Quote:
Originally Posted by samurai007
Using ju-hachi kippus, I took a 9 day trip through western Japan:
Day 1: Travel to Himeji and visit castle, then go on to Hiroshima, see peace park and shopping area.
Day 2: Visit Miyajima Island all day.
Day 3: Travel to Fukuoka, see some of that city, have real Hakata Ramen dinner.
Day 4: Explore historical sites near Fukuoka.
Day 5: Travel to Nagasaki, see some sights there and the city of Saga on the way.
Day 6: Spend whole day looking around Nagasaki.
Day 7: Spend another whole day looking around Nagasaki
Day 8: Travel to Matsuyama by train and ferry, visit Dogo Onsen that evening.
Day 9: See more of Matsuyama, then travel back to Kansai area.
As you can see, there's quite a bit of travel time involved, since I was using local trains. But I was able to do that schedule in 9 days, which means even if you wanted to take an extended trip like this you'd still have another 9 days to see Kyoto, Osaka, Nara, Koya-san, etc.
A shorter excursion you might take would be 1 day to Kanazawa, see the park there, then 1 day to Takayama, spend the rest of the day plus 1 whole day seeing the town and Hida Folk village, then 1 day hiking in the Japan Alps, and return the following day. That'd take 5 days total.
Or you could take a trip around the Kii peninsula, visiting Nagoya, Ise shrine, Nachi, Shirahama, etc.
Personally, I believe you should think about a short trip like this that lets you visit some other places and see the countryside. With 18 days, I think you have enough time to fit 1 such trip into your schedule, if you want. But on the other hand, if you consider spending quite a bit of time on trains to be wasted time rather than sightseeing, and would rather spend more days walking around Kyoto or Osaka or something, that's fine too. I just figured I'd offer some realistic itineraries if you're interested.
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I definitely agree with this poster on the first two. Mostly becuase I haven't been to the other places. But Himeji is very nice, has some shopping, and is pretty compact. The castle is fantastic. Miyajima is also amazing, and the hike up to the top is beautiful. Im sure the others they recommended are awesome too. I would also recommend Nara to visit. It has two very awesome temples. Todaiji temple is my favorite, it has the big buddah in it. Plus thier are deer outside the temple that are fun. And for the historical side, there is horyoji which has some of the oldest wooden building in Japan.