Help: itinary

[Raisthlin]

hello everyone ! I have my tickets !!! ill be in Japan from may 14 to june 16.

So right now i have booked 9 full days, upon arrival, in Kyoto to visit the city and some attractions around it (Osaka, Byodo-in, shrines, etc.) but im in the complete dark for the rest of my trip. Would you please help me a bit. I know id like to visit hakone adn kyushu but i have no idea where to start. the amount of stuff there is to see is ... like... overwhelming.

Would appreciate some help!
thx

[godwine]

Wow, with so much time in hand you can cover a lot of places. What do you want to see?

Do you planned on staying mobile or are you going to be lodging in Kyoto only?

Surrounding cities to visit and travel to:
- Hiroshima
- Himeji
- Kobe
- Osaka
- Sakai
- Nara
- Iga Ueno
- Nagoya
- Atami, Odawara, Yumoto
- Yokohama
- TOkyo ward (Daiba, Shinjuku, Harajuku, Kamakura, etc etc etc)
- Nikko

These are the main tourist area. What is your budget, what do you want to see/experience?

[timelesssymphony]

hmm lets see because I am bored...

Fushimi Inari takes a few min to get to via train but its totally worth it, has over 10,000 Tori its commonly missed so I thought I would add it, ok now past the Osaka Area.. hmm I would suggest Hime-ji to the south for in my opinion the best castle in Japan, especially if you have a rail pass (which there is really no reason not to). The Shikansen runs to Hiroshima which combined with the shrine Island of Miyajima can easily fill 2 days. Nara makes a worthwhile trip from Kyoto or Osaka Todaiji is there (largest wooden structure in the world) and some crazy deer. Heading north you can take the shinkansen Kodama (like the local version) to Odawara from Shin-Osaka station, this will allow easy access to the Hakone area as well as many hot springs and ryokan I can recommend a good ryokan in Manazuru which isn't far from Hakone at all with an English speaking manager if you plans include a traditional Japanese inn, plan at least 2 days in the Hakone area especially if you want to see fujisan. Kyushu has some interesting things as well, if you plan to visit all of these areas there is no reason not to get a rail pass for at least part of your trip, Trains are not cheap.

[Raisthlin]

sweet! well id say that even if i will pass 3-4 days in toky im more interested in the scenic japan. Temples, shrines, gardens, great sightseeing, onsen, ryokan are things that suits my taste better. So your suggestions are great ! i will stay 8 - 9 days in Kyoto but will use my youth hostel there as a "command center" to see some of the cities around as well. It going to be my first trip in japan and my first trip as a backpacker so thats why i booked 8 days right away in a youth hostel at kyoto so i dont have to worry about having a bed waiting for me in the first week.

godwine, apart from 9 days in Kyoto ( i want to see a lots of whats there is to see in Kyoto and the surrounding ) i will be mobile. budget: well with my tickets, JRP, and 1000 $ for accomodations ( i calculated 30 canadian $ x 30 nights for good youth hostel room, i booked a full week splitted between K's house and J-hoppers both in kyoto and they were like 25$ a night both ) ill have something like 1700 remaining for sightseeing, activities and food. i have no idea if its enuff...it money i RLY worked hard for so i hope to make the best of it!

timelesssymphony, sure id like to ear about that ryokan ! ive been looking for a great one with good kaiseki.

EDIT: another quick question: ill be there for 30 days but the longest JRP is only 21 days. Should i consider buying a 7 days one on top of that ? if its possible

RE-EDIT: OMG ! i just found out about Yakushima by mere luck! I sure wanna go there as well now! Amazing !

[samurai007]

Originally Posted by Raisthlin

sweet! well id say that even if i will pass 3-4 days in toky im more interested in the scenic japan. Temples, shrines, gardens, great sightseeing, onsen, ryokan are things that suits my taste better. So your suggestions are great ! i will stay 8 - 9 days in Kyoto but will use my youth hostel there as a "command center" to see some of the cities around as well. It going to be my first trip in japan and my first trip as a backpacker so thats why i booked 8 days right away in a youth hostel at kyoto so i dont have to worry about having a bed waiting for me in the first week.

godwine, apart from 9 days in Kyoto ( i want to see a lots of whats there is to see in Kyoto and the surrounding ) i will be mobile. budget: well with my tickets, JRP, and 1000 $ for accomodations ( i calculated 30 canadian $ x 30 nights for good youth hostel room, i booked a full week splitted between K's house and J-hoppers both in kyoto and they were like 25$ a night both ) ill have something like 1700 remaining for sightseeing, activities and food. i have no idea if its enuff...it money i RLY worked hard for so i hope to make the best of it!

timelesssymphony, sure id like to ear about that ryokan ! ive been looking for a great one with good kaiseki.

