10-day itinerary

my travel schedule is planned as:

4/12: Reach Narita (7pm)
5/12: Tokyo
6/12: Tokyo & Yokohama
7/12: Nikko
8/12: Hakone
( 8/12 evening Hakone-Kyoto by Shinkansen)
9/12: Kyoto by day, Kobe by night
10/12: Nara
11/12: Hajime
(Hajime - Hiroshima by night bus) = Or use shinkansen with JR pass )
12/12: Hiroshima
(night bus to fukuyoka = Or use shinkansen with JR pass )
13/12: Fukuoka
14/12: Osaka
15/12: Kansai airport - S'pore (11am from Kansai airport)

I have some question that I would like your get some comments from you.

1. I don't know if I should wipe off the trip to Fukuoka and give more time in Kyoto or Hiroshima ? ( or pass by Nagoya and go to old village in Gifu) ?

2. What would be the most economic type of transportations for this plan ? ( I'm eligible for seishun 18 kippu as well).

Thank you in advance. :D

Sorry

Hajime? Do you mean Himeji?

1) My opinion is that you should skip Fukuoka And spend 1 more day in Kyoto.
Your Kansai part is quite cramped (as it's very rushed to do Kyoto in half a day, you don't get to enjoy what kyoto can offer!)
Plus you could just do Nara and Himeji (i'm assuming Hajime is Himeji), Osaka and hiroshima even as a day trips from Kyoto (to fully utilize the JR pass if you get one, and to squeeze all these into your itinerary).
And head to Kansai International airport directly via Kyoto.

2)If you do decide to use the seishun18 kippu, you may need to cut your itinerary a little more as you'll be spending a lot of time on trains (you can't take express trains and definately not the Shinkansen).
If you route yourself round with JR routes from 8/12 till 14/12, you'll be able to save some money with the JR pass.

thank you for your reply.

You are correct, it's actually Himeji instead of Hajime.

I plan to use high-way bus from Tokyo-Kyoto-Hiroshima to save time & money for accomodation (night bus ). I used to travel like that on my Europe backpacking trip. I wonder if this plan is feasible or not.
For the Hakone trip, my friend in Tokyo will go with me, so I guess I have to go back to Tokyo but not going straight to Kyoto.

I have no problem with intensive travelling,hence, I wondering, after going back from Hakone, can I have enough time to take night bus to Kyoto or Nagoya ?
My friend in Tokyo has a car and he promised to give me a day (I can travelanywhere). Where should we go ?
( I really love riding on Roller Coaster Eejanaika in Fuji-Q but he seems to be terrified when I mentioned about rollercoaster)

Also, Should it be worthy if I stay in Nagoya to go to the old village in Gifu ?

Thanks,

I plan to use high-way bus from Tokyo-Kyoto-Hiroshima to save time & money for accomodation (night bus ). I used to travel like that on my Europe backpacking trip. I wonder if this plan is feasible or not.
For the Hakone trip, my friend in Tokyo will go with me, so I guess I have to go back to Tokyo but not going straight to Kyoto.

I guess if you have done the highway bus travel thing before do go ahead! I think it's a great way to save money on transport and hotel, i personally favor highway buses.

I have no problem with intensive travelling,hence, I wondering, after going back from Hakone, can I have enough time to take night bus to Kyoto or Nagoya ?

If you leave Odawara Stn on the 16:09 Shinkansen Hikari to reach Nagoya stn by 17:21, you can take the 18:00 or 19:00 highway bus. Times here:
http://www.jrtbinm.co.jp/tp/meishin.pdf

My friend in Tokyo has a car and he promised to give me a day (I can travelanywhere). Where should we go ?
( I really love riding on Roller Coaster Eejanaika in Fuji-Q but he seems to be terrified when I mentioned about rollercoaster)

What are your interests? Cultural, etc?

Also, Should it be worthy if I stay in Nagoya to go to the old village in Gifu ?

Which old village in gifu do you mean?

As i've mentioned your itinerary is cramped.
Though you like intensive travel, but i think you won't be able to cover the sights in such a short time, you'll be missing out a lot.

