Itinerary November

Dear all,

Our first trip to Japan was for 1 week only and led us to Tokyo and surroundings (Nikko, Kamakura and Hakone).
Now we are planning our second trip to Japan from 10 to 30 November.

The tentative itinerary is as follows:

- 10 Nov: flight from Zurich to Osaka
- 11 Nov (Sunday): arrival, stay in Osaka
- 12 Nov: travel to Fukuoka
- 13 Nov: Sumo in Fukuoka
- 14 Nov: travel to Beppu
- 15 Nov: stay in Beppu
- 16 Nov (Friday): travel to Kurokawa Onsen
- 17 Nov (Saturday): stay in Kurokawa Onsen
- 18 Nov: travel to Hiroshima
- 19 Nov: daytrip to Miyajima
- 20 Nov: travel to Okayama and Kurashiki (stay in Kurashiki)
- 21 Nov: Travel via Himeiji to Kyoto
- 22 Nov: Kyoto
- 23 Nov: Kyoto
- 24 Nov (Saturday): 2-day-trip to Koya-san
- 25 Nov (Sunday): Koya-san hiking, back to Kyoto
- 26 Nov: Kyoto
- 27 Nov: daytrip to Arashiyama
- 28 Nov: Kyoto
- 29 Nov: Osaka
- 30 Nov: flight back home


The thinking was as follows:
We would like to have the best possible koyo experience and would also like to have an easygoing AND varied stay.
We might come back for sakura next year. So if there are places mentioned above that are better in spring, please let me know. On the other side: if there are places especially beautiful in November that I have not included in the itinerary please let me also know. It would be great to attend the sumo basho on whatever date though.

Unfortunately, this is on short notice so we haven't done any hotel bookings. I tried to avoid Kyoto at weekends hoping that Koya-san might be less crowded, but I guess it might be difficult. - Is it still realistic to do this trip if I had time to do all the bookings this week?

- Does the itinerary make sense?
- Is the transportation easy to arrange (especially in the region Fukuoka – Beppu – Kurokawa Onsen – Hiroshima)?
- If we were too late for arranging a ryokan room in Kurokawa Onsen – would there be a good alternative somewhere on our route?


I would really appreciate your advice.

Best,
bumblebee

Hi. I think your itinerary looks fine. Be sure to visit the yatai (food stand) street in Hakata. I would also strongly recommend an overnight stay in Miyajima, if you can find a room, that is.

You are traveling to very popular destinations during peak period and the best advice I can give you is to start booking hotels and ryokans NOW, especially for Kyoto. I've checked availabilities at my favorite places in Miyajima and Kyoto and they are booked solid for the entire month of November.

Thank you for your reply. "Book NOW" sounds extremely urgent (nothing else than expected). But before confirming my flight bookings for Japan and before fixing everything I would like to make sure that it is really possible to stick to my plans:

Is there a possibility to get an overview of all available hotels in Kyoto?
If I tried it with every single hotel or ryokan that does not provide availability checks on its homepage, I would lose precious time waiting for the individual answers.

So how best to do this? I know this sounds rather green, but in fact I have never been in such a situation, especially not in countries which language I could neither read nor write.

If I cannot find an appropriate room in Kyoto for all the days planned – which places are good alternatives nearby?

Best,

You can check availablity on these sites:

http://travel.rakuten.co.jp/en/

http://www.tripadvisor.com/

If you can't find what you are looking for in Kyoto, I'd suggest you look into Osaka.

If you have difficulties finding accomodation in Kyoto choose Osaka or ShinOsaka station. When I could not find acc during Gion festival I stayed at Hotel shin Osaka http://www.hso.jp/index_e.html. It is opposite east exit of Shin Osaka station, nothing special but clean and it is only 14 min by shinkansen ( if you have JR Pass ) or 30 min and Yen 540 by rapid train to Kyoto.

I was foolhardy enough to confirm our flight bookings though it proves difficult to get an affordable hotel in Kyoto. Yesterday I tried almost all day.

Are there chances in Japan itself to find rooms with the tourist service? (no-shows, accommodation without connection to international bookingcentres �c) As you can see, we will arrive in Japan 10 days before we actually need the Kyoto accommodation.

Or any other precious tip? We would rather not travel all the way from Osaka every day.

Maybe they can find you somthing locally, but this too means outside Kyoto or at a high rate. Sorry to mention, but 14 to 30 min to commute from ShinOsaka station to Kyoto station is not that bad. If you have an accommodation in Kyoto it can be 30 min busride, too to reach a specific sight.

http://www.itcj.jp/index.html

I find their site really hard to navigate but it's worth a try.

They have an office in Kyoto (9F Kyoto Station Building; see "How to Use Our Service" for hours). You could always go there in person and if they can't find anything in Kyoto, they'd probably send you off to Osaka.

