Where to continue? 1 month trip, March-April

Hi everyone,

In the end of March (23rd) I'll fly to Tokyo with my girlfriend. We have two weeks together and then I continue solo for another two weeks.

We start in Tokyo and end in Osaka with Nara and Kyoto in between (might squeeze in more if necessary). We currently didn't plan anything in the area between Tokyo and Kyoto.

From Osaka I have additional 13 days to go wherever I want.

I checked the "Japanese Alps" area but it seems like it might be too cold, same for Hokkaido at the beginning to mid April (I might be wrong, so don't exclude it if I am)

I assume I should continue to Kobe, Himeji, Hiroshima (+Miyajima) and the area, but that won't be 13 days, perhaps 5-6, that leaves me another week to explore!

Any ideas of where else should I continue to?
My flight back is from Tokyo but don't plan too much around it, I'll manage.

Thank you!

P.S.

Ive read a few "one month itinerary" and many of them were a mess, people going back and forth with the JR and burn days over days... Also many aren't in April and so not fit the weather in certain areas.

30 Days in Japan: Here is some idea
Day 1, 2, 3: Buy JR Tokyo wide pass 3 day = 15000 yen valid narita,haneda Airport, nikko

Day 4, 5, 6, 7, 8: buy greater tokyo pass 5 day
7200 yen,valid odawara,saitama,yokohama

Day 9=buy odakyu 1 day pass=2000 yen
Valid odawara, shinjuku etc

Day 10 = buy yurikamome 1 day pass 820yen
This will give you lifetime experience

Since you are from Germany, I recommend Ryukyu islands (Okinawa) which is the sub-tropical area. April is the best season for Okinawa and the season is called Urizun, not so hot or rainy. Ishigaki is very popular and you can take cheap flight (around 10000 yen one way) from Osaka and to Tokyo.

Well, depends all on your interests. But you can easily fill 2 weeks south of Osaka. (I could fill 2 weeks in Kyoto/Nara/Biwa lake area easily)...

So you could do what you already wrote and then go and explore Shikoku (easily 1 week)
Or go over to the Sea of Japan cost (Hagi, Matsue, Tottori...), again easily a week. You could potentially work all your way up to Fukui from where there will be a shinkansen back to Tokyo.
Or you could continue working your way South into Kyushu and e.g. fly from Kagoshima back to Tokyo and then out.

Obviously Okinawa is also a good suggestion.

Thanks frog1954!
I've read so meh comments around here for Okinawa so wasn't sure if I should spend my time here, I thought that since Honshu is nice in April I should focus on it.
If you'd restrict yourself to Honshu, where would you go?

I'm not original from Germany so I'm not as obsessed with sunny beachy destinations as the OG Germans 😂

Kurashiki: https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e5750.html
Onomichi: https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3475.html
Higashi-hiroshima (Saijo), see Day 2 of this journal: https://www.japan-guide.com/ad/hiroshima/
Fukuoka (Hakata): https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2161.html
Beppu: https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e4700.html
etc.

If you'd restrict yourself to Honshu, where would you go?

If you really mean only Honshu (excluding Shikoku and Kyushu), west of Osaka, I would go to:

Mt. Yoshino: Famous for cherry mountain. It can be quite gorgeus if you hit the right time. I went there this April, but it was too late.

Nara: Including Ikaruga (Horyuji) and Asuka.

Matsue and Izumo: Lovely town of Matsue and Izumo shrine.

Oki island: Ferry from Sakaiminato or Shichirui. Beautiful landscape. Not so many tourists.

But note that April is the best season for Okinawa. Also Kyushu is good for driving.

The problem with April is that it is extreme high season for tourism. If it were me, I would want to seek out places that are not on all the Top Ten lists of places to go. This will make it easier to find accommodations that are not off the charts in terms of room rates and also make the sightseeing a lot more fun. I would plan a route that makes good use of one or more of the numerous rail passes that cover western Japan and all or part of Kyushu and/or Shikoku, and would use the pass(es) strategically so as to minimize my ticket cost for returning to Tokyo. (Flying back from Kagoshima or maybe Fukuoka is not a bad idea.) And I would also use the pass(es) strategically so as to minimize hotel changes (so possibly two to four �ghome bases�h with day trips that have longish round trip train trips, plus maybe a few �gone-night stands�h).

Note that I do not see train travel in Japan as a necessary evil. Although some parts of the shinkansen routes are relatively uninteresting in terms of scenery, many of the limited express trains cover really beautiful routes, and I enjoy listening to music and partaking of delicious food and beverages while watching the countryside go by. So I consider train riding, including some purely recreational train riding, to be mostly a pleasure and not a headache. Of course, I pick my trips (and hotel locations) carefully. As for the shinkansen, it is wickedly fast, which makes day trips to fairly distant places feasible if you pick hotels strategically.

The possibilities are endless, but I thought LikeBike�fs suggestions were good. Shikoku, the Sea of Japan side of Honshu, and Kyushu are exactly what came to my mind when I read your original question. To be honest, I would not go to Miyajima or Himeji in April, but if this is the only chance you will have to see those places and you don�ft mind crowds, then I suppose they would be okay.

One specific comment on rail passes: the Hokuriku Arch Pass, which used to be very hard to get value out of, is now the only rail pass that covers high-speed (shinkansen) rail from western Japan to Tokyo and that was not affected by the recent huge increase in price of the Japan Rail Pass. (The price of the Arch Pass went up a little recently, but not very much.) In March, the Hokuriku Shinkansen will be extended from Kanazawa to Tsuruga, which makes the Arch Pass even more attractive. (So the shinkansen part would start in Tsuruga, and it would take a bit longer than taking the Tokaido shinkansen from Osaka or Kyoto to Tokyo, but the pass would also cover many interesting stops along the way for a full 7-day period.)

Anyway the Hokuriku Arch Pass is one of the rail passes I would look seriously at, although I�fm not sure I would end up getting it. There are many other appealing options involving JR West and/or JR Kyushu passes.

Every time I've looked at visiting Okinawa it is a combination of long distances between attractions (and islands) with most things very spread out (aside from actually flying there). I'm not one to spend a week sitting doing nothing.
April is not too cold for the alps - my 31 day trip in April starts in Hokkaido and covers a lot of places in the north, but starting in Osaka, head south. Lots of suggestions above, but you can easily spend that time in Kyushu (Kagoshima, Nagasaki, Beppu, Hakata). Hiroshima is a nice city to visit. Or, if being ambitious, go across to the west coast and down the coastal route to Kyushu.
And, just on the Tokyo Wide pass that is mentioned above - hugely expensive, very bad value, only for niche uses. And the other Tokyo pass mentioned is also quite niche and not very useful for most visitors.