19 days itinerary - to rushed?

Hey guys,

just wanted to hear from you experienced japan travelers if this itinerary is too rushed :-)
thx in adcance!

Day 1 - 4 Tokyo
Day 5 Travel to Nikko
Day 6 Nikko
Day 7 Travel to Lake Kawaguchi
Day 8 Travel to Kyoto
Day 9-12 Kyoto
Day 13 Nara
Day 14-15 Osaka
Day 16 Travel to Koya san
Day 17 Travel to Himeji
Day 18 Hiroshima
Day 19 Miyajima

The pace is fine (not too rushed). I would consider swapping the Osaka and Koyasan sequence.

Nikko to Kawaguchiko is a bout 4 hours travel.

And Kawaguchiko to Kyoto is probably similar.

Might be worth popping an extra day in there. Or re-sequence these few days.

I wouldn't say it's overpacked, though you know your own travel pace better than anyone.
But if you are planning to go from Nikko to Kawaguchiko in one shot, that will be very long and tiring. You might consider returning back from Nikko to Tokyo the night before, and break up the long trip.

Regarding Osaka, since you are already seeing Tokyo, and Osaka's best is really at night, you could take one day off of Osaka and go visit Kobe.
https://goo.gl/K3RqXH

thank you very much guys!

so the main weakness is lake kawaguchi travel time just for one afternoon and morning view of mt fuji.

would you recommend to swap lake kawaguchi with hakone? Since hakone is more south and closer to shinkansen?
really tough to descide since Lake kawaguchi always looked more appealing to us then hakone thats why we wanted to go there,

osaka - mt koysa swap: we thought after lots of temple action in kyoto and nara a few days of city life would be nice before going back to temples in koyasan?

again, appreciate your help!

Apart from the Lake Kawaguchiko. changes this is what I would do:

Day 9-13 Kyoto with a day trip to Nara
Day 14-16 Osaka with day trip to Koyasan
Day 17 Travel to Hiroshima stopping at Himeji on the way
Day 18 Hiroshima
Day 19 Miyajima

This cuts down on swapping hotels & gives you a chance to pick nice days for the Koyasan & Nara days. Himeji is perfectly doable as a stop off during the journey & buys you an extra evening in Hiroshima to visit okonomimura for instance.

Not to disagree with Stan, but overnight at Nara is fantastic, personally I would stick with it. Recommend either Nara Hotel (old section) or a ryokan near Mt Wakakusayama (sp), Kotonoyado Musashino was superb, essentially midway between Todaiji and Kasuga Shrine.

I would do away with Lake Kawaguchiko. It is not particularly interesting and accommodation is very expensive. Mt Fuji does look incredible up close, but I wouldnt spend effectively 8 hours to see it. If you are lucky you can see Mt Fuji from the shinkansen (sit on the right hand side). Hakone would be a nice place to stay to break up your journey.

Lake Kawaguchiko can be very nice if (!) weather complies.
http://bicycletraveljapan.blogspot.com/2022/10/fuji-4-lakes-d1.html

If it doesn�ft there is no Fuji to see.
http://bicycletraveljapan.blogspot.com/2023/06/ride-out-to-fuji-rain-a...

So at a minimum I would keep it flexible. And cancel if rain / fog is forecasted.

In Hakone there are other things to enjoy if Fuji is shy.

For me overall your pace seems to be too fast. Doable but not necessarily enjoyable. (But I admit to being a specially slow Traveller) I am questioning all the changes in Kansai. Just stay in Kyoto and visit Osaka from there if you absolutely must.
However for Koyasan I think an overnight stay is better.

so the plan would be to make it weather depedend. if fuji forecast is good, do the long trip to lake kawaguchi, if not go directly to kyoto or stay 1 night @ hakone?

@Lazy Pious You make a fine point. Nara in the evening & early morning is wonderful and both those hotels you mention look great too, particularly Kotonoyado Musashino

Cheers Stan, you are a true gentleman