Kamikochi (or around) 2 days

Hi!

Currently in the early stages of planning a 3-week Japan trip in October, and we look to fill in as much nature as possible, while still take enough time for Tokyo/Kyoto.

My research tells me that Kamikochi is a must, even though it is rather expensive and not-too-easy to access. We look to avoid the worst weekend crowds, and arrive on a Sunday, stay the night, and leave for Takayama late Monday.

My big question is: How should we spend our time?

My initial plan was to take the "short" roundtrip to the pond on the Sunday, and then early rise Monday for a Yake Dake round trip. But different options keep popping up, so I would like some advice for how to get the most out of our time there!

And if you have any accommodation gems, please bring them on as well!

Thank you!

We stayed at the Onsen Hotel which is awesome, with great onsens and brilliant staff and food. We took a river view room which is good for monkey spotting. From there you can essentially head in 2 directions. One back toward the entrance where you can walk through scrub and marsh then get to a big pond with the dead trees in it (great cafe overlooking that). In the other direction is the bus terminal (with a good restaurant) and on from that the kappa bridge and a few more ponds.

There are swarms of chinese tourists arriving by bus so if you are expecting peace and tranquility, think again. But later in the day and early morning are very nice, and good for walks as long as you keep your eye out for monkey crap. Ultimately if you are going to stay two nights, I'd get there later in the day because there isnt a huge aount of things to see and do unless you are doing proper hiking into the mountains - one full day would pull it up.

We stayed the first night at the Taishoike Hotel and the second night at the Tokusawa Lodge (which I believe has been renovated), certainly worth hiking way past Myojin-bashi bridge.
One thing I missed myself is a visit to the Bokuden-no-yu cave bath at Nakanoyu onsen which is located just before the entrance of the bus-only tunnel entrance to Kamikochi at the Nakanoyu bus stop.

http://monochrome.me.uk/news/kamikochi-a-photographers-dream/