Looking for suggestions

[JasonS]

I plan on taking my first trip to Japan this September. At this point, I'm looking to make it 2 weeks, maybe a little longer. Problem is, I've only come up with about 11 days worth of places to see. My current plans, not necessarily in this order, are:

Kyoto - 4 days
Takayama - 3 days
Hiroshima - 1 day
Osaka - 2 days
Nara - 1 day

Those amounts don't really account for travel time.

Does anyone think those amounts of time are too much or too little? Can anyone suggest another place to visit for a day or two (mostly in the Kansai region)? I'm more interested in historic, rather than modern, sites.

Thanks, and sorry for subjecting everyone to yet another trip thread.

 

[cez]

With respect to your interest in historic sites you should have a look at these places:

Matsuyama (Shikoku ) - for the castle and Dogo Onsen (Japan's oldest)
Onomichi (Hiroshima-ken) - beautiful old town winding up the hill
Himeji and maybe Kurashiki

Also I'd recommend two days for Hiroshima as you might want to visit both the city (Peace Memorial Park etc.) and Miyajima Island. It's not impossible to do them in only one day but it's very exhausting.

 

[ArmandV]

Aren't you even going to Tokyo? There's plenty of historical things there to see.

 

[JasonS]

Cez - I assume you mean the island of Shikoku for Matsuyama. I honestly hadn't thought about hitting any of the other islands. I suppose there's no reason NOT to consider it though. I'll definitely think about adding another day for Hiroshima, because I would like to see both the Peace Park and Miyajima Island.

ArmandV - I hadn't given Tokyo much consideration, even though I have read about some of the things to see there. I'm not a big fan of huge crowds, and my impression of Tokyo is just that.... huge crowds of people. Maybe it's strange then that I want to visit Japan.

I guess I should ask a different question then... Is Tokyo that much larger than Kyoto and Osaka, population-wise? Does it feel much more crowded than the other major cities?

Thanks for the responses!

 

[Hiroyuki Nagashima]

Kyushu Kumamoto.
A main enclosure palace of Kumamoto-jo Castle is restoration completion this year.
熊本城〜熊本県熊本市中央区〜 - 裏辺研究所「日本の城」

 

[uchimizu]

Hi,

you may also consider Ise in your trip. The temple (more or less the heart of Japanese shinto ) has a very special atmosphere. It can easily be visited as a day trip from Kyoto, Osaka, Nara or Nagoya.

You may also want to spend half a day in Uji for the Byodoin, Ise shrine and a few others (without mentioning the outstanding green tea).

While you may not want to go to the Tokyo region if you are in Japan for only two weeks, Kamakura and Nikko are definitely worth the visit. I would recommend you also spend a day in the countryside, for example north of Kyoto.

As a modern town, I would think Kobe is also very interesting, definitely worth a night out there.

If you can affort it, I would definitely recommend you spend one night in Nara Hotel, one of the few "Classic Hotels" in Japan built 100 years ago. You will find a few pictures and more details at this link:

Atmospheric hotels from Meiji era

 

[JasonS]

Thanks everyone for their responses. I haven't decided yet which other places to visit, but at least I have a few more good ideas.

Thanks again.