What's new

2 weeks in Japan!

Poetofprague

Registered
17 Jan 2017
1
0
16
Hello!
I know that many people might have asked this question, but I haven't found any topic about it.
I came up with an itinerary in Japan, me and my gf will spend there 14 nights in August and this is the best I could do:
Day 1 TOKYO
Day 2 TOKYO
Day 3 TOKYO
Day 4 TOKYO
Day 5 TOKYO -> TAKAYAMA
Day 6 TAKAYAMA -> Kyoto
Day 7 KYOTO
Day 8 KYOTO DT NARA
Day 9 KYOTO
Day 10 OSAKA
Day 11 OSAKA DT Miyajima
Day 12 OSAKA DT HIROSHIMA
Day 13 OSAKA -> TOKYO
DaY 14 TOKYO

What do you think? Would it be a mess to travel by train?
Thank you for all who will take the time to answer
 
Why are you doing two day trips to Hiroshima? Do Osaka as a day trip from Kyoto and then move to Hiroshima for two nights. The trip back to Tokyo/Narita on the last day isn't hard (or too long IMO).

And, the train routes are pretty simple (I do them all the time). I would suggest Tokyo-Toyama-Takayama-Nagoya-Kyoto as that covers the complete trip through the mountains and across the main island. I normally spend two nights in Takayama so that I can take guests across to Shirakawa-go (or you could check the Hida Mura (folk village) as well as more of the town.
 
Why are you doing two day trips to Hiroshima? Do Osaka as a day trip from Kyoto and then move to Hiroshima for two nights. The trip back to Tokyo/Narita on the last day isn't hard (or too long IMO).

And, the train routes are pretty simple (I do them all the time). I would suggest Tokyo-Toyama-Takayama-Nagoya-Kyoto as that covers the complete trip through the mountains and across the main island. I normally spend two nights in Takayama so that I can take guests across to Shirakawa-go (or you could check the Hida Mura (folk village) as well as more of the town.

I mostly agree with Patrick. Two day trips to Hiroshima is kind of a waste of time. It's much better just spending a night there. I have done a combined day trip to Miyajima and Hiroshima before, but I wouldn't recommend it if you really want to enjoy both without having to rush through it. It isn't impossible, though. However, you can't stay in Miyajima long enough to see both low and high tide.

I would spend a night in Osaka instead of going there for a day trip from Kyoto. Osaka at night is nice. It also depends largely on what you want to see in Osaka.

Instead of spending two nights in Takayama, I would suggest spending one night there and one night in the traditional housing in Shirakawa-go. It's one of my favorite experiences in Japan and I always recommend it to everyone. The people there don't speak much English but they seem to have got used to foreign visitors who don't understand Japanese.
 
I actually like my two night stays in both Hiroshima and Takayama. I try to like Osaka, and I see in today's news how many visitors it gets, but it's not for me. Staying in Shirakawa-go is like staying on Miyajima - not really necessary to change locations "again", and maybe I find the village a little dull after a couple of hours - but that is just an opinion and experience bring people around Japan. I know some people love the idea of staying in a traditional village and building.
 
If it's of any help, this is my basic itinerary for my upcoming trip to Japan.
We have accommodation for the entire two weeks in Tokyo (airbnb), in the first week we are travelling to Nagano and spending a night in Yamanouchi, as my wife wants to visit the 'monkey park' there. We will also probably take a day trip to Yokohama in that week. Another day is booked out for the Studio Ghibli museum, which is another thing my wife wanted to see.We toyed with the idea of catching a flight to Sapporo (Hokkaido) but to go during the last days of the snow festival was too expensive.
In the second week we are spending two nights in Kyoto and one night in Osaka. We will also probably have a quick trip to Nara from Osaka, before heading back to Kyoto to catch the train back to Tokyo.
We may well take another day trip or two from Tokyo, as we have the rail pass for the entire duration - we'll play it by ear.
 
Back
Top Bottom