December ideas, no onsen, no snow

Hi, Looking for late Dec trip ideas, fly into Tokyo, week trip...

Seeking rural, small city experience, lesser traveled.....no snow, onsen or festivals

Thanks, PH

Tsumago / Magome (Nakasendo)?
Potential for a bit of snow, but usually not much. No onsen, no festival (although new years? Travel chaos�c.), and great old town Japan feel

Agreed. Not much chance of snow but possible I suppose. We spent 3 days at Kiso Fukushima earlier this year and used it as a launch pad for Narai and Magime (both better on the weekend IMO), i would do it again for sure

close to Tokyo and rural but no snow and no onsen:
Chichibu
Sawara
Izu peninsula
Kamakura
Enoshima
Hakone (okay there are onsen, but there are so many other things as well)
Karuizawa (probably no snow yet)
Fujigoko
Nikko
�c

When it comes to onsen - apart from locations like Noboribetsu or Kusatsu Onsen - they tend to be the icing on the top of the cake.

Snow is not common but note that Japan does not like following set rules - so expect snow as a possibility in many places.

Can you be a bit more specific with stuff that you like to do.

Also - are you willing to hire a car as this really significantly opens up smaller towns in Japan. Two areas which are ripe for the picking are Shikoku (I know it's slightly annoying to get to) along with driving around Lake Biwako.

Thanks for ideas, all great, been to most

Don't like crowds, but stayed in Narai, Nakasendo.....did part, enjoyed it, surprisingly most visitors went "up", we went "down", encountered very few walkers

Have driven, love Shikoku, Iya valley, loved small islands off Shimanami Kaido

Looking for small village, with restaurants, to chill.....no excitement needed

PH

I like Yoshino, though it is quite steep. I'm not sure about restaurants at night as we stayed at a ryokan. But when we went a few weeks ago, it was nice and not many foreign tourists especially compared to koyasan.

We are at Hikone at the moment. It isn't a small village but it is nice to chill here. This is our third visit and we would come back.

Hi Lazy Pious, interested in why you think Narai / Magome are better in the weekend. More lively?
I went there once a long time ago, I am sure things have changed. Planning to go to Tsumago in 3 weeks time, but on a week day. Thanks

Lol, waiting at Kansai for my plane...yep dead as a doornail during the week, we spent like an hour top's at Narai in Feb on a Friday, Magome was pumping on the Saturday but Tsumago was dead by the time we got there at 3pm.

Had a similar experience visiting during the week several years back, nothing is open and it really doesn't have a fun vibe.

Looking for areas nearer to Tokyo, flying into Narita or Haneda

Sawara is a gem, very few international visitors....somewhere similar is what I'm looking for