Kyoto for example can't be done in just half a day, it takes most people a day and it still only have touched the tip of the iceberg.

But if you really want to
Another thing you could do is, From Hakone head to Nagoya via Shinkansen.
Head to the village stay a night (8/12), explore the village the morning of the next day or neighboring locations (chubu has many nice places to visit).
Head back to Nagoya by night (9/12)
From Nagoya take a night bus to Hiroshima
http://www.jrtbinm.co.jp/highway/route/south_01.html

Then from Hiroshima work your way down to Kyoto or Osaka.
Maybe like Hiroshima 1 night (10/12) and to Himeji by train (there are no buses that i could find). (11/12)
And on that same day in himeji head to Kyoto (still 11/12).
From Kyoto do a day trip to Nara(12/12) + Kobe(13/12) + Osaka(13/12) and Kyoto on its own on 14/12.

Whole thing is pretty fast paced though.

Thanks for your advice.

My tour day normally starts at 7am and end at 9pm (I used to cover inside Rome for 2.5 days). However, as I'll travel to Japan in winter, so I think the active time will be less. Besides that, it's along trip so, it's quite difficult to keep that pace.

1. I like your idea of going straight to Hiroshima. Because if I come back in Osaka on 14/12 ( Monday) it's often the off day at the tourist attractions. However, my dilemma is I would also like to go to Kyoto as soon as possible because I expect that there would be still some trace of autumn momiji in early december. Do you have any idea about this ?
2. When I check the bus from Nagoya to Shirakawago and Gokayama in Gifu. I can't find the time table. It takes 3 hours to reach there which makes me hesistate if I can visit it 1 day. ( if I visit it for more than 1 day, I am afraid that I have to shorten the time in Kyoto).

so basically:

Day 1(4/12) Narita - Tokyo
Day 2: Tokyo
Day 3: Tokyo
Day 4: Nikko
Day 5: Hakone-Kyoto
Day 6: Kyoto
Day 7: Kyoto-Hajime-Hiroshima
Day 8: Hiroshima-Kyoto
Day 9: Nara
Day 10: Osaka
Day 11: Kobe
Day 12: Osaka-Singapore.

I wonder if this plan would be better?
Thank you!

Just a little thought.....
Nikko is on the eastern side of Tokyo, while most of the places you are visiting are on the West. Hence perhaps you might want spend more time and concentrate on the places in the West. Besides, one-day in Nikko maybe a little fast pace.... skip it.

Cheers

Day 1(4/12) Narita - Tokyo
Day 2: Tokyo
Day 3: Nikko
Day 4: Tokyo
Day 5: Hakone-Hiroshima
Day 6: Hiroshima-Himeji
Day 7: Himeji-Kobe
Day 8: Kyoto
Day 9: Nara
Day 10: Kyoto
Day 11: Osaka
Day 12: Osaka-Singapore.

Going to nikko and hakone in 2 consecutive days will leave you exhausted. So I put the Tokyo in day 4 so you can recharge.

I put Hiroshima after Hakone bec it's nearer than Kyoto. You will have more time to rest.

You'll be able to see Momiji in Hiroshima in about the 1st week of December or so.
But around about that time in Kyoto, (regardless of the couple of day period) think the momiji is more or less dying haha.

Ahh, so the village you meant is Shirakawago?
Yes, Shirakawago is a little far off for your itinerary.
Maybe you can consider Tsumago and Magome instead? They are really nice, it's got that old Japanese feel to it and a very pleasant place to visit.
It's about 80mins to Magome from Nagoya via train + bus route.

Thank you for your recommendation on the itinerary. Could you pls help me with the transportation plan.

I have 10 days overall. It seems like using JR in Tokyo and Osaka area is abit a wasteful becuase there are some discounted day-pass. I may have a day to Hakone or Nikko using car.
So, my concern is the travelling from Tokyo to Kyoto, Kyoto to Hiroshima and back from Hiroshima to Osaka (Kyoto).

Thank you.

