itinerary advice for 12-night trip

I�fve traveled many times in Europe, but this will be my first journey to Japan, which has been a dream of mine since youth. Normally I am quite adept at researching and planning overseas trips, but even after lots of reading I am having trouble deciding how to best plan my time. I am hoping to receive advice from seasoned Japan travelers to help me distill all of this info. currently jumbled in my head.

Here�fs what I have so far:
- 12 nights in mid-April of this year
- arriving and departing HND airport in Tokyo
- JR rail pass (7 or 14 day, depending on itinerary)
- prefer to minimize one night stays
- would like to see Kyoto and Tokyo, but interspersed with smaller towns

- Interests:
*day hikes (in Koyasan and Hongu areas?)
*Buddhist temples
*onsen and rotemboro

Initial thoughts:
- 2 nights in Asakusa area of Tokyo
- 1 night Hakone (for onsen) enroute to western Honshu
- 1 night Nara. (Is it too much to do Hakone to Koyasan in 1 day?)
and/ or
- 1 night Koyasan in temple (thoughts on the smaller ones, on the west end of town as being less crowded than larger ones closer to Okunoin?)
- 2 nights Hongu (day hikes on Kumano Kodo), onsen & rotemboro
- 3 nights Kyoto and take Shinkansen to HND early on the morning of my departure
[plus 2 nights more as yet TBD. Suggestions for those? Kinosaki Onsen looks nice, but is a bit out of the way of the Kansai sites. Alas, is there a nice day trip I could do from Kyoto on a Shinkansen (a particularly scenic ride perhaps) other then the bigger cities (Hiroshima, Osaka).]

Many, many thanks in advance!

That looks like a decent plan. I think Hakone to Mt Koya in one day would be too much but possible.

Personally I like Nara better than pretty much anywhere else so subject to allowing a day for Kamakura which I will waffle on about later, I would push your extra 2 days into Nara and day trip from there to Koya and Uji if the mood strikes. There arent too many interesting shinkansen rides unfortunately and a lot of the ride south of Kyoto to Hiroshima is underground anyway.

If you do want suggestions for nice train rides, the ride from Nagoya to Takayama is really nice. The ride from Kyoto to Kinosakionsen is nice as well. One of my favorites though is the electric rail that runs along Kamakura. A day trip at least from Tokyo to Kamakura and Enoshima would be well worth it.

One last thing is that there is generally late blooming sakura in Bessho Onsen in the third week of April. Besshoonsen is about an hour from Tokyo and is a very pretty onsen town that was (at least a few years ago) quite cheap to stay at. Have a look at that.

I would also add more time in Nara prefecture, and while I like Nara itself , I like much more inner Nara prefecture such as Yamatoyagi or Asuka.

http://bicycletraveljapan.blogspot.com/search/label/Nara

You could also add a day trip from Kyoto or Osaka to Biwako (eg Hikone, Omi Hachiman, Nagahama). Check out the posts of this prolific and well traveled forum member:

https://www.japan-guide.com/community/mfedley/

Also for some late and spectacular Sakura check out Miho museum in Shiga prefecture:

http://bicycletraveljapan.blogspot.com/2019/04/miho-museum-perfect-day...

Seeing that you are interested in Koyasan and Wakayama prefecture I would maybe give Hakone a miss (gets quite touristy) and go to an onsen town in Wakayama prefecture. The only one I know is Dorogawa onsen (tradition onsen town in the mountains), but there are also some spectacular onsen places with rotenburo overseeing the pacific.

I am also very much in agreement with Kamakura and Enoshima. I know many people do this as a daytrip, I personally could probably spend a week or more in Kamakura and Enoshima. Each time I am in Tokyo (about 3 times a year) I go to Kamakura and am still discovering new places. Or places with special flowers:

http://bicycletraveljapan.blogspot.com/search?q=Kamakura+&m=1

I would question with your itinerary if you can get a flight into Tokyo but departing from Itami or KIX.

Enjoy your trip to Japan!

Hey there,

Congrats! Your dream will come true ;)
Back to 6 years ago, I had been doing the first 14-day trip to Japan.
If I do it again, indeed, I will stick with the golden route.

Here, my plan at the time for 14 days:
Tokyo (3 days) --> Kanazawa (2 days, Shinkansen to Kanazawa was super fresh at the time) --> Shirakawa-go (day trip) --> Osaka (1 day) --> Kyoto (3 day) --> Nara (1 day, including Uij) --> Hiroshima (1 day) --> Himeji (only visit Himeji castle, on the way back to Tokyo from Hiroshima) --> Tokyo (1 day) and flight back.
For 12 days, you should spend at least 3 days in Tokyo, and 3 days in Kyoto. I will not include Hiroshima in the plan. If you want to go to Koyasan, you can remove Kanazawa from the plan.

You say that your trip is from April mid.
If you can adjust the plan, please consider to start it April beginning because it's usually the best time for cherry blossom in Kansai and Kanto. I came back to Japan in 2016 after the first trip. I have to say that it was completely different from the first trip.

Safe trip and enjoy!

You