EDIT: another quick question: ill be there for 30 days but the longest JRP is only 21 days. Should i consider buying a 7 days one on top of that ? if its possible

RE-EDIT: OMG ! i just found out about Yakushima by mere luck! I sure wanna go there as well now! Amazing !

If you want to visit scenic Japan with temples, you definitely should visit Koya-san. It is a huge group of over 100 temples on top of a mountain, and has the oldest and best cemetery in all of Japan. It is about 2 hours south of Osaka on the Nankai-Koya line, and I think you'd love it there! You can even stay in the temples overnight and eat the same food the priests do (which is vegetarian). Here's the official website: Official website of K

Here are some photos I took of Koya-san when I stayed in a temple there overnight:

[Raisthlin]

samurai007 Amazing pictures. it really shake me upside down thinking ill be there shortly as well ! thx

[samurai007]

Originally Posted by Raisthlin

samurai007 Amazing pictures. it really shake me upside down thinking ill be there shortly as well ! thx

You're welcome. I hope you visit Koya-san while you're there.

If you want more advice on places to see, take a look at the pictures I've posted in the link in my sig. If any of them interests you, ask me about them.

[timelesssymphony]

sorry it took a few days to respond went to tokyo for our little holiday break, I have never seen so many people in harajuku as I did on Sunday wow, the name of the Ryokan is called ichibo-kauku http://japanican.com/hotels/Shisetsu...spx?st=4325002

it is in a small town that has a more relaxed feel than a lot of the tourist "resort" areas yet it is close enough to hakone and you can see fujisan on a clear day, the dinner was really good as well as breakfast even though I don't prefer to see my food die in front of me, like with one of the dishes, hope this helps. The owner speaks English as well and loves to talk about fishing and the outdoors, he is always saying how atami and odawara are to commercialized, to much concrete these days.

[Raisthlin]

Sweet thx a lot.

Heres my schedule so far. Ive book accommodations for the first half of my trip but i will improvise for the second half. Which means that ill have to stick to my plan and keep a tight schedule for the first half but i did this because its 1-my first trip alone, 2- first trip in japan, 3- i speak no japanese at all even tho i have a very useful notebook with phrase and stuff people can point and write. So i figured i could make a plan and stick to it for 2 weeks in order to get used to the subways, trains and japan as a whole. Then ill rly go all by myself.

Here my plan. Please feel free to comment.

Day 1 to 7 : Kyoto - temples, shrines and all the major attractions around.

Day 8: Koya-san - exploring and overnight at the temple on top of it just next to the cemetery

Day 9 to 13: Tokyo - exploring and Harajuku on Sunday

Day 14-15: Nikko - temples etc.

Day 16-17: Sendai - Matsushima bay and Yamadera the mountain temple

Day 18-19: Tsuruoka - Dewa-sanzan the three sacred mountain

Day 20: Travel to Matsumoto to explore the city, castle and get a good sleep.

Day 21 and 23 : Travel from Matsumoto to the Kamikochi in order to do some hiking and cross on the other side to Takayama. im not sure how long this takes. I figured if i get up early i could hike Kamikochi and get to Takayama on the other side in 1 day. but in not sure yet i need to do some more research about that...

i wont book accommodations for the rest of the trip. Ive made research and exchanged email with some hostel and im pretty sure ill be able to find free rooms around 3000-4500 Y for the remaining of my trip as i go along.

1 day for Takayama and Shirakawa-go

1 day for Kanazawa

2 days for the Magome - Tsumago trail (i might cancel 1 night in Kyoto in order to do this on my way to Tokyo from Kyoto)

4 days in Kyushu spend at Fukuoka and Kurokawa the onsen town where ill spend a whole day initiatng myself to the pleasures of Onsen bath, luxury Ryokan and Kayseki cuisine (this ryokan will be the only night ill spend more then 30CAD$ on so ill make sure to get a GOOD one)

2 days on the luxurious Yakushima island

back to Kyoto to catch my plane home. You will notice that aside from Tokyo i wont spend much time in big cities. I prefer to explore Japan's nature, wilderness and cultural stuff like temples, shrines and castle.

I would like to make space for Miyajima, which is the only 1 of the "3 great views" i wont do, but i really dont know what to "cut" in order to get it in there. I might try to extend my trip 1-2 days..


So what do you guys/girls think...sounds like a good plan ?

[Tsuwabuki]

You could easily spend a whole two weeks in the Kyoto area.