Does this itinerary order work?

we are looking for a month long slower paced trip for a first time visit to Japan, leaving around late September and returning of end of October/ beginning of November. We are pretty flexible on departures - airfare will decide our exact dates. We are not chasing the foliage as we have lots of beautiful fall colors right here in New England. We can add or subtract travel days as the air is not yet booked. We want to stay in Ryokans with good kaiseki as much as possible to try local cuisine. We have no knowledge of Japanese language. Below is our very tentative general travel plan with possible activities listed while at each location.

My questions:
1. does the itinerary flow make sense?
2. If we go with a larger suitcase per person, will I need to forward luggage on this itinerary?
3. should I use an agent to book hotels or can a non-native do this on their own?
4. Although a JR pass makes sense from point of ease, I am not sure it is the way to go with our plans?
5. We are considering booking hotels, trains, wi-fi, orientation tour and special activities with Inside-Japan. Is it possible to actually book all of this on our own?

Any insight that you can provide will be much appreciated. Part of me thinks we can do this on our own and the other part is scared that our vacation will be a mess due to language barriers and non familiarity of local customs so having an english speaking agent (Inside-Japan)to call feels reassuring. Thank you!!!

anyway, here goes (listed by overnight location):

1 Tokyo – Hamarikyu Gardens, cruise Sumida river; stay near. Main train station
2 Tokyo – Moon Island (Tsukishima), Tsukiji Fish Market; cooking class as described in Honeymoon pkg
3 Tokyo – good sushi reservation; museum? Or day tour
4 Tokyo – day trip to Nikko/
5 Tokyo – day trip to Kamakura (great stone Buddha); Odakyu train
6 Tokyo – Odaiba neon island, Akihabara �gelectric town�h
Forward luggage to Karuizawa?

7 Mount Mitake; stay at a shukubo(Temple lodging); hike

8 Karuizawa – Tsuruya ryokan or Le Grand Kyu; flying squirrels with wildlife experts (risu park?)
9 Karuizawa – walk part of Nakasendo Trail
10 Karuizawa – day trip by bus to Kusatsu onsen (sulphur)
Forward luggage to Takayama?

11 Nagano – zenko-ji zen temple, shukubo lodgings, yudanaka snow monkeys?
12 Nagano – day trip to Matsumoto Black Crow; visit castle, sake breweries, soba noodles

13 Takayama –minshuku w/ kaiseki dinner; Tanabe Ryokan?, Iwatakan? Sukyo Mahikari Cult shrine
14 Takayama – Hida beef, Hida noSato folk village, morning market

15 Kanazawa – omicho ichiba – sushi & market food (Omicho fish market)
16 Kanasawa – geisha district, Kenrokuen garden

17 Kyoto – stay near Kyoto station; take 4 hour private tour (better hotels in hills)
18 Kyoto – rent Kimono; go to maiko tea ceremony; night walking tour
19 Kyoto – day trip to Nara (giant Buddha, friendly deer); Maiko dinner back in Kyoto?
20 Kyoto – day trip to Himeji Castle (largest original feudal castle)
21 Kyoto – 10k red gates of Fushimi Inari

22 Hakone (not weekend ); Hakone Round Course; hakone Free pass for ropeway, funicular, railway, pirate boat
23 Hakone – bike tour, zip line, trout fishing, horseback trek
24 Hakone – open air museum (Picasso , Rodin etc)

25 Tokyo – stay at Ryokan Sawanoyo; Asakusa for trinket shopping, people watching
26 Tokyo – day trip to Yokohama
27 Tokyo – Ginza district

The general flow looks great and you are staying in some of my favorite spots and places. I didnt know that there is a squirrel park at Karuizawa but there is one at Takayama we have been to a few times. Looks like a really good trip.

A few little comments:

1. I would go Nagano to Kanazawa then Takayama, then wideview hida to Kyoto via Nagoya. That trip is much nicer than the Thunderbird from Kanazawa to Kyoto.
2. Fushimi Inari is fantastic but it is a lot of effort to get to the to and you cant see anything from there. I would probably give it a few hours tops.
3. Nara is worth a night if you can wriggle it in. Staying at the Nara Hotel (old section) is like stepping back in time, and the breakfast is insanely good.
4. Been to Tanabe ryokan a few times. It is really nice and in a good area. We also stay at the Associa when in Takayama, which is a little out of town but great value.