You can take the shinkansen or overnight bus

http://www.jrbuskanto.co.jp/bus_route_e/
This link is for Tokyo-Kyoto. There are other bus companies here but their sites are only in Japanese. I'll try to find other English sites for Hiroshima

try this one
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2366_hiroshima.html

I've used this company a couple of times. they have the routes you specified too.
Bookings in english.
http://willerexpress.com/?aid=184

Thanks for your advices.
According to the bus time-table, it seems to be risky to take the bus right after going back from Hakone. Besides, I also wanna see people doing cosplay on Sunday morning in harajuku as well. So, I replan as:

1.(4/12) Melbourne-Narita
2. (5/12) Nikko (Nikko day pass)
3. (6/12)Tokyo (all the inner city locations)( subway day-pass)
3. (7/12) Hakone (Hakone-day pass)
5. (8/12) Tokyo (Kumakura-Yokohama)- Night bus to Hiroshima (Kumakura - Day pass)
6. (9/12) Hiroshima (Peace museum - miyajima - Iwakuni)
7. (10/12)Hiroshima-Okayama-Himeji-Kyoto (normal train)
8. (11/12) Kyoto (Kyoto bus day pass)
9. (12/12)Kyoto-Osaka-Kyoto (Kansai thru 3-day pass)
10.(13/12)Kyoto-Nara-Kyoto
11. (14/12) Kyoto-Koyasan-Kyoto
13. (15/12) Kyoto -Osaka-Singapore

It seems that only day 7 (10/12) would be the most exhaustive day.

If I were in your shoes and planning a budget journey, I would narrow down destinations for 8 - 10 December.
Your schedules for the three days look vulnerable to troubles, which may be caused by fatigue, mistakes, and unexpected conditions.

As to 8 December
: Presumably you mean Kamakura by "Kumakura." To tour Kamakura, walking or cycling is considered to be better than using cars.
: Yokohama is a large city with lots of spots, some are not within walking distance from / to Yokohama Station East Entrance bus terminal.
http://www.welcome.city.yokohama.jp/eng/tourism/spot/index.html
: A case may happen where you don't have enough time to enjoy both the cities before reaching the bus terminal to catch the 19:50 overnight highway bus.

As to 9 and 10 December
: If you hope to visit Hiroshima (Peace Memorial Park), Miyajima (Itsukushima Shrine) and Himeji (Himeji Castle) before heading to Kyoto all without express trains, then it sounds better to drop Iwakuni.
: One option is to visit Hiroshima and Miyajima in the daytime, catch an evening highway bus to Osaka, stay in an Osaka hotel and visit Himeji in the following morning. There are highway buses using the same bus terminal in Hiroshima as your overnight bus.
- Hiroshima Station Shinkansen Entrance 16:20 / 17:50 -- 21:29 / 22:59 Osaka Station Sakurabashi Entrance; 5,000 yen (3,750 yen if booked by the day three weeks before).
: Your overnight bus arrives in Shinkansen Entrance bus terminal which is to the north of Hiroshima Station, while local buses and streetcars for the Park depart from South Entrance. It's better to take into account the time required for moving between the two entrances, for finding a coin locker, for putting your luggage and for picking it up.
: Peace Memorial Park is vast; you may see cenotaphs and monuments related to war and peace while strolling from / to Peace Memorial Museum to / from A-bomb Dome.
http://www.pcf.city.hiroshima.jp/top_e.html

//

So you mean that I should drop Okayama on the way from Hiroshima back to Kyoto the next morning? ( 10/12)

I have two options:
1. on 8/10 (night-around 10-11pm) - Take night bus to Kyoto (reach @ 6:30am). Leave the luggage @ the station, going around the city and at night take the night bus again to Hiroshima (reach there @ 6:30 again).

In Hiroshima, I either can stay there 1 night ( if the bus trip earlier made me too tired) and leave early morning (10/12) to Okayama, Kurushiri then Hajime-Kobe or Kyoto by local or rapid train. Or take the night bus again back to Kyoto, leave out Okyama and visit Himeji few days after when I visit Kobe.

Option 2: night 8/12: I'll take the direct bus to Hiroshima ( @ 8pm) reach there early morning, visit all the place. And from here I'll also have those options (like option 1).

What should be the most feasible route ?