Itinerary review: RWC (18 days October 2019)

Hi all,

I would really appreciate review of my itinerary for our 18 day trip October next year. So far, we have:
Tokyo: Arrive 11 October, stay four nights (11-15 October)
Kyoto: Arrive 15 October, stay six night (15-21 October)
Takayama: Travel Kyoto to Takayama, stay two nights (21-23 October)
Kanazawa: Travel Takayama to Kanazawa, stay two nights (21-25 October)
Yokohama: Travel Kanazawa to Yokohama, stay 3 nights (25-28 October).

Note: We need to be in Yokohama for 26th October RWC match (semi-final).

Notes:
1) We are not 'fast' travellers; and don't want to really spend < 2 nights at any location.
2) We have accommodation booked at Tokyo and Kyoto; but our stays, and even itinerary, for Takayama, Kanazawa and Yokohama is flexible
3) Further to point 2, we would consider staying in another location (e.g. Tokyo) instead of Yokohama, and just travel to the game and back on the day
4) We will do side trips from our various 'base' towns (e.g. Nara from Kyoto; Kanagawa from Tokyo (or Yokohama).

I guess my primary questions are:
1) Are there better alternatives to Takayama and Kanazawa (e.g. Fukuoka?)
2) Is it better to stay in Tokyo than Yokohama (or another location)?

Would really appreciate some feedback :)

I would change to Kyoto > Kanazawa > Takayama. Kanazawa and Kyoto are directly connected by train. You could also stay in Kanazawa the whole time and day trip to Takayama (and Shirakawago).

1) Fukuoka is much further out than you current destinations. Kanazawa and Takayama are lovely and well worth a visit.
2) Really up to you. For convenience, it might be easiest to stay in Yokohama for the game, and then move back to Tokyo. You could send your large luggage from Kanazawa/Takayama to meet you in Tokyo, and just take a small bag to Yokohama.

I agree with the guest poster above, that you can do Kyoto, Kanazawa, Takayama more easily.
After that you could come back to Tokyo from Takayama, change at Toyama Station to the Hokuriku Shinkansen and be back in Tokyo.

You could even do Tokyo, Takayama(via Toyama) Kanazawa, Kyoto.

Unless you are traveling to Oita for a game, then Fukuoka is quite some distance. If you have a JR Pass 14 day then it could be an option. However, accommodation is becoming very hard to get even now for the September- October-early Nov period. Same actually can be said for Yokohama as well.. with teams and management being accommodated, many of the hotels are already showing fully booked.

A lot of accommodations don't open their bookings until 3-6 months ahead, so it could look fully booked simply because the reservations aren't open yet.

Thanks everyone for your advice!

We will travel to Kanazawa first, from Kyoto and then onto Takayama for two nights. That was a great suggestion :)

Now just to figure out the last three nights...!

Regarding the last 3 nights Yokohama isn�ft a bad idea.
How many games will you go and watch?
How much percentage of your day will they occupy?
I am only thinking that you could change the entire itinary by doing: no Tokyo upon arrival but going directly to Kyoto. Do Kyoto- Kanazawa-Takayama-a third destination (eG Nagano/Matsumoto or after Kyoto Hiroshima...) -Tokyo. And do all your Tokyo days but LESS at the end.
This assumes that rugby will only occupy a small percentage of your time while in Tokyo:Yokohama.
However your current itinerary (with the Takayama:Kanazawa change is fine). If you have time for sightseeing while in Yokohama you can go to:
Kamakura
Enoshima
Hakone (of you have a full day)
Chinatown
A very nice Japanese garden in Yokohama and other sights directly in Yokohama.
Also regardless if you depart from NRT or HND Yokohama is within easy reach.

What PP about hotels said is correct.

Enjoy your trip to Japan!

hi, we travelled just after that time last year, and there was a lot of autumn foliage in the Alps. If you are keen to see that there are ways you could rejig your itinerary to make it more likely, eg come to takayama via Matsumoto and Kamikotchi (probably spend the night in Kamikotchi), or maybe go to Kanazawa before Takayama. We found that by about the 26th October the autumn colours had gone from Kamikotchi but they were really vivid a week or so before, but just after that it was really colurful at Takayama.