Itinerary advice

Hi,I'm a female traveller will spent 16days in Japan on my own start from this Sat,I still not make up my mind for the iternery!Too many things want to see..

I have a 14days JR pass, have been Tokyo before,so skip this time,this is my iternery now:

18/Oct: arrive Kansai 6:50pm, to Hostel about 9pm

19/Oct: Osaka day tour, stay same Hostel.

20/Oct: kyoto,see temples,stay Kyoto.

21/Oct:start JR pass, to Nara +Fushimi Inari+Iga Ueno, stay Kyoto

22/Oct:Himeji+Kobe+Amanohashidate,arrive Hioshima at night and
stay

23/Oct: Miyajima+Hioshima+Fukuoka stay overnight

24/Oct: Nagasaki+Fukuoka stay overnight

25/Oct:Beppu+Yufuin+Mt Aso +Shimabara(Unzen) +Kurokawa Onsen,don't know where stay overnight better?

26/Oct: back Fukuoka,go to Kyoto and stay mount Koya overnight

27/Oct: Takayama+Gero Onsen+Kiso Valley overnight

28/Oct: Kanazawa+Iga Ueno+Sirakawa-go and Gokayama(farmerhouse overnight)

29/Oct: go to Nikko,then at night go to Sendai,to Matsushima stay overnight

30/Oct: back to Yokohama+Hakone

31/Oct: Hakone

1/Nov: Fuji Five Lakes

2/Nov: Shibu Onsen,Yamanouchi town(snow monkey)

3/Nov:rest at Osaka and shopping, fly back Sydney

Do you think it's cando or not? And basically these are places I want to go, I hope it can be organized to a better order and can use my JR pass as much as I can.If I have to give up some place due to the limited time, where I should cancel?

thanks heaps!!

The itinerary is utterly impossible. Totally over-packed. You seem to completely ignore the time it takes to travel between the destinations.

I recommend to study the access sections of each of the destinations and consult a map of Japan.

I have just returned from some of the places
I would recommend staying in Nikko overnight there is a great place called he minshuku narasawa. Also it get to Mt Koya it takes 2-3 hours so it will would be a big rush from kyoto. It is such a a nice place so take your time. The travelling between places can be very tiring, Travel light as travelling with a bit siutcase is hard

we understand your desire to see as much of Japan as possible but this is impossible.Even the locals only know a few places well and will never see most of the rest of their own country. Have you visited all of your own native country? likely not. You are trying to visit Japan the way bike racers do the Tour de France: full speed ahead and everything is just a blur! Slow down. Only plan to see a few places and stay in a hotel for 3 or 4 days or more, taking short day trips from there.
Some strange planning: From Fukuoka to Mt Koya you don't have to go by Kyoto at all! stop at Shin-Osaka, take the mido-suji subway to Namba then take the combination (Nankai train + cable car + bus) to Koyasan (can't use JR for that one. there is a special pass). It will save time but it is still a long TIRING trip. Trying to visit Miyajima AND Hiroshima then go to Fukuoka in one day is also unrealistic. It can be done but then you will only have time for a quick look a places that deserve hours and hours.

I agree with Uji and Monkey See, you have a totally unrealistic itinerary. You will be spending most of your time getting from one place to the next. You need to cut down the places you want to see and check your transit times.

As above, many of your days are either completely impossible, or all you will have time to do in each place is change trains. Remember that it is dark between 5 and 5.30pm these days, so if you arrive late in the afternoon you won't see much of those places. You haven't left yourself much time to eat either!

For example you want to get from Gokayama to Nikko, see Nikko, then get to Sendai, and then Matsushima in one day? Maybe you could make it if you didn't actually want to see anything in Nikko. You are covering distances of hundreds of kilometers here, and much of it not by shinkansen. You need to cut out more than half of your itinerary for it to be even remotely possible.

I'm sure you want to see as much of Japan as you can, but you also want to enjoy your trip and see more than the inside of trains, right? Kyoto for example is worth at least 3 days, there is so much to see there.

I know my iternery is not realistice, but i feel sometimes hard to cancel the place you really like to go.I'm not a really temple person, i'd like nature and unique experience of Japan, like hot spring,vocalno,autumn leaves,food...,anyway I changed a bit my iternery here:

22/Oct,Himeji+Amanohashidate,then catch train at night to Hioshima stay overnight.(is it the right order?)

