7 day trip suggestion

[Catastrophe]

Hi,
I'll be in Japan from the end of March to early April for the cherry blossom season and also on the 27th/28th March for the Tokyo International Anime Fair. I'll be using the JR pass.

I know my trip has some side tracking due to the Anime Fair I want to attend. I'm not too sure about my itinerary for Kyoto, Nara, Kanazawa, Kusatsu, so please suggest an efficient route. I'll have to be back in Tokyo on the 1st April since my JR pass expires that day.

Here's my plans at the moment:
25th Arrive at Osaka

26th Hiroshima/Miyajima (Activate JR pass)
Mazada Meseum
Peace Memorial Park
Bomb Dome
Catch a ferry to Miyajima
Daisho hiking trail
Itsukushima Shrine
Ferry back to Hiroshima

27 th March Catch early shinkansen to Tokyo
Anime Fair

From 28th onwards, I'm not too sure about the route I should take, but I wanna cover these places:

Kanazawa (half to 1 day) - Ninja Dera, Kenrokuen, Nagamachi, 21st Century Museum

Kyoto (2 to 3 days) - Philosopher's path, Kinkakuji, Gion, Fushimi Inari shrine, Heian shrine,
Maruyama Park, Arashiyama, Kiyomizudera temple, Sanjusangendo

Nara (day trip from Kyoto) - Nara park, Yoshikien, Todaiji temple, Heijo palace, Kasuga taisha, Kofukuji temple

Kusatsu (half day to 1 day) - Yubatake, hot springs, Mt Shiranae, Sainokawara park

I know there's a lot of places to cover, but I'm happy to take away some of the places above if there are too far off and not really worth visiting. BTW, what's the best method of travelling within Kyoto? And what's the best spots for cherry blossom viewing? Any suggestions are welcome.

Thanks in advance!

[ozkai]

What a first post

Have a good trip

[godwine]

Originally Posted by Catastrophe

Hi,
I'll be in Japan from the end of March to early April for the cherry blossom season and also on the 27th/28th March for the Tokyo International Anime Fair. I'll be using the JR pass.

I know my trip has some side tracking due to the Anime Fair I want to attend. I'm not too sure about my itinerary for Kyoto, Nara, Kanazawa, Kusatsu, so please suggest an efficient route. I'll have to be back in Tokyo on the 1st April since my JR pass expires that day.

Here's my plans at the moment:
25th Arrive at Osaka

26th Hiroshima/Miyajima (Activate JR pass)
Mazada Meseum
Peace Memorial Park
Bomb Dome
Catch a ferry to Miyajima
Daisho hiking trail
Itsukushima Shrine
Ferry back to Hiroshima

27 th March Catch early shinkansen to Tokyo
Anime Fair

From 28th onwards, I'm not too sure about the route I should take, but I wanna cover these places:

Kanazawa (half to 1 day) - Ninja Dera, Kenrokuen, Nagamachi, 21st Century Museum

Kyoto (2 to 3 days) - Philosopher's path, Kinkakuji, Gion, Fushimi Inari shrine, Heian shrine,
Maruyama Park, Arashiyama, Kiyomizudera temple, Sanjusangendo

Nara (day trip from Kyoto) - Nara park, Yoshikien, Todaiji temple, Heijo palace, Kasuga taisha, Kofukuji temple

Kusatsu (half day to 1 day) - Yubatake, hot springs, Mt Shiranae, Sainokawara park

I know there's a lot of places to cover, but I'm happy to take away some of the places above if there are too far off and not really worth visiting. BTW, what's the best method of travelling within Kyoto? And what's the best spots for cherry blossom viewing? Any suggestions are welcome.

Thanks in advance!

Hi,

Have a fun trip.

Your first day is kinda pack. Itsukusima will last you a good half day already, mazda museum will also be a good 2 hours, so it will be a really rush trip.

The rest sounds reasonable, just one thing, Fushimi inari is not far from Kyoto, but if you want to complete the entire trail, it will be at least a few hours. I would suggest to plan it with your Nara day, there is enough to see in Nara to last you hlaf a day, so go to Nara early, and on your way back to Kyoto, drop by Fushimi Inari and do the trail

Have fun, and take lots of pictures

[stuniq]

When you get there be flexible with your plan. You might find that it doesn't work out the way you want it to due to time constraints... so always know what your "must visits" are. I had a whole 3 week itinerary planned and pretty much threw it out the window when I got there because things didn't work out. So I ended up just planning the following day the night before. 3 sights a day usually worked out nicely for me. This gives you time to check out the place properly, enjoy the scenery, buy a souvenir and travel to your next sight without being stressed out when you're meant to be having fun...

It's also not a great feeling to be rushed getting to places and realising you have to leave ASAP. Having a JR pass is cool because you can travel all over for "free", so you don't have to worry about getting on the wrong trains etc. (besides the time cost). I would recommend getting the shinkansen JR maps and seeing what the most efficient route is. Also try to catch express trains that stop less (iirc).

I haven't been to all the places you're going but in Kyoto Kinkaku-ji, Kiyomizu-dera and Sanjusangen-do are great places to see. I had 5 days in Kyoto so I walked where I wanted to go (I enjoy getting the feel of the city this way), but for you I'd recommend the bus routes. The subway is very simple in Kyoto, nothing like Tokyo. So buses will get you closer to your destinations. Also get maps of the cities at tourist information when you arrive in each place.

I don't know the answers to your other questions.

Have fun!