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need a little help

zoe
zoe
over 11 years ago
1 response

Hi all,
My boyfriend and i will be going to japan in january! Leaving Sydney jan 3rd. So far this is our itinerary:
4th jan- tokyo we fly in at 6am and think it would be best to get set up here for the day/night then start our journey :)

5th,6th,7th jan- osaka or we can do kyoto 2 nights
8th hiroshima

9th myajima island

10th, 11th kyoto or osaka three nights

12th13th- maybe takyama and Shirakawago

14-20th nozowa onsen booked and locked in as we are visiting friends and fire festival

20-25 tokyo day trips to kamakura/hakone

My question is: Is there a better way of planning this trip? What we would like to see is the above plus Matsumoto, nara and anywhere else that you would think would be great. any suggestions would be great like if i need less or more nights somewhere etc. thankyou so much in advance!!

avatar
mari
1950 posts
over 11 years ago
Expert

Hi there!

Good idea to give yourselves a day to rest up before you hit the road. Luckily you guys are coming from Australia so there won't be too much jetlag (as long as you can sleep on the plane.....).

Looking at your itinerary, you have a 10 day period in between Tokyo and Nozawa onsen that you can use for travelling around the country. I think I'd structure it with 6 or 7 days based out of Osaka or Kyoto with day trips and 1 night stays branching off from here. I'd follow this up with your trips north to Takayama/Matsumoto. Something like as follows:

5th-11th Based out of Kyoto/Osaka

  • 5th Kyoto (Osaka evening for nightlife?)
  • 6th Kyoto
  • 7th Arashiyama morning, Nara afternoon, Kyoto evening & night
  • 8th ??
  • 9th Hiroshima. Night on Miyajima. Leave luggage at coin locker at Shin-Osaka station when you transfer.
  • 10th Miyajima, more Hiroshima, train back to Shin-Osaka, Grab luggage. Sleep in Osaka or onto Nagoya.
  • 11th to Takayama and sleep there.
  • 12th Takayama + flexible shirakawago daytrip
  • 13th [Bus from Takayama to Matsumoto over the alps] - (not JR)
  • 14th train to Togarinozawaonsen

On the 8th you have a few options. You could go stay in Osaka for the day/night, or could keep exploring Kyoto and the surrounding area. Maybe a one night in Osaka would be good here, but it's very much up to how relaxed you want the travel to be I think.

Hope this helps!


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