First trip to Japan

Hi everyone,

I would like help from more knowledgeable Japan travelers:

I'm booking a trip to Japan to coincide with the Formula 1 race in 2024 and would also like to visit some of the main sites in Japan.
The itinerary I have come up with thus far is at the bottom; Please let me know if this is doable/advisable, or if I should revise to make it possible. My wife and I would like to see lots of nature and I can extend a bit if necessary.

Thank you in advance for the sage advice!

3/29/24 Friday FLL - HND flight
3/30/24 Saturday Tokyo
3/31/24 Sunday Tokyo
4/1/24 Monday Tokyo
4/2/24 Tuesday Hakone
4/3/24 Wednesday. Kanazawa
4/4/24 Thursday Kanazawa
4/5/24 Friday Nagoya - Suzuka F1
4/6/24 Saturday Nagoya - Suzuka F1
4/7/24 Sunday Nagoya - Suzuka F1
4/8/24 Monday Kyoto
4/9/24 Tuesday Kyoto
4/10/24 Wednesday. Kyoto
4/11/24 Thursday Osaka
4/12/24 Friday Osaka
4/13/24 Saturday Koyosan
4/14/24 Sunday Tokyo
4/15/24 Monday NRT - FLL flight

Fred

Looks in principle okay

If it were me
- Ifd move Hakone between Osaka and Tokyo
- delete Osaka and add nights to Kyoto (you can easily do Osaka as a daytrip from Kyoto)
- if you move Hakone you can either add more time to Tokyo or add a stop on Takayama on your way to Nagoya

I was going to say the same as @Likebike. Stay in Kyoto & do a day trip to Osaka & maybe one to Nara. Other than that it looks good (although I couldnt do all three days at the GP :O◡O )

Just one note in addition to what the two previous posters have already mentioned.
For Suzuka, be sure to plan well your transport to the circuit. The whole area gets quite crowded with spectators heading there.

Your trip plan looks great to me because it doesn't app0ear busy at all but it offers flexibility instead. Travelers often find a particular city enchanting (or boring) and may want to extend (or shorten) their stay, but this can be difficult due to a fixed itinerary. However, in your plan, you'll have the freedom to easily extend or shorten your stay in each city.

If I were to make a recommendation, I would suggest visiting Nara. It's accessible from both Kyoto and Osaka, and many foreigners visit there on a day trip. However, if you have enough time, it's worth exploring Nara Park, famous for its deer, in the early morning after one night stay.

I concur with the others regarding allocating some time to see Nara - even half a day to see Nara Park is good. Also you really don't need to switch hotels between Osaka & Kyoto - it is quite troublesome and the cities are just 30 minutes apart anyway. I do suggest you keep Hakone though if you want to see the sights there. Almost all your itinerary is big cities, and it is good to mix in some more rural places as well.
For Koyasan, look into their World Heritage Ticket to save money. You can pay a bit extra if you want to take a ltd express train there. You only need a full day to see the main sights there. If going on a weekend especially, then I suggest you get your accommodations squared away well ahead of time. The crown jewel there is Okunoin, and if you want to see it at night as well as the day (a real different experience), then be sure to pick a temple with no evening curfew. Some travelers there have grumbled that the Buddhist vegetarian food left them hungry again later at night. You might want to bring a few snacks with you too. There is one convenience store in the whole place.
https://youtu.be/uquvCbWANBo

So far you've only listed cities to base yourself out of, but the real work is what you'll do in those cities or surroundings.
The one issue nobody has touched on yet is that you might be able to see some cherry blossoms at the start of your trip, and at the end, it is also the season for tulips, and the shibazakura at Chichibu and near Mt Fuji. For tulips, the Showa Kinen Park is one excellent place for them, as well as in Chiba, the Sakura Furusato Hiroba. For the shibazakura, they bloom earlier at Chichibu. You should check on the times they come out and there can be some variation from year to year - it is best to keep your schedule flexible and always have a back-up plan. Some days you will have some rain to deal with.

Thank you all for the suggestions and for reviewing my itinerary.

