was to highlight possible passes that be useful.

To: Anna708: Oh... O.K. My bad. I didn't check your cities well enough. You are correct, the ferry from Kobe goes to Takamatsu. The ferry from Wakayama goes to Tokushima. Tokushima is where the Awa Odori Dance festival takes place.

http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e7802.html

This festival is a little more well known than Takashima. The other dance festival on Shikoku Island is in Kochi a few days earlier.

http://www.yosakoi.com/en/

I just read the itinerary and mistook Takamatsu for Tokushima. There are busses that go to Takamatsu from Osaka. That should be an even lower cost.

Once, again, good luck in your planning.

About Tanabata... It's weird...

Tanabata is celebrated on the 7th day of the 7th month, which seems like July 7th, right?

Some places do celebrate it on July 7th. I went two years ago to Japan during the summer, and went to Hirastuka on the 7th of July. Hiratsuka is near Tokyo.

http://www.mustlovejapan.com/subject/hiratsuka_tanabata/

Well... Many places celebrate the Tanabata Festival using the Lunar Calendar, and the 7th day of the 7th month falls sometime in August. Sendai and Kyoto both celebrate Tanabata in August. I have already given you the Kyoto link. Here is the Sendai Link:

http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e5158.html

Using the Lunar calendar can be weird. It's like asking what day does Easter fall on. I thought Easter is the First Sunday after the first full spring moon. I think the first full moon of spring happened on the Easter this year, so I am now not sure how the date for Easter is calculated. Tanabata is a celestial event, so I understand that the Lunar Calendar is used. But, if you are going by the Lunar Calendar, Tanabata will jump around, just like the Chinese New year, when compared to the Gregorian Calendar. From what I've seen, it is celebrated in many places, including Kyoto, on August 7th.

Kinda sorta makes sense.... Maybe?

Anyway, Enjoy Tanabata in Kyoto....

To Hakata14: My intention was to give several passes and other transportation options (such as the ferry) that may have been overlooked. I also think the bus systems are overlooked a bit. When I first went to Japan, I bought the JR Pass, thinking that I was now covered to go everywhere. What I found is that the pass is great for getting from city to city, but local passes seem to better at attractions. In Kyoto, for instance, with the exception of going to Nara and the Inari Shrine, my JR Pass just sat in my room, while I used the bus system to get to attractions. The same thing happened in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, where I got a day trolley passes.
Pretty much a similar experience to others. There are many here that suggest JR passes aren't for every occasion. Myself included.

Like I said, your first post/question wasn't very detailed and made you sound like a rookie traveler. Which sometimes overpriced national passes work better for as there is not much thinking needed to be done. Since then you have detailed better your experiences which means other advice and passes can be suggested.