Central to Southern Japan Itinerary

Hi All,

I am trying to create an itinerary(not sure how many days) for places where we haven't been to. First time we visited Japan we toured Tokyo, Kyoto & Osaka.

I've been searching for a number of hours now and I've come up with the following list of places we intend to visit. Can anyone help me in formulating/plotting where should I start and how many days should I spend on each location?

-Nara
-Kanazawa
-Hiroshima
-Fukuoka
-Nagasaki
-Nikko & Kisoya(these two are not priority)

P.S. I intentionally didn't include Hokkaido & Okinawa since these 2 are far and if I am not mistaken would need a boat or plane

Look at a map. Go left to right, or right to left on the map. Adjust for the airport to fly into.

Most of the locations need a day to cover the basics. Fukuoka and Hiroshima would be better with 2 days.

Hi. It really depends on what your interests are. So I'll tell you what I would do based on my interests which are rural-ish areas, the usual cultural/temply stuff, animals, and onsens.

Nara - I couldnt spend too much time here. Over 10 years or so have stayed an aggregate of maybe 2 weeks, still cant wait to go back. Lovely place to relax for a few days. I'd spend 3 days. If you get bored, Uji is a short train ride away and Mt Koya is also accessible;
Hiroshima - not really my cup of tea as the city itself is smoggy and industrial. If you are to explore nearby areas (along coast), stay a few days. If not, I'd look at Peace Park and then move on. Overnight at Miyajima is nice;
Fukuoka - Some people love it. I stayed 3 days which I thought was 2 days too many. Maybe I missed the good stuff. Karatsu along the coast is pretty. I really liked Yufuin as well. I'd go back to them;
Nagasaki - not recommended if you have a fear of heights, as I do. I've never seen such a steep city. I'd probably limit it to two nights. Nagasaki Bio Park (quite a way away from Nagasaki itself) is awesome and worth the travel;
Kanazawa - two nights I think. Quite a nice city, some good shopping if you are into that. I didnt see anything spectacular there save for the garden. Hotel Hakuchoro was very nice.
Nikko - nice. I thought it was a bit overrated but it is nice. A night if you are staying in the town, 2 if you are going out to the lake area.

I'm not sure where you are starting and going from. If it was Kansai, I'd go Kansai - Nara - Hiroshima - Onomichi (if you have time) - Fukuoka - Nagasaki - Karatsu - Nagoya (overnight) - Takayama (2 nights) - Kanazawa - Hikone (near Maibara, nice castle) - Kansai.


-Nara
-Kanazawa
-Hiroshima
-Fukuoka
-Nagasaki
-Nikko & Kisoya(these two are not priority)

You would definitely need a boat or plane to get to Okinawa.

Alright, that's a good suggestion. I never thought of Kansai airport. So how many days in total do you think we should spend?

Hard to say, but I find 10 days is too short and 3 weeks is too long. I think around the 16 day mark. I also find it is easier to travel with essentially carry on sized luggage, though with your destinations you wont really need local trains from place to place so something bigger would be OK. Small luggage makes it much easier to move around, but it essentially restricts you to one extra pair of shoes. What time of year are you thinking of?

Following up on the 'how long' question, I think you need at least 10 days. You can do a lot in that time without getting travel fatigue. When we go it's usually for three weeks, which sometimes is a bit of a slog by the end, but usually is great.

What works for us is to have a couple of major destinations that take up to five days, interleaved with travelling/short stops. This year we plan to arrive at Tokyo/Yokohama and have a couple of days there, go to Shikoku via Okayama for a night or two; we'll probably spend five or six days travelling around the island, perhaps with a car for part of the time. After that I'm keen to head over towards Yamaguchi and go into that area at the bottom of Honshu-maybe with a car, maybe not. We may then fly home out of Kansai. Our trip last year around Chugoku Chiho was fantastic but we lost our way slightly after that-too much stopping/starting/moving, which was a shame, though we did see some very good things. We were over-keen to not double up, I think as I look back on it. It all worked out very well in the end despite feeling a bit choppy at the time.

Like Lazy Pious we only carry hand luggage-easier, lighter, better in small hotel rooms-lucky for us coming from Australia we are always going to a different season so after our return I can wash and put away the clothes I take, and don't look at them again for a couple of months.

Have a wonderful time in Japan.

I have been to all those cities except for Fukuoka. I would say Kanazawa is my favorite with its beautiful garden and very nice museums. I recommend most first time visitors to chose Hiroshima over Nagasaki as Nagasaki has a more European vibe but it is a very very fine city with delicious food. I also find the atomic bomb museum in Nagasaki and the memorial to be even more impressive than the one in Hiroshima. Both cities are worth a visit though. I would easily give two days to each one of these cities - I also wrote about my Kanazawa itinerary here http://bizarrejourneys.com/kanazawa