Based on the suggestions you so kindly made I revised slightly our itinerary as follows, Please let me know if I missed anything important or if we should stay an extra night anywhere.

Thank you again for your kind advice!

3/27/24 Wednesday FLL HND /flight

3/28/24 Thursday Tokyo

3/29/24. Friday Tokyo

3/30/24. Saturday Tokyo

3/31/24 Sunday Tokyo - Side trip to Niko?

4/1/24 Monday Tokyo - Kagayaki Shinkansen to Kanazawa

4/2/24 Tuesday Kanazawa

4/3/24 Wednesday Kanazawa to Takyama via Shirakawago

4/4/24 Thursday Takayama to Nagoya

4/5/24 Friday Nagoya - Suzuka F1

4/6/24 Saturday Nagoya - Suzuka F1

4/7/24 Sunday Nagoya - Suzuka F1

4/8/24 Monday Nagoya to Kyoto

4/9/24 Tuesday Kyoto

4/10/24 Wednesday Kyoto

4/11/24 Thursday Kyoto - Side trip to Osaka or Himeji?

4/12/24 Friday Koyosan

4/13/24 Saturday Koyosan

4/14/24 Sunday Koyosan to Hakone or Osaka?

4/15/24 Monday Hakone to Tokyo

4/16/24 Tuesday NRT - FLL flight

I could add one more day to Kyoto and move the return flight one day alter to visit Nara.

I'm still pretty flexible on departure and return dates.

Thanks again for the help!

Fred

If you can stay longer in Japan, then allocate more time to Kyoto.

Now you have 2 nights in Koyasan. That seems a bit too much unless you have some hiking planned from there.

The one gproblem g with Koyasan is its remoteness. It takes somewhere between 6-7h to get from Koyasan to Hakone. Around 4 h to Kyoto and around 3 h to Osaka.

So think carefully what it is you want to experience in Koyasan. Maybe there are other places that are somewhat easier to reach to have a similar experience.
I went once many years ago (before it was on the gmust do listh of many tourists) and I still remember the cemetery and the Buddhist food in the temple lodging. While the temples themselves, well, in my memory they have merged with millions of otger remote , countryside temples I have seen.

If Koyasan stays on your list youfll either need to swallow the 6-7 h trip to Hakone or break up your trip somewhere in the middle. Many people use Osaka for that but I would not recommend Osaka, unless you plan to stay that day as long as possible in Koyasan and arrive only in the evening in Osaka. For me the only interesting thing in Osaka is having dinner. So you could scrap the side trip from Kyoto to Osaka and have you Osaka night after Koyasan.
If you want to depart Koyasan a bit earlier you could make it maybe until Hikone (not Hakone) and see the castle there. Sure, not as impressive as the one in Himeiji, but also less tourists.

WAAAAYYYY too long at Koya-san. One night is enough. Even the monks know it is a turn-over of tourists "factory". Koya to Hakone is still a long trip, but the original had you going back to Tokyo.
Osaka as a day trip from Kyoto is ok.

So Kyosan is all about seeing Temples and staying at something other than a big city, if I can accomplish that elsewhere I'm all for it, please suggest

I'll make sure to add more time in Kyoto and remove time from Tokyo, if it was in season I would want to do the alpine route but we will be there before it opens on the 15th.

Hiroshima has been suggested but it wasn't high on my list, perhaps a place I can see blossos?

Thanks again for the suggestions, you all are great!

Fred

You can visit Koyasan as a day trip from Osaka. I actually did it from Kyoto and found it to be quite manageable. I wasnft particularly wowed by the temples I visited, but I was completely wowed by the Okunoin Cemetery. Best-of-Japan level, and well worth a trip in my opinion. (And I donft buy into all the business about needing to go there at night. It is stupendous when the sun is out, and you can see a lot more at that time.) You can see the cemetery and do a significant amount of hiking (definitely experiencing nature) in a day trip from Osaka (or Kyoto, if you are willing to leave early), and then you will be much closer to Hakone. Visit some temples if you want, but Koya-san is definitely not just about temples and shukubo stays.

