Itinerary Overview

Hi there,

I plan a 28-day trip to Japan in October (traveling in a couple, the first time in Japan, more into urban and nature traveling, not so much into temples/shrines).
Below is estimated trip route in preliminary planning, any opinions will be thankful!


Land in Osaka

Day 1-3 Osaka
4-6 Kyoto (Temple lodging)
Kyoto > Hiroshima (train)
7-8 Hiroshima (1 night)
9 Hiroshima > Onomichi (train)
10-11 Shimanami Kaido bicycle route (Start Onomichi - Finish at Imabari, total 2 days)
12 Imabari > Fukuoka (bus/train)
13-18 Kyushu
19 Fukuoka > Komatsu (flight)
19-23 Japanese alps (with rented car)
23-28 Tokyo
29 Fly home


Thanks to all the helpers!

Lucky you! Good itinerary.

One idea that struck me was that maybe you might want to go from Imabari to Matsuyama, hav(beeter, IMHO) to the Beppu side of Kyushu, or (I think) to Kitakyushu.

And if it were me, I wouldn't be able to resist a trip to the Imabari Towel Art Museum http://www.towelmuseum.com/

No idea what happened to my first message.
I was trying to suggest that you might want to do onsen in Matsuyama after your bike ride, and then might consider a ferry onwards to Kyushu rather than going back to Honshu and taking the train.
There are, I think, 2 or 3 ferry options that take you to the west side of Kyushu, from where you could maybe do an anticlockwise circuit, ending in Fukuoka.

Or do the bike ride first, then Matsuyama, then ferry to Hiroshima, then on to Kyushu.