I agree with Peter that sometimes, it can be much more convenient to stay close to a major JR station in Osaka than to stay somewhere way out of the way in Kyoto. Trains run pretty late into the evening (midnight?) so you could still have dinner in Kyoto and find your way back to Osaka.

Thanks for your advise and recommendation, Peter, and yes, I agree with you and aoi: it does make sense to consider hotels close to the station. I will have a look there, too.

At the moment the itinerary is as follows:

- 11 Nov (Sunday): arrival in Japan, stay in Osaka
- 12 Nov: Koya-san
- 13 Nov: Koya-san, late afternoon back to Osaka
- 14 Nov: travel to Fukuoka
- 15 Nov: Fukuoka (Sumo basho)
- 16 Nov: ?
- 17 Nov: ?
- 18 Nov: ?
- 19 Nov: ?
- 20 Nov: ?
- 21 Nov: Kyoto
- 22 Nov: Kyoto
- 23 Nov: travel to Tokyo
- 24 Nov: Tokyo
- 25 Nov: Tokyo
- 26 Nov: travel to Kyoto
- 27 Nov: Kyoto
- 28 Nov: Kyoto
- 29 Nov: Kyoto and/or Osaka
- 30 Nov: flight back home

It was difficult to get accommodation in Kyoto, so I had to re-arrange my itinerary.
And 4 days in onsen towns would be too long anyway.

Do you have any good ideas what to do after Fukuoka and before Kyoto ?
I would really appreciate your advise.

By

Hi bumblebee ,
Probably I can help you with one double room in kyoto for two days 27/28 Nov.Please email me directly.
nizora@gmail.com

Thanks a lot, Liem, but I was really lucky and after some good hard work of searching I was able to find accommodation in Kyoto. So this is okay now.

I just need some new ideas on those 5 days.
I have got Tokyo and Osaka, tempel and shrines in Kyoto. Now I am looking for some additional aspects, i.e. beautiful onsens and small towns that are worth going there and which are suitable for those days.

I realise that no one recommends staying a few days to exploring osaka. Is there a reason for this? Also pls advise if it is worthwhile visiting Kyoto if one does not like temples & castles. We will be visiting Osaka castle. Many thanks!

hi Susie,
If temples aren't your thing, Osaka has two attractions that I really enjoyed last year. One if the MASSIVE aquarium - supposedly withthe world's largest aquarium tank, with a whale shark featuring. This is an impressive attraction if you have a remote interest in wildlife.
Also the Umeda Sky Building is very impressive modern architecture and offers a great view all around. I did these in a half day side trip from Kyoto.
Osaka also has 'Spa World' billed as the world's largest spa (on my list for next time!), Universal Studios and the Suntory Museum (near the aquarium).

Thanks Sarah for the tip. Am working on my itinerary and will visit the place you mentioned :).

What happened to Miyajima/Hiroshima? I know it's hard to find a place to stay in Miyajima throughout the month of November but there must be something available in Hiroshima.

Have you considered Kanazawa? One of my favorites cities in Japan.

If you have extra days to explore the region near Kanazawa, Noto peninsula is beautiful. There are a few onsen towns around there too; some are very well known while others are tucked away. Ishikawa is known for its bad weather though so do expect rain.

Another way to spend 5 days is going to Shikoku. It's off the beaten path for foreign visitors but I've always wanted to go there.

RE: Osaka, its biggest attraction is food. I try to squeeze in at least 5 meals a day while I'm there.

Kanazawa, Noto, combined with Takayama and maybe Shokawa Valley or Matsumoto - that seems to be a great part of the country. It seems definitely worthwhile to do this !
But I doubt that 4-5 days would be time enough for that.
What do you think?

So you're thinking about going to Kanazawa/Noto and Hida-Takayama in 5 days? I think that's doable...it'd be a little rushed and you'd have to plan out the transportation well but they aren't all that far from each other (Kanazawa to Takayama is about 2 hours on express train).

So you're thinking about going to Kanazawa/Noto and Hida-Takayama in 5 days?

I am just trying to pick up alternative options. I will have to evaluate them in the end. One thing is certain: I don't want to have too tight a schedule.

You don't have to stay in Kyoto to see Kyoto, you can always commute from near by Kobe or Nara (even from Osaka) via train(fast).
Also your first plan looked OK and I don't understand what your other questions are so I can't help you much.
Another way to tour while in Kyoto or other places since there is language problem is to hire a taxi tour if money isn't too much of an issue (it's not too expensive). They have English speaking drivers probably even German. Taxi tour in Kyoto covers quite a few areas.
Example:http://www3.ocn.ne.jp/%7Edoitaxi/
Also look into tour buses which is available just about to anywhere in Japan.