30 Days In Japan Itinerary

Ok. So I will be visiting Japan for 30 days, March 20 - April 22. My itinerary is going to be following the Japan Buss Pass for 3 days the trip is Tokyo - Hiroshima- Kyoto- Osaka - Nagoya - Tokyo. Here is what I have currently:

March 21- Land @ Narita

22 - Tokyo

23- Tokyo

24 Tokyo (Fuji Five Lakes)

25 Tokyo (Nikko)

26 Tokyo (Kamakura)

27 Tokyo

28 Hiroshima

29 Hiroshima (Miyajima)

30 Hiroshima

31 Kyoto

1 Kyoto

2 Kyoto (mount Koya)

3 kyoto (Nara)

4 Kyoto

5 Kyoto

6 Kyoto

7 Osaka

8 Osaka

9 Osaka

10 -17 ?? (Thinking Takayama for the 14 & 15 for the festival)

18 Nagoya

19 Tokyo

20 Tokyo

21 Tokyo

22 Fly Home

Any ideas on the 10-17? Or day trips? I'd even do an alternate route on the Buss Pass or add another day onto it if needed. Thank you for your help!!

Hi. Yes definitely worth going to Takayama and places quite close like Tsumago/ Magome and even Matsumoto. Fuji is not really a day trip from tokyo, nor is Koya from kyoto. Need a night at least at both. And better to stop at Fuji en route to Osaka/Kyoto. And more logical to stop somewhere before Hiroshima. Take your pick really. Enjoy!

Ok. So I moved Koya coming from Osaka. And added Takayama toward the end of my trip. And moved some stuff around...

March 21- Land @ Narita @ 4:30 PM

22 - Tokyo

23- Tokyo

24 Tokyo

25 Tokyo

26 Nagoya

27 Hiroshima

28 Hiroshima (Miyajima)

29 Hiroshima

30 Kyoto

31 Kyoto

1 Nara

2 Nara

3 Kyoto (Himeji or Kobe)

4 Kyoto

5 Kyoto

6 Osaka

7 Osaka

8 Osaka (Mt Koya)

9 Osaka

10 Osaka

11 Yoshino - Kanazawa

12 Kanazawa

13 Shirakawa-go - Takayama

14 Takayama

15 Takayama

16 Tokyo

17 Tokyo (Nikko)

18 Tokyo (Kamakura)

19 Tokyo

20 Tokyo

21 Tokyo

22 Fly Home

If you are planning to use a JR Pass, You can do the trip from Tokyo to Hiroshima on the 28th on a single train. I woud advise that to get a hotel room on the 27th near Shin-Yokohama Station and take the 6:00 AM Shinkasen Hikari 493 to Hiroshima. This is a four hour train ride, that will get you there by 10:00AM. Most other JR options will take over five hours and require a transfer between trains.

I checked the tides on the 29th for Miyajima Island, and this will be a great day to visit. The high tide will be at 10:45 AM, and the low tide at 5:00 PM. The difference in the high and low tide is 3.1 meters, so you should be able to see the Temple and Tori gate "floating" amd dry.

Takayam, if you can get a hotel room, is a great idea. I would suggest getting there by bus form Oska/Kyoko area, and then take a bus to Tokyo. The Nohi Bus company is based in Takayama, and has a English webpage:

http://www.nouhibus.co.jp/english/index.html

That said, the only other place besides Hiroshima outside the Tokyo and Osaka/Kyoto area that you have is Nagoya. If you move your time in Nagoya closer to when you visit Hiroshima, you can probably hit both of these locations with a 7 day JR Pass. It is not nessesary, and you could continue south and see other places before going to the Osaka/Kyoto area. The souther areas will have their cherry trees in blossum at that time. Why not add a day in Nagasaki, Beppu, and Fukuoka, before heading back to Kyoto?

You can get to Nagoya from Osaka or Kyoto without the more expensive JR pass. A Kintetsu rail pass can be used to get you to Nagoya from the Osaka/Kyoto region, and will also cover Nara.

I hope this helps.