Early Oct - Central Honshu vs Tohoku

Hi, first of all, sorry if it has been asked before or if it's a bit ambiguous. And also excuse my bad english.

I'm heading to Japan in early october for 15 days and having a hard time deciding which area to visit between:

Central Honshu - Nagoya, Magome, Tsumago, Narai juku, Kamikochi, Kanazawa , Shirakawa-go, Takayama and Nagano

Or

Tohoku region - Sendai, Yamagata, Morioka, Nyuto Onsenkyo, Kakunodate, Akita city, Hirosaki and Aomori city.

I'd like to be able to see some yellow/red leaves( I'm from a tropical country so I've never experienced Fall/Autumn) and avoid over crowded places when possible. I can't rent a car so will rely on public transport(most likely getting relevant JR pass). This will also be my first long solo trip.

I'm hoping to get some advice/recommendation between these two. Looking forward to hear from you guys.

Cheers

I Love Tohoku region
You can buy Tohoku highway bus pass
2 Day =6000 yen
3 day =8000 yen

Early October is too early for the autumn leaves to start turning orange/red, even for some areas of Hokkaido. As a first trip, I would suggest the central Honshu option - the transport between the various places you mention are pretty good.
While I also enjoy Tohoku, it would be a more challenging trip IMO.

I am only familiar with Honshu, but those are great choices (some of my favorite places) and it is a great time to travel. If you plan reasonably carefully you should get a lot of colour, eg Kamikochi can have great colour in early to mid October but Takayama really more at the end, this is probably obvious to you but the higher altitudes are going to change first. I would also suggest you consider Karuizawa which is a lovely town.

Just a few other comments for accomodation - personally I thought Narai wasnt that interesting, I would stay at Kiso Fuskushima instead, it is easy to get from there to Narai and it has some great accom options. Also Kiso Valley towns are deadly quiet on week days, try the weekends instead when they are more lively. At Kamikochi I really like the Onsen Hotel, at Takayama I really like Hotel Associa (it is an Onsen Resort, super cheap), at Karuizawa we like Hotel Tsuruya or Le Grand Kyu.

Jugantor - Thanks for tips on the highway bus pass, could be useful if my budget dwindles and need to save some bucks.

JapanCustomTours - Thank you for the suggestions. At first I planned for Central Honshu but figure it might be too early for Autumn foliage and looked into Tohoku region in hope for some orange/red, I guess at this point it won't matter much. It's actually going to be my 2nd trip to Japan only this time it's solo. I did the Golden Route on my first trip.

LazyPious - Thank you for the tips & recommendations. I'll leave before the 20th so based on what you mentioned, Kamikochi might be the only obvious chance for me to see some orange/red. Karuizawa does sound interesting.

Yep, I recon if you planned for Kamikochi for a few days in the second week of October you'll see plenty of colour. It is usually well and truly done by late October as you get the odd flurry by then.

2 nights is plenty there, it is nice being there in the morning before the buses roll in as the monkeys are about. One night would do it if you are pressed for time, but we have stayed a few times for two nights each and werent bored

Lazy Pious - What about Kamikochi as a day trip from Matsumoto?

Hi!

So it's been a long time since I went to Japan in October, but I find seasonal things don't change as much as say restaurants or hotels.

I started my trip in mid-October and was just getting the start to a medium amount of foliage in southern Hokkaido (Onuma) and northern Tohoku (Aomori, Hakkoda, Oirase, Osorezan) I ended the trip at close to the end of October and was getting some nice reds in Nagano city.

I think early October is just well, a little too early. If you could move your trip until mid to late October it would change a lot.

I've been to a bunch of the places you mention in Central Honshu and Tohoku. I really like them both.

When I went to Kamikochi I stayed overnight in one of the cabins because I was curious about not!camping camping and it felt sort of different. My then grade schooler kept talking about wanting to camp and I figured it was a good test for both of us. I found out that neither one of us was meant for camping, but if you don't mind staying in a little cabin, it is much cheaper than a lot of other places in Kamikochi proper. (If I went back I would probably look at the Onsen Hotel @Lazy Pious likes or a different hotel.)

People do visit Kamikochi as a day trip, but I think there are other options that might not be super expensive you could do a little closer. We stayed one night at Nakanoyu, and at the time they offered free transport from Matsumoto, and then free transport to Kamikochi the next morning. You would need to take the paid bus back and then call them to pick you up, but it is an option. You could also from there continue onwards to Takayama, and you will arrive quite early in Kamikochi. (like I think there free shuttle was at 7 am!) Another option would be staying at Hirayu no Mori in Hirayu. I just day tripped for the onsen which are fabulous if you like rotemboro. I believe @LikeBike stayed there. It's not super fancy, but from what I remember it's also not super expensive.

For staying in Kamikochi the campground and Nishi-Itoya are supposed to be on the lower price range for Kamikochi.

rkold - Thank you so much for your reply. I would shift the trip if I can but I've booked the flight and it's not adjustable nor refundable. I settled for that dates to accommodate my friends' schedule but they ended up cancelling. I've never done camping my whole life so not!camping camping might be a good start lols.

Hi, Kamikochi as a day trip would be worth the effort, it doesnt take that long to get there and there are heaps of buses. But to my mind it is much nicer before about 9 - 10AM when the day trippers start to arrive. It is super peaceful, the monkeys come up to some of the hotels, it is fantastic for a walk (just mind the monkey crap).

If you are going to Takayama as well, I would go Matsumoto to Kamikochi, stay the night, have the morning at Kamikochi then bus on to Takayama. Quite a nice trip, plenty of autumn leaves on the way though they will reduce as you go down.

Lazy Pious - Again thank you so much! I'm convinced to stay a night in Kamikochi now based on what you and @rkold said.