Izu peninsula or Japan Alps

Hi-

so we were all set to go with a plan for Oct 4th-21st-and now I have a possible other option!

Right now we are planning

Oct 4th-8th -Tokyo
Oct 8th-Shirahone Onsen (Yarimikan)
Oct 9th-10th-Takayama (Fall Festival)
Oct 11th-15th -Kyoto (day trip Osaka, ,maybe Nara)
Oct 16th-Koya San (temple stay)
Oct 17th -Miyajima (arrive mid-late afternoon)
Oct 18th -either Miyajima again or overnight Hiroshima
Oct 19th -Travel to Tokyo and see Himeji and Okayama on the way
Oct 20th -MOTO GP Race (Motegi but day trip from Tokyo)
Oct 21st -pm flight home

We were interested in Takayama and area to stay in an Onsen with beautiful views, to feel a "smaller town" vibe, to have a bit more "relaxed " time and for the Fall Festival.

Now we heard of folks that have gone to the Izu peninsula and rented a car and really enjoyed it. I am also seeing beautiful seaside onsens that look lovely. Wondering if this is a less stressful thing to do and might feel less rushed.

I am however interested in the fall festival, but wondering now if with a festival this won't be the break from bustling cities we are looking for.

Can anyone comment on this? Also very interested in comments on the onsen inn experience in the two places from those who have been to both?
Thank you in advance.

Hi, what a hard choice!

I have spent autumn in Takayama (best around the end October very early November I think) and late spring in Izu. I'd guess (but am not sure) that Izu would get autumn later than Takayama, because it is lower and warmer.

Takayama is one of our favorite places, and autumn there is spectacular. Other people dont like it as much as I do, I just reckon it has a great vibe about it. Plenty of nature, some nice shops, great food, happy people. The squirrel park is a bonus, I have been 4 times now and still havent seen Hida Village, but there is always next time I suppose. we have stayed a few times at Tanabe Ryokan (very nice) but usually stay at Hotel Associa which is more of an onsen resort. Great value, not traditional at all.

In our last trip (May) we went to Izu (as well as Chichibu, Kusatsu, and Karuizawa each of which has nice onsen). We visited Atami (not my cuppa), Ito (a bit more my cuppa but still a concretey town), visited the Ito Shaboten (just awesome and interesting area with great views), stayed in Ajiro (very sleepy fishing type town with great ryokans facing the bay and not much else), and stayed in Shuzenji.

Staying in Shuzenji was brilliant, we really liked it and would go back. I think that is what you might be looking for, a lot of traditional looking places. That said, it is crawling during the day with busloads of Chinese tourists, it is essentially a sea of clothing with logos on it. But if you can contain yourself seeing someone with thirteen articles of clothing on and a different logo on each, then Shuzenji is for you. There isnt that much to do there, 2 nights was plenty.

Also consider Bessho Onsen for a more traditional onsen town, though the ryokans are more concretey. Kusatsu onsen is very nice for a wander around at night in yukata more than anything, and the water is really good.

I think with Takayama the problem is accommodation. Have you already reserved something? Then Ifd hold on to it. If not youfll see that with the autumn festival it might actually be quite hard/impossible to reserve something.

I havenft been to the festival but went to the town and wasnft impressed. BUT that was on a 2 months trip through far flung Japan from the North and this was the first place after about a month of traveling around to really run into foreign tourist hordes. And I wasnft prepared for that. In all descriptions Takayama is hailed as this tranquil town. Well after spending some time in so remote areas as Wakkanai, where not only the cyclists would greet me on the roads but also the motorcyclists as there are simply so few people around. Or places like Sado island, Takayama came as a touristic shock to me. Ifd say that in my entire itinerary of 2 months it was the most touristy town.

http://bicycletraveljapan.blogspot.com/2017/10/day-30-takayama-sightse...

However what I did enjoy is the onsen area in Okuhida. However with the festival it might be hard to get accommodation there.

Enjoy your trip to Japan !

Thank you both so much for your replet. Yes in the end it comes down to choice!!

