3 weeks in japan

Hey guys!
Bern reading this forum a lot and i was thinking to run My itinerary by you to hear your thoughts
We have 3 weeks in march and early april, We are a couple in our 20s and our main interests are definatly food, shopping and japanese culture
1-7 tokyo
7-9 Onsen - right now i have a ryokan reserved in fuefuki - have you hear of it?
9-13 kyoyo
13-16 osaka
16-19 hiroshima
19-21 tokyo - before our flight

We really like to take things easy and not be too presured on time

Is one night in an Onsen enough? Is fuefuki too remote or boring? I want to visit little of the grid villages
Is there something you would chane omit or add?

Waiting for your replies!
Thanks!

With three weeks, you should be able to do more than the regular Tokyo + Kansai + Hiroshima visits.

If you really like rural towns, then I'd do some research on this website to find a place you would like to visit. You could easily take a day of Hiroshima and a few from Osaka to allow time to visit a rural town with sacrificing your slow pace.

This plan is quite slow paced for some people. The main thing to consider is when you are visiting. For example, early April is Cherry Blossom season which significantly changes many parts of Japan. I would normally reccomend Kyoto at this time, but then crowds and hotel costs will also be at their highest....

That's REALLY slow-paced, but you probably know that already and I guess that's what suits you best.

The other thing about your plan is that it's all cities, apart from 2 days. Have you considered some of the more rural places in order to get some variety?

Re onsens: for me, it's about the onsens, but it's also about staying in a ryokan. If you say you like food and culture, I would suggest that it's definitely worth while to plan in more than one onsen ryokan stays. You just won't get that sort of food anywhere else - unless you're hitting some really high-end exclusive restaurants. Even in that case, you won't get the amazing experience of having a relaxing bath, getting into your yukata, and then settling down to an awesome kaiseki meal.

In a typical 2 week stay, I'd plan at least 4 ryokan stays. I'd space them a few days apart, only stay one night in each ryokan, and try to choose a variety of ryokans (different price points, different regions, different types of bathing, etc). If I had 3 weeks, I'd be looking to stay in a ryokan several times - but that's me, and we're all different.

If you kept all your city stay plans, and looked to fit in one night between each city in somewhere rural en route, where you could stay in a ryokan, that might be a good way to do it, perhaps?

Hey there,

I totally agree with the others - it's really slow paced...

Do you want to spend 7 full days just in Tokyo? IMO you can spend 3-4 days in Tokyo, depending on your interests, and then do some side trips. What about Kamakura, Yokohama or Nikko?

Besides, you said you like to experience the rural Japan. I would suggest to stay at least one night in Tsumago (Kiso valley) and walk the Nakasendo. You could plan that in between your stay in Tokyo and the Kansai region.

I also highly reccommend Koyasan, which is easily reachable from Osaka. You should definately stay for one night in an temple. Try one which offers morning prayer including the fire ritual - I havent experienced something amazing like the fire ritual before!

Also do a side trip to Nara, as well as Himeji, when you're in Kyoto or Osaka, both are very feasible without rushing as a day trip. I also assume that you are going to visit Miyajima when you're staying in Hiroshima?

That's all for now. Even if you don't like to rush (which I completely understand!) you should make more out of your trip.Japan has so much to offer!

Cheers

I generally agree with everyone else - and I am a very slow traveller. I suppose though that if you had a couple of overnight side trips into the mix the plan would be pretty good. As an example, I'm not fussed on cities so much so 7 days in Tokyo would be a lot, but then a night at Nikko (Hotel Kanaya = awesome) and one at Enoshima (Iwamotoro Honkan = awesomer!) would break that up. Or maybe trot out to Bessho Onsen or Karuizawa (Tsuruya Ryokan = magic) which are close and a great break from the city.

For Osaka you could take a night out to Nara which is our favorite place in Japan, maybe an hour away.

For Hiroshima a night at Miyajima is better than a day trip by far, and there are some nice islands around it. I find Hiroshima a bit smoggy and industrial for my tastes, but as soon as you get offshore the sky is nice and blue.

But what I usually try to do is to work my trip in a loop so I'm coming back to Tokyo a different way than I left. So if I was to go Tokyo to Kyoto/Osaka/Nara, I would come back Takayama/Kanazawa to Tokyo, or maybe just Kanazawa to Tokyo, along the shinkansen route, maybe stopping at Karuizawa or Bessho Onsen along the way.

One other thing I'd mention is that 3 nights in a ryokan can be a bit much - we usually have 2 nights then a break in a hotel. The reason is that you get massive amounts of food at a ryokan and while it is spectacular, by the third night the thought of eating all of those courses makes us stressed. In saying that though, the menu usually changes each night and in my experience the third night is often the beef course, so if you like beef you might want to stick it out.

You have way too much time in Tokyo and then include Osaka (which is often a double-up), but your stated intention is culture (and presumably some history) and food, but very little time in Kyoto, let alone other places.

If you were doing a slow trip, I would probably look at a more conventional two week our and then extend stays by one day in each place so you hit six or seven cities/towns with three night stays.