12 day trip to Japan for Hanami 2013

Hi there,

I'm planning to have a 12 day trip to Japan for HANAMI since I love sakura so so much. I've been to Japan several times before but didn't have much time to go around. So that next year I want to make a trip to Japan to enjoy sakura. My itinerary is as follows:

Day 1: arrive Narita then go to Tokyo Skytree, Sumida river, Asakusa, Shinjuku-gyouen, Yoyogi kouen

Day 2:Chidori-gafuchi, Inokashira kouen, Koishikawa korakuen, Meguro river

Day 3: Go to Takayama and stay there 1 night

Day 4: Go to Shirakawa-go then go to Kanazawa and stay there

Day 5: go around Kanazawa (Kenrokuen, Kanazawa castle...), stay 1 night at Kanazawa

Day 6: go to Kyoto (enjoy sakura at Tetstugaku no michi, Gion)

Day 7: go to Arashiyama and enjoy 1 day here

Day 8: go around Kyoto (Kiyomizu-dera, Okazaki, Niijo castle)

Day 9: go to Nara and enjoy 1 day then go to Yoshinoyama in the late afternoon, stay there 1 night

Day 10: enjoy sakura at Yoshinoyama then go to Osaka in the late afternoon, stay at Osaka

Day 11: Enjoy sakura at Osaka (Osaka castle, parks...)then go back Tokyo in the late afternoon

Day 12: go to Tsukiji in the morning then catch the afternoon flight to go back home

I have some questions:

1/ Should I buy 7 days or 14 days JR Pass?
2/ Please suggest more nice places to view sakura if you know

Thanks a lot in advance for your help (^-^)

1/ Should I buy 7 days or 14 days JR Pass?

No.

2/ Please suggest more nice places to view sakura if you know

It depends on your exact dates but if you look at the timings here you can see that Kanazawa is after Kyoto
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2011_when.html

So I would change the way you do the loop and go Tokyo - Osaka/Kyoto - Kanazawa - Shirakawago - Takayama - Tokyo.

I'd use the bus from Takayama to Tokyo. You have to use the bus for Kanazawa - Shirakawago - Takayama. If you want to save some money it may be cheaper to fly from Tokyo to Osaka (or overnight bus) instead of the Shinkansen.

I'd search through the previous Sakura blogs for ideas on places to see.
http://www.japan-guide.com/blog/sakura12/
http://www.japan-guide.com/blog/sakura11/
http://www.japan-guide.com/blog/sakura10/
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2011_where.html

Enjoy your trip!

Hi GC3,

Thanks so much for your useful advice. I�fm planning to go Japan from 4th ~ 15th April, hoping to see sakura in full bloom.

In that case I'd definitely put the Kyoto - Kanazawa - Shirakawago - Takayama - Tokyo loop at the very end after you have spent time in Kyoto.

Hi GC3,

Many thanks for your help again :)
Do you mean that I should go straight to Kyoto right after I arrive Narita. Tokyo wil be the last in my list?

I read that sakura in bloom at the same time in Kyoto and Tokyo. Is it right?

Do you mean that I should go straight to Kyoto right after I arrive Narita.

No.

Tokyo wil be the last in my list?

No, first.

I read that sakura in bloom at the same time in Kyoto and Tokyo. Is it right?

No, usually Kyoto is a few days later as per my first link above.

Of course, cherry blossom timing can move by a week or two and is impossible to predict this far away so it will be a bit of a gamble.

The average date for the Full Bloom
Tokyo - 4/3
Kyoto - 4/5
Nagano (Matsumoto City) - 4/15

The 2012 Season
Tokyo - 4/6
Kyoto - 4/9
Nagano (Matsumoto City) - 4/20

Wouldn't that be better if you come one week earlier to make sure you catch the best of Hanami? It's better to see half-bloom than half-gone.

Thanks Jomonstrider for your information

I�fve been to Tokyo from 31st Mar~6th April this year but saw only tsubomi (buds) until the last 2 days. That�fs why this time, I want to plan my trip carefully in order to view sakura mankai.

But maybe it depends on my luck, like gamble :)

It's all good as long as you know that catching Mankai is like a gamble :)

If you are lookng for places in Osaka with easy access, Castle (1,250 trees), Sakura-no-Miya Park (4,700 trees) and Banpaku Memorial Park (5,500 trees) should be spectacularin early April.

I hope you would experience the Sakura Fubuki (Blizzard)!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKZCklxdG-c

But maybe it depends on my luck, like gamble :)

The other option which is possibly more expensive and might mean you can't stay in Kyoto itself is to leave your itinerary and hotel bookings open until you get really close to Sakura season or even until you are actually in Japan and just book a day ahead each time. If Kyoto gets packed out you can always day trip in from places nearby including Osaka, Otsu, Hikone, Kobe, or even further away like Nagoya, Himeji which both have pretty efficient and quick access to Kyoto with a JR Pass.

Obviously this is a bit risky and in all likelihood getting a room in Kyoto may be impossible but it is one option if Sakura hunting is your highest priority!

We had a plan last year during koyo but due to the delay in timings we completely rearranged our trip and reversed the order in many places so we were only booking hotels a day or two in advance which worked out perfectly. For some people this would be too stressful but for us we felt we got the most of the colours especially in Shikoku and Kyoto.

Here's a good example of our planned dates in Kyoto, note Kiyomizudera
http://www.japan-guide.com/blog/koyo11/111120_kyoto.html

And what it looked like once we moved it to the end of our trip
http://www.japan-guide.com/blog/koyo11/111128_kyoto.html
http://www.japan-guide.com/blog/koyo11/111127_kyoto.html