If you want to add more nature to your itinerary, there are places in Kyoto where you can do it (go for some hikes). Also, have you looked at Mie Prefecture? There are some very nice places to experience nature there (such as the Iseji of Kumano Kodo and the Ise Shima area). This is close to Suzaka, although it might not be practical for commuting to the F1 venue; I donft know anything about that. But anyway, I think that Mie is one of the most under-rated prefectures in Japan. I have had some really wonderful times there myself. It might be a better choice than Takayama and Kanazawa, and itfs a lot closer to Nagoya. Reasonably close to Kyoto, too. You do have to plan your transit carefully, as the trains donft run all that often. (Often enough if you plan, though.)

There is nothing wrong with Hakone, Kanazawa, and Takamatsu, but they are very heavily touristed places, and unlike Kyoto, donft have a bazillion excellent places where you can go to get away from the crowds, which could be pretty oppressive at the time of year when you are going. The Kii Peninsula (Mie and Wakayama) is a nice alternative if you like nature, seafood, and less crowded sites.

Possible alternatives to Koyasan:
- Hirayu onsen instead of Takayama (only if you like onsen as well). Probably no temples to speak about but a lot of nature and onsen
- Chichibu area. Either as day trip from Tokyo ior overnight. A lot 33??? temples and nature. You can even have a temple stay there.
- Bessho onsen. On your way from Tokyo to Kanazawa. Replacing Takayama. Temples and onsen. And nature
- Shuzenji on Izu peninsula both for onsen and nature. Could potentially replace Hakone. Or do before Hakone.
- Nikko as an overnight side trip from Tokyo. Temples , shrines and if you go up to the lake a lot of nature. Plus there are also onsen.
- Dorogawa onsen. Nature , small village and onsen, stay in old ryokan
- Yoshino , nature , village , very possible as day trip, later Hanami )sorry donft remember if you are there early or late.
- in case you are in Japan early (end of Feb about) Kawazu on Izu peninsula for the Sakura. Nature and onsen on the coast overlooking the sea.
I guess I could go onc nothing bad about Koyasan except its remoteness which has NOT lead to it being void of tourists. Out of the list above Koyasan is the most difficult to reach but gets loads of tourists.
Only Nikko gets more but itfs a much bigger place. Although I have admit that the amount of tourists at Toshugu I run into a few weeks ago on a normal working day was off putting.
http://bicycletraveljapan.blogspot.com/2023/09/sw2023-d4-kinugawaonsen...

Note that I donft mention Magome and Tsumago. I havenft been in probably 15 years and from the amount of time I hear them popping up on this forum In itineraries they sound very overwhelmed by tourists now.

Your itinerary already has various sites to visit,
but still I suggest Matsumoto and Yoshino,
on the condition that you extend the itinerary by one day.

Cherry blossoms, on the average,
are best seen from early-to-mid - April at these two places.

- Matsumoto
https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e6050.html
- Yoshino
https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e4150.html

Also, I would shift Takayama to around April the 14th.
The spring Takayama Festival [Takayama Matsuri]
is held on April the 14th and the 15th.

- Takayama Festival
https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e5909.html

My idea for your itinerary
(after a few days in Tokyo) is shown below.

Here I choose Tsu instead of Nagoya as a gateway to Suzuka,
add Matsumoto, Yoshino and Kobe,
and skip Shirakawa-go,
which sounds better during winter to visit.

Tsu City is Mie Prefecture's capital.
JR-Central, Kintetsu Railway and Ise Tetsudo
each have Tsu Station, sharing the same venue.

Kobe is known well for many things,
and the night view is one of them.

- Kobe
https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2159.html

----

Idea for your itinerary:

Apr. 1 (Monday)
: Matsumoto.
: Kanazawa in the evening.

Apr. 2 (Tuesday)
: Kanazawa.
: Kyoto in the evening.

Apr. 3 (Wednesday)
: Kyoto.

Apr. 4 (Thursday)
: Yoshino.
: Tsu in the evening.

Apr. 5 (Friday),
Apr. 6 (Saturday),
Apr. 7 (Sunday)
: Suzuka F1.
: Tsu in the evening.

