Japan Itinerary details

Hi there,

My husband and I will be visiting Japan for 3 weeks during the World Cup. I have put together my ideal itinerary, but of course, it is one day longer than we actually have. I need to eliminate one day somewhere. I am thinking of either skipping Hakone or shortening our time in Kyoto or Kanazawa. Another possibility is to skip our overnight in Matsumoto so that we gain 1 day back in Tokyo at the end of the trip. Any advice would be greatly appreciated! THANK YOU!

Day 1- 4 Tokyo (including Disney)
Day 5 Hakone overnight
Day 6 Hakone in morning then travel to Yokahama
Day 6 Yokahama - Rugby match this evening.
Day 7 Kyoto: Arrive late afternoon. Explore some of Southern Higashiyama by foot.
Day 8 Kyoto (Public holiday Early): Fushimi Inari Taisha ,Southern Higashiyama and fetivals (Kushi Matsuri at Yasui Konpiragū, Nashinoki-Jinja Shrine & Seimei-Jinja Shrine)
Day 9 Day trip to Nara (Uneme festival this evening)
Day 10 Arashiyama & Kinkaku-ji temple. Possibly Kitano Tenmangu Shrine flee market.
Day 11 Day trip to Kuama & Kibune Riverside dining. Possibly include Hieizan if have time
Day 12 Koyasan (temple stay)
Day 13 Osaka
Day 14 Travel to Kanazawa (3 hours)
Day 15 Kanazawa
Day 16 Pick up car and travel to Takayama (day exploring shirakawago and gokayama)
Day 17 Takayama
Day 18 Shirashone and Okuhida Onsen (overnight in Roykan)
Day 19 Kamikochi then onwards to Matsumoto overnight (option 2 is to drop car, see castle then go straight to Tokyo this evening via train)
Day 20 Tokyo (3 hour via train)
Day 21 Fly home early morning

Day 1- 4 Tokyo (including Disney)
Day 5 Hakone overnight
Day 6 Hakone in morning then travel to Yokahama
Day 6 Yokahama - Rugby match this evening.

As far as I understand, skipping Hakone isnft going to achieve anything as you need to be on day 6 in Yokohama. I mean you CAN skip it to stay longer in Tokyo but it wonft help with your itinerary.

What else to skip I think is a personal preference, regarding what does attract you to each of the places. Eg skipping Kamikochi would be perfectly fine with me as I donft like hiking. But for you it might be the highlight.

However my personal skip would be Takayama. But that is me. I didnft specially like that place.

Enjoy planning your trip to Japan!

> Day 11 Day trip to Kuama & Kibune Riverside dining...

Just so you know, the kawadoko dining in Kibune typically takes place until the end of Sept. It may be too late when you visit.

Hi!

Have you made sure to look at your potential drop-off fees for your rental car? I rented a car for my first time in Japan this last trip, and I enjoyed it throughly, but at least at all the companies I looked at there were very high fees for returning cars to different prefectures than the one you rented from. Kanazawa is in Ishikawa-ken and Matsumoto is in Nagano-ken. It is likely you are going to have a 10,000 yen + drop off fee. This might not be an issue for you, but it is something to be aware of.

Assuming you mean Shirahone onsen, Going from Okuhida to Shirahone seems like a lot of backtracking since you are going to Kamikochi which is in between them the next day. Please be aware, you will need to pay to park your car in a lot to go to Kamikochi as no cars are allowed there. I would personally recommend the lot on the Hirayu side, since they seem to have more frequent buses than the Matsumoto side, though this means you will be back tracking 30 minutes when you want to get your rental car.

Unless you have specific plans in Osaka, I would cut that day. It's easy enough to go to Osaka in the evening for shopping or nightlife when you are staying in Kyoto.

Good luck!

Given the considerable time it takes to get to Hakone, just going for the morning makes little sense. I suggest you consider going to Kamakura instead.

Thanks for the advice. After reading the comments we have decided to skip Hakone entirely. Our itinerary now looks like this:

Day 1- 4 Tokyo (including Disney)
Day 5 Travel to Yokahama (rugby tonight)
Day 6 Kamakura day trip (rugby in Yokahama tonight)
Day 7 Kyoto: Arrive late afternoon. Explore some of Southern Higashiyama by foot.
Day 8 Kyoto (Public holiday Early): Fushimi Inari Taisha ,Southern Higashiyama and fetivals (Kushi Matsuri at Yasui Konpiragū, Nashinoki-Jinja Shrine & Seimei-Jinja Shrine)
Day 9 Day trip to Nara (Uneme festival this evening)
Day 10 Arashiyama & Kinkaku-ji temple. Possibly Kitano Tenmangu Shrine flee market.
Day 11 Day trip to Kuama & Kibune Riverside dining. Possibly include Hieizan if have time. (This will be in Sept so appears to still be open)
Day 12 Koyasan (temple stay)
Day 13 Osaka (night out)
Day 14 Travel to Kanazawa (3 hours)
Day 15 Kanazawa
Day 16 Pick up car and travel to Takayama (day exploring shirakawago and gokayama)
Day 17 Takayama
Day 18 Onsen hopiing in Okuhida Onsen and Shinotaka ropeway (overnight in Roykan)
Day 19 Kamikochi then onwards to Matsumoto . Drop car, see castle, then train to Tokyo this evening)
Day 20 Fly home