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My husband and I will be visiting Japan for the first time this October and have been spending weeks researching the many wonderful destinations that we could visit during our journey. This site has been a wonderful resource throughout this process and we just wanted to run our trip schedule past you before we proceeded with hotel/ryokan reservations.
First of all, we're both quite young and would like to allow time to take it all in, meet locals, and visit some clubs/events while in the bigger cities. On the other hand, we also want to experience the traditional side of Japan, with temple visits and at least one stay at a ryokan with an onsen.
Day 1, 2, 3 (Friday, Saturday, Sunday) - jetlag in crazy Tokyo & resting/culture shock.
Day 4, 5, 6 (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday) - Kyoto.
Day 7 (Thursday) - Nara. Stay at a Ryokan (or a shukubo on Koya mountain).
Day 8, 9 (Friday and Saturday) - clubbing in Osaka.
Day 10 (Sunday) - Himeji day trip, evening in Osaka or Kobe.
Day 11 (Monday) - Back to Tokyo.
Day 12 (Tuesday) - Morning departure from Tokyo, night in Nikko.
Day 13, 14, 15 (Wednesday, Thursday, Friday) - Back to Tokyo madness, shopping in Akihabara, day trip to Kamakura, check out anime/manga museums, find the giant robot in the park, etc, etc.
Day 16 (Saturday) - late afternoon departure from Narita.
The only major issue that we have is regarding Hiroshima/Miyajima. Hiroshima seems like a bit of a mixed bag, considering its distance from the Kansai hotspots, as well as the emotional/international commitment of visiting the Peace Museum. We are fascinated with its history, but for some reason not quite feeling drawn to it, precisely because it seems like such a ''must'' place to visit. A lot of people have said that they weren't interested in going, but after visiting they were happy they did. Perhaps some of you can relate? Should we just bite the bullet and try to work it into our plans?
We're definitely more drawn to Miyajima, but feeling like Nikko would function as an equally wonderful substitute, with its serenity and unique architecture. What do you think?
Also, if you have any recommendations for ryokans in Nara (or Nikko), it would be greatly appreciated.
Also, has anybody stayed at one of the Koya shukubos? How much does it cost to get up there, with all the different legs of transport combined?
Is there a better alternative?
Another tip we got was to squeeze in Kinosaki for the onsen experience in the middle of the week (Maybe day 11?), but it would seem like that only adds to the plan that we have been trying to keep extremely neat and simple. (We usually travel at an insane pace, and are trying very hard to make this trip very different and special for ourselves.)
Thanks again for all the assistance!
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