Apr. 8 (Monday)
: Nara.
: Osaka in the evening.

Note:
Kintetsu Rail Pass (5-day) can be used
for Kyoto -- Yoshino,
Yoshino -- Tsu,
Tsu -- Kintestu-Nara
and Kintestu-Nara -- Osaka-Namba;
you pay additionally the surcharge for Limited Express.
https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2357_006.html

Apr. 9 (Tuesday)
: Koyasan.
: Osaka in the evening.

Apr. 10 (Wednesday)
: Himeji until around noon.
: Kobe until the early night.
: Kyoto in the night.

Apr. 11 (Thursday)
: Kyoto.

Apr. 12 (Friday)
: Kyoto.

Apr. 13 (Saturday)
: Takayama.

Apr. 14 (Sunday)
: Spring Takayama Festival - Day 1.
: Kyoto in the evening.

Apr. 15 (Monday)
: Hakone.
: Tokyo in the night.

Apr. 16 (Tuesday)
: Tokyo.

Apr. 17 (Wednesday)
: NRT.

Re: Idea for your itinerary

To stay overnight before heading to Hakone,
Nagoya sounds better than Kyoto.

Apr. 14 (Sunday)
: Spring Takayama Festival - Day 1.
: Nagoya in the evening.

First of all, you all have been so great! thank you! Thank you for the suggestion of the Mie prefecture and Tsu!
Ok, so I did a fair amount of soul searching and thinking and reading all the suggestions about this trip and I came up with a couple of different thoughts:

1 - avoid changing hotels too many times
2 -Kanazawa was pushing the travel times and maybe I should leave it for a future trip.
3 - I am a car guy, that is why I'm going to the F1 race so I'd like to get a car rental instead of doing trains.

With those in mind and with suggestions from all of you I came up with the following itinerary, which by having the car allows me to do as many or as few side trips as I would like. Please poke holes on my crazy idea... and since I have a car I can stay in even more remote and small cities, which I would like.

3/28/23 Thursday FLL HND /flight
3/29/24 Friday Tokyo
3/30/24 Saturday Tokyo
3/31/24 Sunday Tokyo - Side trip to Niko? train
4/1/24 Monday Tokyo - hire car - to Hakone
4/2/24 Tuesday Hakone
4/3/24 Wednesday Hakone to Tsu
4/4/24 Thursday Tsu Area - Mie prefecture- sightseeing
4/5/24 Friday Tsu - Suzuka F1
4/6/24 Saturday Tsu - Suzuka F1
4/7/24 Sunday Tsu - Suzuka F1
4/8/24 Monday Tsu Area - Mie prefecture- sightseeing
4/9/24 Tuesday Tsu to Kyoto
4/10/24 Wednesday Kyoto
4/11/24 Thursday Kyoto - side trip to Osaka
4/12/24. Friday Kyoto - side trip to Nara
4/13/24 Saturday Kyoto to Takayama
4/14/24 Sunday Takayama
4/15/24 Monday Takayama to Tokyo - return car
4/16/24. Tuesday Tokyo
17-Apr NRT - FLL flight

Thank you all again for helping a newbie to Japan!

Fred

You may find the car to be a major nuisance in Kyoto and Osaka. Possibly you could rent one just for the time you are in Mie Prefecture? It might be handy in Hakone and Takayama, but I get the impression that most tourists use public transit to get to and around those areas. (But I have no first-hand experience renting cars anywhere in Japan.)

You might find some ideas in the following Japan Guide article.
https://www.japan-guide.com/ad/central-japan/190318.html

Toba and Ise are other logical places to explore when you are in the area. The car will likely be quite useful for that.

Generally speaking a car is useful in Japan in rural areas where no trains pass or the frequency of the train is low.
A car is an expensive hindrance in cities because traffic is slow and parking expensive (there is no free parking in cities)
A car is slow for long distance compared to express trains (and obviously Shinkansen)

I frankly donft remember the traffic rule in Japan (should look that up though, now that I got myJapanese driving license a few weeks agoc). But max speed on highways is I think 100 km/h and on non highways I think 80 km/h. Yes, most people on the highway drive a bit faster ( maybe around und 120 km/h) but technically thatfs speeding and for me that still feels like crawling along like a snail.

