Advice on order of itinerary

Hello,

First of all - Great Forum!

I would reaaly like some advice on which order we should visit the places we would like to see.

We are a family of 3 - two adults and a 14-year-old manga/animé enthusiast. We arrive in Tokyo/Narita on april 2nd and leave from the same place on the 19th.

The first 5 nights are booked in Tokyo so thats settled - it's the rest we need advice on.

We will have 14 days JR trainpasses, so when we leave Tokyo on the 7th we would like to go to:
Shibu Onsen - 1 or 2 nights? Kyoto - ? nights
Osaka - ? nights - must be in Osaka on sunday to see cosplayers
Mount Koya - 1 night in temple
Miyajima - 1 night
Tokyo - last night before we leave for Denmark on the 19th

Can anyone help?

Staying in
Apr7 Shibu Onsen
Apr8 Shibu Onsen
Apr9 Kyoto
Apr10 Kyoto
Apr11 Kyoto
Apr12 Kyoto
Apr13 Miyajima
Apr14 Mt.Koya
Apr15 Osaka
Apr16 Osaka(daytrip to Nara)
Apr17 Osaka(daytrip to Himeji)
Apr18 Tokyo

Btw, It is Harajuku in Tokyo, not in Osaka where you can see cosplayers.

Tanks for your reply. It's nice of you to bother.

I have a follow-up question:
Will it not be a little hurried to go from Kyoto to Mayajima and then then the next day to Mt. Koya? You've hit spot on were I'm not sure if we loose out by zapping too fast through the sites.

The sunday in Osaka is on advice from a friend who was in to japan last year in april. He says that the cosplayers in Harajuku has become a bit of a tourist show, whereas in Osaka they are fewer and gather not so far from Osaka business park station.

Anyway we'll make sure to have one sunday in Tokyo and one in Osaka - just for the sake of my cos-playing daughter :-)

Hello Jette:

First of all, I always do a very detailed itinerary by date and time and advise others to do the same. I note train info and departure/arrival times to better relate to how much time I have in each Town/City and for each event/excursion. It's like going on the trip in advance mentally but I find that this serves me well in planning.

Using Ts's suggest schedule, you will be able to identify where you have too much, just right or too little time. You should avoid backtracking where possible. The following is my suggested revision.

Do a stop-over at Himeji on your way to Miyajima or on the way back. Do add Hiroshima's Peace Memorial Park. You may need to commit more time to this excursion. Do a half day excursion to Nara from Kyoto and you must see the Todaiji Temple as it is simply awesome. Again, a detail time/train schedule will enable you to come up with a better itinerary/schedule.

Have a wonderful trip.
Harold

If you have not booked accommodation in Kyoto already for those dates, you may have trouble finding any, as it is peak season there with people coming from all over to see the cherry blossoms. I will be there at the same time and found when I was booking 2 months ago that the reasonably-priced accommodation in Kyoto was already pretty much all gone, so we are staying in Osaka. For the weekend of the 11th to the 12th you may even have trouble with accom in Osaka as a lot of people use it as their plan B. If I were you I would get on to booking it now.

I also agree that Kyoto to Miyajima to Koyasan in that time is very rushed- that is a lot of ground to cover in a short time.