I donft like gconcreteh towns at all- and I know that we would love both in different ways and probably not like some elements of both.

Do you recall what ryokans you stayed at?

Yes we have reserved accommodations for Takayama and at Yarimikan.

One more question - weather in Izu in October- too chilly to enjoy beaches I suspect? Maybe walks ?

Hi, we stayed at Taisekan in Ajiro. It was a last minuite thing on booking.com when I realised our room booked at Hotel Micuras in Atami had no windows lol. Anyway as I mentioned Ajiro is very quiet but it is a short walk to the train station with Atami 10 minutes one way and Ito 10 minutes the other. Taisekan was great - cheap, huge rooms, great onsen (nice grotto effect in one and a rooftop one for the other) with private baths. You have a balcony overlooking the bay though the road is in between and it is busy. The food was great too. Really enjoyed it, would go back.

At Shuzenji we stayed at Arai ryokan. It was a splurge . We had the room with a private bath. The room was pretty spectacular sitting over the pond where you can feed the fish (not in winter) though the outside onsens were much better and I didnt bother with the private one. The rotenburo there is magic.

If you want another recommendation, we stayed last for a few nights at Fukumuziro at Tonosawa, Hakone. It was just amazing though only one room has its own toilet (with a private bath which is awesome). It is probably my all time favorite ryokan (and we've stayed at heaps), you'd never know you are close to Hakone Yumoto it is like you've stepped back in time. I think my wife's favorite would be Arai, at Shuzenji.

This is so helpful thank you! Arai ryokan is what we were considering for our "splurge" (it is available and will be the first ryokan we have ever stayed at!) and then we would find a less expensive place for the other nights. We are also considering heading to Kamakura on the way and renting a car from there or Atami.

We are leaning towards Izu at this point. Also we are Canadian from the west where there are mountains everywhere, but we are in a land locked province and love the coast!

Cheers. I wouldnt stay at Ito or Atami to be honest. Ito is much nicer than Atami though, if you are thinking of it look at K's house. One of the other posters stays there, it looks amazing and super cheap. I'd stay at a smaller town nearby and then just train to the bigger towns. I'd go back to the place at Ajiro, it was super good value and a really nice outlook with good baths. You would probably want breakfast at least included though because there is literally nowhere else to eat in town. I thought of Shimoda too which looks nice.

If you go to Shuzenji I'll give you a tip, up the main part of town (bamboo grove section where Arai is) it is very hard to find places to eat lunch. I had a nice pizza at one cafe but that was pretty much it save for sweets places, and there were people wandering around looking for food. The eating places are actually further back down the hill before the yellow part of the road starts (so maybe 200m before Arai). There are some really nice places back there. I thought to mention that because we wandered around hungry for an hour the first day.

The Izu Peninsula is an interesting area and I would not stay in Atami. For Ito - it's an interesting place which I would often use as a base and not a place I would use as a destination. However - it has lots of restaurants and it's reasonably English friendly for a town down here. If I personally was visiting Izu, I would stay 1 night in Ito (K's House - I'm probably the person someone was talking about) and another night in Shuzenji or Shimoda.

I can also confirm that it can be difficult finding places to eat in Shuzenji, specifically if your hotel does not include a meal.

Thank you both!

Yes I think we would stay out of the main towns for sure. Seems to be lots of options thatfs for sure!

Good tips about food! Hate walking around hungry- thatfs a recipe for disaster in my world! Will let you know what I book. I think Arai is for sure and then we will try and find something with a seaview- maybe even on the west coast near Dogashima. Did you go there? Anywhere you can recommend? I hate changing hotels so much, but a place like Arai we should only afford one night!

Cheers!

Hi! I just started my youtube vlog channel for travelers to Japan and the latest one futures Izu Peninsula trip. I went to Senjojiki coast as below. Hope it will help :)

https://youtu.be/-h9jMEiAct0

It was a very nice place and called one of the Geo-Parks of Izu Peninsula. I will upload another Geo-park video next week. It will be Senganmon beach near from the Senjojiki coast.
Both are minor and kid of hidden places. You can feel beautiful nature and experience a small adventures.