Hi, I am hoping Daniel-san can help me further to a previous thread that I joined in on.
Here is my tentative itinerary :
6 Oct - Arrive Tokyo (4.00pm)
Stay 4 or 5 nights and do day trips to Nikko and Fuji/Hakone
If we stay 5 nights & do the 2 day trips, is 2 days in Tokyo adequate for seeing the main sights? If I drop a day trip, should I drop Nikko?
11 Oct - Depart Tokyo for Matsumoto
Here I am suffering from some Japan Alps 'fuzziness' like @nbremer! I have read that Matsumoto is a good jumping-off point for a number of nearby sights that I am interested in visiting, such as Daio wasabi farm, the Kiso Valley & Nakasendo towns of Magome & Tsumago, Kamikochi, and the Alpen route.
If we don't base ourselves in Matsumoto for a few days to take in these sights, I am struggling to work out a route down from Toyama or Kanazawa after taking the Alpen route.
If we stay in Matsumoto two nights and just cover Kamikochi, my itinerary would then continue ....
13 Oct - Depart Matsumoto for the Alpen route and overnight in Toyama or Kanazawa, spend the next day in Kanazawa?
15 Oct - Depart Kanazawa for Takayama
Will it be easier to do the Kiso Valley out of Takayama? Would also like to get to Shirakawa-go.
Two nights in Takayama then?
17 Oct - Zoom down to Hiroshima
Two nights in Hiroshima
19 Oct - Travel to Miyajima and overnight there
20 Oct - Depart Miyajima for Kyoto
I would like to visit Universal in Osaka - is Osaka manageable as a day trip from Kyoto? Do I need to see anything else there?
Stay 5 nights in Kyoto with a day trip as above if manageable, plus a day trip to Nara. Spend 22 Oct in Kyoto for the festivals (Kyoto & Kurama). Would this give me enough time for Kyoto sights including Arashiyama?
Should I squeeze Koya-san onto the end of my trip? We are flying home out of Kansai airport.
I also had ambitions to reach the Shingu area but I can't fit it all in!!
Sorry to ask so many questions! Hope you can help me. :-)
Oh, one more question! Back in the Alps - where is the snow monkey park, closer to Nagano? Do the monkeys bathe in the onsen even when it is not snowing? We will probably go to the monkey park near Arashiyama, so should I worry about the snow monkeys?
Even though there are areas where we will have to travel on private lines, we will probably just go with a full 21 day JR Pass each, just to save us the worry of coordinating things on a shorter validity pass. Do you think we would get our money's worth from the Pass?
Thanks very much. Looking forward to hearing from you.
Justine
My apologies for this post becoming so LLLOOOOOONNNGGGG!