Thank you so much for your recommendations! Working on the travel flow has been the most challenging part so far, and I appreciate your comments about switching up the visiting order of a couple of locales.

Dumb question here, but when you stay at a ryokan or hotel that is not near the train station, I assume you take a taxi to get there? Do any properties that are further out provide shuttle service or is it usually a bus? When staying at a ryokan that has half board, are the kaiseki dinners the same every night or do the offerings change? Do you typically use a general online agent like Booking dot com or do you make your reservations directly with the property?

I will have MANY questions about this trip over the next months and I am very grateful that there are knowledgeable folks out there willing to answer questions. Thank you!

I too have stayed at the Associa in Takayama. It offers two shuttles an hour between the hotel and Takayama station.

If you wanted to go when the shuttle is not there you could pay a taxi, but I usually use a shuttle. I think it is closer to the squirrel park in Takayama.

I am going to say this again, be very wary of trains between Toyama and Takayama. They are very scenic, I think more scenic than Takayama to Nagoya, but there are only 8 a day 4 locals and 4 expresses. Some of them get in very close to one another. It really stinks to miss the train. I am sure there are interesting things to do in Toyama, but not if you only have 45 minutes before the train you need to take departs. For a shinkansen station it is not very interesting. Nagano and Kanazawa are much nicer stations.

Personally, I thought the bus route between Matsumoto and Takayama was even nicer than the train between Toyama and Nagoya. But again, make sure you know bus times if you take it.

October might be early for snow in Jigokudani. There are a lot of historical sites around Nagano if you are interested in the Warring States period.
And yes, if you have been in New England for fall foliage, Japan is not as impressive, I lived in New England for close to a decade.

We rented kimono from Okamoto. They're not the cheapest place by far, but you feel like you wearing a kimono when they are done not dressing up in a kimono, if that makes any sense.

My tween and I loved Hida no Sato.

I don't find Fushimi Inari hard to get to, but it can get crowded as it is quite popular. It took us about 3 hours to walk the entire hike. (Me and my then 8 year old.)

Enjoy!

Hi! Yeah plenty have shuttles but usually taxi's are pretty cheap. We have started travelling with carry on only which makes it really easy to get around, also if you are within a km of your hotel you can hoof it on foot.

Half board is usually brekkie only, full board has the kaiseki and yes, usually you get a different menu each night, usually first night it is mainly fish, sometimes on the second or third night they will throw in wagyu, or the fancy pork from black pigs, on our last triup we spent a few nights in the kiso valley and they had quite a bit of chicken on the second night.

I have used Japanican and it was good, last trip I booked a few with Booking.com which I found to be very good, and one with Japan Guest Houses which I have found to be very good as well, and two we booked direct.

Just to explain, we tend to stay 2 nights in a ryokan 2 nights off (as the kaiseki food gets too much and also ryokans can be a bit rigid sometimes), so on our last trip of 15 nights we ended up staying at 8 places over 15 nights, which sounds a lot more tedious than it is, especially if you dont have a lot of luggage to cart around.

Sorry, I see a typo in my comment about Fushimi Inari. It is a lot of effort to get to the top (I was missing the "p" on top) when you have regard that there isnt much to see up there. But there are some little side tracks as well, we havent taken them all, we actually saw a fox up there on one occasion which was quite exciting given the shrine and all. rkold is right, getting there is a doddle, we usually stop and have a look at Tofuku-ji which is a great place to see, then walk from there to Fushimi Inari.

@Lazy Pious, I agree there is not much of a view.

I have a soft spot for the full loop because the first time I did it the shrine was nearly empty and all the sub buildings were closed down. It made for some lovely pictures and felt quite mysterious. When I went more recently, it was of course much more crowded, but I wanted to give my tween the experience, and now that we've gone we don't need to go back lol (vs. if we went to Takayama again, I would take my child back to Hida no Sato, it's 100% worth it!)