So as PP said a car in Mie prefecture might be a good idea. For your longer distances it is not. If you want to travel by car your gneedh to go to more rural locations.
Please also consider that if you drop off the car in a different area than where you rented it there will be a considerable surcharge.
A car in Hakone , although one could think of it as gruralh to me seems a hinderance as the fun of Hakone is to do g the looph with all those different transport including a ship and 2 gondolas and a small train that rides in zigzag up a hill thru lush green. Specially on a weekend cars are mainly stuck in traffic in Hakone.

and all this without mentioning the express way fee.

I have rented cars in Japan, so I am not ideologically opposed to cars and I also donft think that driving in Japan is complicated not even in the city. But while a car rental in many other holiday destinations (nearly everywhere in Europe, the USc) is a no brainer for me, a car in Japan is a punctual need but for longer distances and cities trains are better (or flights for real long distance).

Hello again, thank you everyone who has helped me so far!
I took a few days working on the trip, dropped the car idea, and booked most of the hotel ( listed in the itinerary). At my wife's mandate, I did try to minimize changing cities and hotels.
Below is what is currently booked. Thanks to suggestions here I looked into the Mei Prefecture for places to stay for the F1 race, and Tsu is booked but I got a Ryokan in Ise which I think will work fine for the race and should be great for sightseeing.
I would love suggestions for an area to stay in Tokyo for the final couple of days, I don't mind having to book an airport shuttle or limo to get to the airport on the last day. May also want to book an airport shuttle when we arrive to make the first jet lagged and full of luggage transfer easy, and also to make the wife happy before making her walk and watch F1 races ;-).
Also suggestions for places to visit or side trips from the cities where we are staying, and any pointers as far as tickets for trains I could buy in advance of the trip or that I need to get in Japan.


thanks again for the help!
Date. City where sleeping and hotel City activity
3/28/23 Thursday FLL HND /flight
3/29/24 Friday -Tokyo - Solaria Nishitetsu Hotel Ginza 6PMTokyo
3/30/24 Saturday - Tokyo -Solaria Nishitetsu Hotel Ginza Tokyo
3/31/24 Sunday - Tokyo - Solaria Nishitetsu Hotel Ginza Tokyo - Side trip to Niko?
4/1/24 Monday - Hakone - Yoshiike Ryokan Tokyo - to Hakone
4/2/24 Monday - Hakone - Yoshiike Ryokan Hakone
4/3/24 Monday - Hakone - Yoshiike Ryokan Hakone side trip to Fuji
4/4/24 Thursday -Ise - Isegekusando Iseshinsen Hakone to Ise
4/5/24 Friday - Ise - Isegekusando Iseshinsen Ise - Suzuka F1
4/6/24 Saturday-Ise - Isegekusando Iseshinsen Ise - Suzuka F1
4/7/24 Sunday -Ise - Isegekusando Iseshinsen Ise - Suzuka F1
4/8/24 Monday-Ise - Isegekusando Iseshinsen Ise - sightseeing
4/9/24 Tuesday - Kyoto - Kinoe Ryokan Ise to Kyoto
4/10/24 Wednesday- - Kyoto - Kinoe Ryokan Kyoto
4/11/24 Thursday- Kyoto - Kinoe Ryokan Kyoto - side trip to Osaka
4/12/24 Friday- Kyoto Kinoe Ryokan Kyoto - side trip to Nara
4/13/24 Saturday-- Kyoto - Kinoe Ryokan Kyoto
4/14/24 Sunday - Takayama -Ryokan Sansui Kyoto to Takayama
4/15/24 Monday - Takayama-Ryokan Sansui Takayama
4/16/24 Tuesday - Takayama-Ryokan Sansui Takayama to Tokyo
4/17/24 Wednesday- Tokyo Tokyo
4/18/24 Thursday - Tokyo Tokyo
4/19/24 Flight Tokyo - HND - FLL Flight 6PM