23/Oct,spend a few hours at hioshima city, then trip to Miyajima then catch train at night to Fukuoka stay overnight.

24&25/Oct,cancelled Nagasaki, go to Beppu+Mt Aso+Shimabara(Unzen)+Kurokawa,back to Beppu to Yufuin, then back to fukuoka at night.

26/Oct,leave Fukuoka to Kobe,stay a few hours then go to Mt. Koya stay overnight

27/Oct, Takayama+Gero Onsen(cancel??)+Kiso Valley overnight

28/Oct,Kiso Valley half day+Kanazawa(half day)+Sirakawa-go overnight,is it the right order??Is Sirakawa-go and Gokayama the same?

29/Oct,go to Nikko in earlier morning,then spend whole day there,maybe stayovernight

30/Oct,ealier morning go to Matsushima,whole day trip,stay overnight

31/Oct,ealier train to Yokohama, stay a few hours,then to Hakone in the afternoon and stay overnight.

1&2/Nov,Hakone & Fuji five lake, at night travel to Shibu Onsen stay overnight,
3/Nove,see snow monkey(is it the season can see them?)back to Osaka in the after noon, go to Kansai airport at night.

I know it's still very very packed, but if anyone can tell me anything seems repeat the caracter, I would like to cancel,or better route or better organizer, anyway any comments are apprecaited, and time is not far to go now...

Thank you all again!

I forgot to say, this trip I plan to "quick taste" japan, some places I interested I will stay longer, otherwise will just have a dip.Osaka or Kyoto I will have chance to go later for another coule of days, but other area of Japan I really don't know when I will go there again,that's why I didn't stay Osaka or Kyoto too long.

Another thing is, this is just a "big" iternery,I hope to get as more details as I can in case I have time to go, but if by the time of my trip I will for sure change it anytime.Please give me more advices how to make this trip, including the order of the place, which transport I can take, or I'd better go with a day tour in some place will be easier?

any comments for this draft plan is much appreciate,I will try to travel in ealier morning and night after dark to save time.that means I really need to be very orgnized to make it happen to most place:)

thanks

oz,

Please, please check the travel time required. For example, for:

22/Oct,Himeji+Amanohashidate,then catch train at night to Hioshima stay overnight.(is it the right order?)

Starting from Kyoto, if you catch the direct train to Amanohashidate, it take abotu 2 hours. Earliest direct train is 9:23 Kyoto - 11:26 Amanohashidate. Then you stay there only for one hour or so (not much time to do/see anything) but return back to Osaka, let's say, on 13:50 Amanohashidate - Kyoto - Osaka 16:43. Then you take a rapid train to Himeji... but it's already dark that you can't see anything - you can't see Amanohashidate decently, and you can't see Himeji castle. Almost every day you have is like that... so "just a taste" or not, please check the travel time and make it a doable and enjoyable trip.

I just have a close look at the location of the places I want to go in the map, I really feel I messed up all over those places,I have to re-plan via the map, and timetable of the train.

Anyway if anyone would like to put those places in a right order will be great,or any places I mentioned you recon can be cut off?

We went to Kyushu this past summer for 10 days by car and it's lovely and we could easily have spent 12-13 days. Therefore, in your re-planning, I would suggest you leave out Kyushu altogether for another trip and just concentrate on the main Japanese island of Honshu this time. Even so and seeing that you'll be travelling by train, I would further suggest you go as far north of Nikko (if you must) and cut out Matsushima and Sendai which is too out of your way. Even this way I am not sure if you'll have time to include Mount Koya, ie: you may have to trade off Nikko for Mt Koya, this is upto you after you've looked at guidebooks etc to see which of these 2 suits you best. You would have a much more enjoyable and meaningful trip this way, afterall, this is a holiday, right !!

I agree with the above post by lccl - Kyushu is a big place on its own, and you can save it for a later trip in the future.

If you look up "suggested itinerary" on this site for 15 nights, this is what you get:
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2400_osaka_14.html

... you will notice that Kyushu and Tohoku (Matsushima and Sendai) are not included.

If you are not a "temple" person, maybe you can skip Kamakura (it's about gardens and zen style - pretty spartan in my view - temples), somehow squeeze in Amanohashidate instead (I hear it's a beautiful place, though I've never been there)...