I too have used Booking. I like them because they include most taxes with their room rate. I've used them a lot. I have also booked direct, used Agoda, and last trip I used Japanican a lot more than I have in years. Japanican had a much larger selection of rooms at a lot of onsen hotels than any other site. I got a room at one of the places I like in Tohoku as well as the Nagashima Onsen Hotel, which I had really wanted. I would be going back again, but it is closed when we go through the area. I do have to mark my child as a second adult because the website can't handle 1 adult and 1 child at all. But since mine is now a tween, paying full price for her seems a lot less onerous than when she was 7 or 8 and still quite discounted.

I once used hotelsDOTcom because on Booking the hotel listed they didn't take children but Hotels didn't have that same condition. Now the hotel on most booking sites says it accepts children.

BTW, I should mention I am not sure I would call the Nara deer "friendly" the word I would use is "aggressive" they do bite. My tween thinks it is hilarious that I got bit. This is in no way to say you shouldn't go to Nara. I like Nara, heck, I like Nara Prefecture! Just be a little wary of the deer. At least they don't have ticks with lyme.

If you have the time, I highly recommend Uji. I really like Byoudoin, and it's one of those towns I just like going back to. I am planning to go my next trip, though Mimurotoji is a hydrangea temple and I will be there for hydrangea season.

It is quite packed trip! 30 days without any moment of rest? I would add some lazy days without any plan, just wandering around...

Oh my - so many great ideas and suggestions. I cannot wait for October to get here. I am feeling more confident about the general plan and am no longer thinking that I need a third party to book my hotels and transportation. You all have provided some great suggestions and I think I can manage the details after all. Thank you! The transportation part will definitely be a puzzle to sort out, but I have plenty of time still to figure out the best way to get around.

I should have stated that the activities in any particular base city are all exchangeable and interchangeable and are not necessarily attributed to any particular day. I was just trying to figure out how long to spend in each location and optimize the time spent there. We will DEFINITELY have down-time with this itinerary. The nice thing about doing the whole trip plan ourselves is that we can avoid a crazy busy tourist schedule, and can focus on the things that intrigue us the most, sometimes last minute. I absolutely do not want to plan out every minute of every day. I also prefer to put money into the hands of local people, not american tour companies.

I can see how multiple nights eating Kaiseki style could be a lot - keeping it to 2 nights and switching out for an American style hotel is a great idea. That being said, I love super firm mattresses. I am wondering about tatami/futon sleep arrangements. If one wants to nap, will they set it up for you in the afternoon? are there regular sheets and blankets on the futon? Pillows? Sorry my super ignorance is really showing in this line of questions!

In terms of eating experiences, are there any 'do not miss this regional food" places in my itinerary (Tokyo, Hakone, Takayama, Kanasawa, Karuizawa, Kyoto, Nagano, Nara, Kamakura, Nikko)?

Thanks again,
Rebecca

@Rebecca,

I don't think your itinerary as written is too much. I've started spending time on the Japan Travel subreddit and that is just full of people with insane itineraries, like trying to visit 9 or 10 famous sights in Kyoto in one day across the entire city. As written you have plenty of days which are not stuffed and give you a chance to relax and savor things.

If you like super firm mattresses you will love Japan. Most hotel beds have very firm mattresses. For me, they range from uncomfortably firm, to the perfect amount of firm. I have never heard of anyone thinking mattresses in Japan are not firm enough though. (Some of the pillows on the other hand... they go from being waaaaay too soft or very hard.)


I've never heard of a futon being set up in the middle of the afternoon. They do come with pillows. There is usually a sheet on the futon itself, like a fitted sheet in the US. There is usually just a blanket wrapped in a slipcover on top. Sometimes there is a flat sheet, but I've also had futons without one.

For regional food, I love oyaki! They're a traditional food from Nagano. You can find them for sale at the shopping mall attached to Nagano Station. We went to Irohado. I heard the main branch is better, but we were pleased with the one in the station. My tween thought they looked a little weird, but ended up really liking them and I wish I had bought more.

Nagano is famous for its apples like Aomori, but I think that isn't until November.

Kanazawa has super touristy gold leaf ice cream you can buy because Kanazawa was famous for gold production.

