Planning for a trip in July

My wife and I will be traveling to Japan for the first time in July. We came up with the following itinerary. Any comments and recommendations on destinations to add, swap, or skip will be much appreciated. We generally like high-paced journeying, but since my wife will be 17 weeks pregnant by the time we arrive, we will be taking it a little bit more easy (but not by too much!).

Day 1: Morning arrival at Narita Airport
Day 2: Tokyo
Day 3: Tokyo
Day 4: Tokyo (any recommendations for side trips on a 4-day stay in Tokyo?)
Day 5: Tokyo-Mastumoto (Castle visit in the afternoon. Other sites en route?)
Day 6: Matsumoto-Kamikochi-Takayama (3hr hike in Kamikochi)
Day 7: Takayama-Shirakawago-Takayama (sightseeing Takayama and Shirakawa-go)
Day 8: Kyoto
Day 9: Kyoto
Day 10: Kyoto
Day 11: Kyoto-Nara-Koyasan (sightseeing in Nara)
Day 12: Koyasan-Osaka
Day 13: Osaka-Himeji-Naoshima
Day 14: Naoshima-Hiroshima
Day 15: Hiroshima
Day 16: Hiroshima-Nagasaki (visit to Miyajima en route)
Day 17: Nagasaki-Fukuoka (visit to Nagasaki and Dejima during the day, late departure to Fukuoka
Day 18: Fukuoka (early morning flight)

I think you are considering to buy Japan Rail Pass 14 days. But I recommend you to do like below.

1. Buy Three Star Route Shinjuku Ticket to go through Shijuku-Matsumoto-Kamikochi-Takayama-Shirakawago-Kanazawa. You must buy round trip bus ticket from Hirayu-onsen to Kamikochi.

http://www.alpico.co.jp/access/ticket/pdf/panf701[1].pdf

8,560 yen + 2050 yen (Hirayu Onsen to Kamikochi round trip)

https://www.nouhibus.co.jp/route_bus/kamikochi-line-en/

Kanazawa to Kyoto, buy ticket separately. 6,900 yen

http://www.hyperdia.com/en/cgi/en/search.html?dep_node=KANAZAWA&arv_no...

Osaka to Himeji to Noshima to Hiroshima to Hakata to Nagasaki

Buy "continuous" ticket from Osaka to Nagasaki and buy "express ticket (including Shinkansen) separately. Note that you must stay on the route and can not backtrack, but you can stopover as much as you can such as at Himeji, Okayama (you must buy round trip ticket from Okayama to Uno), Hiroshima, Miyajimaguchi and Hakata. You can't backtrack from Miyajimaguchi to Hiroshima. If you want, buy round trip ticket from Hiroshima to Miyajimaguchi.

Nagasaki to Hakata, buy ticket separately.

I believe this will be still much cheaper than buying Japan Rail Pass 14 days (plus some bus tickets).

Thanks very much for this information. We were indeed considering buying the JR pass, but we�fll compare costs to this combination of tickets. Looks like you�fre right that this might be cheaper.

Do you have any feedback on the route as such? Is it doable in 17 days, or would you do things differently?

Since your wife will be 17 weeks pregnant, you should consider it first. If your wife has some fear about the long journey, you might consider canceling the tour itself. I am not a doctor or in the medical field so I can't say for sure, but you should discuss with your wife and consult with the doctor.

If you decided to do the journey, I would recommend you to reduce the traveling time by cutting off some places.

Day 1: Morning arrival at Narita Airport
Day 2: Tokyo
Day 3: Tokyo
Day 4: Tokyo
Day 5: Tokyo-Mastumoto (Castle visit in the afternoon. Other sites en route?)
Day 6: Matsumoto-Hirayu Onsen-Kamikochi (stay a night)
Day 7: Kamikochi-Hirayu Onsen-Takayama
Day 8: Takayama-Shirakawago-Kanazawa
Day 9: Kanazawa to Kyoto
Day 10: Kyoto
Day 11: Kyoto
Day 12: Kyoto to Osaka
Day 13: Day trip to Nara and back to Osaka (or stay in Osaka, skip Koyasan)
Day 14: Osaka to Hiroshima (skip Naoshima)
Day 15: Day trip to Miyajima
Day 16: Hiroshima-Fukuoka (skip Nagasaki)
Day 17: Fukuoka
Day 18: Fukuoka (early morning flight)

You might better stay in Kamikochi two nights and at the expense of one Fukuoka night. You can reduce Tokyo night and do some side trip (to Naoshima for example). Of course everyone has different preference and this is just my thought.

You should reduce your belongings to one small backpack. Japan is not Himalayas and you can buy almost everything here in Japan. Your accommodation will provide almost all toiletries, toothbrush and razor. You can wash your clothes so you don't need to take many. I think 3 days of clothes will suffice.

Day 11: Kyoto-Nara-Koyasan (sightseeing in Nara)
Day 12: Koyasan-Osaka
Day 13: Osaka-Himeji-Naoshima
Day 14: Naoshima-Hiroshima
Day 15: Hiroshima
Day 16: Hiroshima-Nagasaki (visit to Miyajima en route)

Maybe:
a) Skip Osaka and go straight to Naoshima - Himeji as an optional on-route stop-off. You can spend two days on Naoshima or more time passing through Okayama/Kurashiki. Saves a needless hotel change - they waste a lot of time.
b) With two nights Hiroshima, use the full day to visit Miyajima - it is not really an "on the way" stop on the way to Nagasaki.

Hi there,

You and your 17-week pregnant wife want to do a 3 hour hike in Kamikochi in the hot and humid weather of July?!

I'm sorry but I don't think that such a hike is convenient for a pregnant woman in such a weather, and as advised above check with her doctor before embarking on such a journey.

As mentioned above, Miyajima is not "en route" from Hiroshima to Nagasaki.

In your itinerary you also change hotels so frequently and move a lot between cities without giving yourselves enough time to enjoy what the destination has to offer. Are you going to Japan to just tick boxes that you visited this and that?

Even if you are fast paced travellers as you claim, you will be exhausted doing this itinerary. I suggest slow down and cut out some destinations that are not essential for your trip. Discuss it with your wife and take commuting times into consideration, not forgetting your wife's current condition and July's weather as well.