I liked the sweet potato ice cream in Kamakura.

I admit, I like trying the different flavors of soft serve you can find in different areas. They vary in how much I like them, but Japanese soft serve is much better tasting than US soft serve.

Hakone is very famous for it's black eggs you can buy in Owakudani. They're so well known that in my child's Japanese class, one of the phrases she learned was how to ask about where to find those eggs lol I don't like eggs, so I can't say how they taste.

I wanted to clarify one thing - the squirrel park in Karuizawa is not regular squirrels eating from your hand. It is for the Japanese Giant flying squirrels; you go at dusk with binoculars hoping to see them"flying" from tree to tree. It is organized through Picchio Wildlife Research Center and the one and a half hour tour is Y3400.

And I will take the nibbling deer of Nara under advisement! To me deer is food not a pet (sorry , that may be an offensive statement to some). Good to know they do not carry ticks like here in the USA, so if my husband wants to do this, why not. Nara Hotel sounds great and I have added a night in Nara between Kyoto and Hakone. I have also switched Kanazawa and Takayama and will take the low volume of trains under advisement as I map this out. Thank you!

I really appreciate the Kimono advice - as you say, there is a big difference between truly wearing a kimono and just putting one on for a quick picture. My husband thinks my interest in donning a kimono is silly and is cultural appropriation. Hard to explain to him that it is out of respect of the old customs and culture that I wish to properly dress for one day while in Gion. Maybe I reread Memoirs of a Geisha a few too many times, but I am truly fascinated with the whole process.

Hi again!

on the futons, we are quite the fan of an afternoon nap, so we just pull the futons out of the cupboard and set them up ourselves. Sometimes we ask them not to put them away in the morning.

Usually you will find a few spare mattresses in the cupboard if it is too firm, I will usually sleep on at least 2. The hosts dont mind, we try to tidy up after ourselves.

Japanese mattresses themselves are quite firm.

We were recently in Gion and really I've never seen so many people wearing kimonos and yukata before, it was like 1 in 10 people at least, and there were thousands of people about. The rental shops are everywhere. I dont know how the girls can get around in the shoes, but if you do it you will have plenty of company. It looks pretty, I wouldnt be bothered about cultural appropriation, it seems to be the new industry in town.

On food, everywhere has its thing. At karuizawa there are a few restaurants - Kawakamian and Sawamura - that are very good and popular (we have been going to Kawakamian for years, but it is getting hard to get into now), our favorite at Takayama is a little beef place near Ikada bridge, it has fantastic beef bowls and the chalk art inside is amazing. We've eaten there 3 days in a row.

My husband will be VERY happy that there will still be a way to take a nap. Thank you for that sage advice!

I realized as I was mapping out trains that it makes no sense to go to Mount Mitakeit/ koyasan from Tokyo - I did not realize where it was located. That temple shukubo stay is now after Kyoto and before Hakone. Makes much more sense. Will we be starving if we stay in a temple for 2 nights or would it make more sense to do one night at a shukubo and the other night in a regualr notel? I want to allow enough time to hike around the area so we will need 2 nights in Koyasan...

many thanks!

Why would you be starving if staying at a temple? They serve dinner. Sometimes it is excellent.
So unless you only eat meat, there is no risk of starving at a temple.

Re quality onsen ryokans - I LOVE staying in them. Amazing food and bathing and generally some architectural/cultural/scenic beauty as well. An experience that I just can't get close to in my home country.

My take on it is that if I'm making the effort to book a nice ryokan, and also remembering that it's going to be a significant cost, then I pretty much think of the time between checking in (which I would do as early as possible in the day) and checking out the next morning as being devoted to staying in the ryokan and soaking up the relaxing joy.

If it's an onsen town, then perhaps I'd break that rule by going for a stroll around the town (and trying some baths at other places), but I wouldn't plan a packed itinerary of sightseeing. If I had a busy day planned, then I'd look for a cheap business hotel for the night, and the money I'd saved would go towards my next night in an expensive ryokan.

One of the beauties of Japan IMO is that it can do both ends of the accommodation spectrum really well, and you cna have a great holiday mixing and matching them according to your plans.