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Must see
Hi
I will be in japan for 24 days in september / october Any advice on must see cities, towns, places, restaurants, museums, sporting events, things, in fact anything in Japan would be much appreciated I know this covers a lot of ground - im just seeking your personal opinion if you had 24 days in Japan - where would you go - what should be seen ? we were thinking: - 5/6 days hokkaido, - 5/6 days in japanese alps, - 5/6 days visiting kyoto, hiroshima, island near hiroshima starting with letter M, and beppu - 5/6 days in Tokyo and visiting surrounding area Any advice is welcome c:) |
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Where are you going in Hokkaido? Furano is a 1 day thing, while Sapporo is about 2 days or so. The rest are more exploratory type cities that are not true tourist attraction, you can giver Hakodate a shot, its a nice place too Not a climber so I can't comment on the Alps, but from what I heard and read, its not all that exciting. Tokyo, you need about 5 days to visit the major stuff, 7 at most, do include Yokohama in your list, I like Yokohama way more than I like Tokyo. For Tokyo, do drop by the Daiba, Ueno, Asakusa, Akihabara. Then of course, your usual Shinjuku, Harajuku, Shibuya, Roppongi, Ginza... Make sure you do drop by one of the onsen town for a day or 2... you won't regret it |
i think we will only have 5 / 6 days - so im not sure whether we have enough time to do hokkaido justice
Is it worth going all the way to hokkaido for 6 days ? We will have a jr pass The only purpose is for beautiful nature My plan was to go to (1) Rishiri / Rebun islands (far north) (2) a national park Or maybe somebody can recommend natural places to visit that arent in the far north of hokkaido |
5 or 6 days is more than enough to do Hokkaido justice.
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Furano is nice but it get boring after an hour or so. While Sapporo, well, just another big city like Tokyo... Just putting a schedule on the top of my head, this is how I will attack a 24 day trip plan, not including the alps since i know nothing about it - Kyushu - 2 days (Optional) - Hiroshima/Miyajima - 1 day - Shikoku - 1 day - Himeji 1 day - Kobe 1 day (Optional) - Osaka 2 days - Sakai 1 day (Optional) - Kyoto/Nara - 3 days - Atami/Odarwara/Hakone - 2 days - Yokohama - 1 day - Tokyo - 5 days - Nikko 1 day - Hokkaido 2 days For Kyushu and Shikoku, I think what will interest you is just the Transportation, the ride from Okayama station is pretty interesting to both places, I know some people who would just take the train from Okayama to both places, hop across platform and come right back, just to experieince the ride. So if you are to do that, you shave sometime there too, since you probably can do both places in half a day or so if you plan your route accordingly |
onsen towns
really appreciate the advice - thanks heaps to you guys / girls
1) Any preferred onsen towns ? - it seems some may be overly touristy and tacky / cheesy / very expensive We dont mind a bit of tourist cheese - however would rather a 'real' place set in a natural place 2) Can you recommend a place with different bath options - steam, water, mud 3) Can you recommend a onsen place dominated by japanese (not tourists) 4) Can you recommend a onsen place that might have a communal bath where i could go with my girlfriend 5) Is it worth going to Beppu ? if you come to australia, i am happy to advise |
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Most onsen resort in Atami and Hakone (I never been to a resort in Nikko myself) have female only onsen where you can just sit and chill with your girlfriends in the half boilding water. As a side note, a lot of people prefer Hakone over Atami only beacuse its a direct access from Yumoto to Togendai (Lake Ashi, you can take a boat cruise here ot see Mount Fuji), and the way from Yumoto to Togendai includes a very very nice 40 minutes cable car ride that offer a breath taking veiw of the surroundings. |
Miyagima Island requires 1 full day
Hiroshima requires one full day at least Hakone for onsen and views of Mt Fuji 2 days Tokyo 4 days or more if seeing Kamakura. Tohoku region for great onsen nad views such as Matsushima islands, Mt Zao for the crater lake at the summit. |
I think that Beppu is definitely one of the "must see" places in japan. Not
only that you can enjoy many onsens, but you also can try "wild" hotsprings in the mountains, jigokus, visit monkey park where you can see more than thousand wild monkeys. To see all of this you will need about 2 days. Visit official Beppu city guide web pages for more information about the city here: BEPPU CITY GUIDE Regards, Bibo HAPPY NEKO Backpackers - Happy Neko Backpacker, Beppu |
trip as planned
Potential japan trip
Any comments / suggestions / concerns would be appreciated * 13 September - Arrive Osaka 8.30pm - catch train to Osaka - Settle into hotel * 14 September - see festival - Kishiwada Danjiri Festival, September 14 and 15: It's a festival during which a group of people with youthful spirits drag the Dangiri Floats across the city of Osaka watched by enthusiastic people. - visit Osaka Castle - visit Minami (shopping / nightlife) - visit Ebisu bashi bridge for sunset - watch baseball match – Osaka Hanshin tigers v Hiroshima Carp (6pm) * 15 September - via train, then bus, leave Osaka for Koyasan Koyasan is an approximately 90 minute train journey from Osaka Namba Station by Nankai Koya Line to Gokurakubashi Station and then cable car to Koyasan. - hike, stay in temple * 16 September - stay another night in koyasan - hike around Mt koya, stay in temple * 17 September - leave in morning – bus, then bus, train back to Osaka – continue on to Himeji - Via train, visit Himeji Castle - afternoon – via train, head to and stay in Hiroshima * 18 September - Hiroshima - visit A bomb Peace Park - travel to Miyajima island by ferry * 19 September - stay in Miyajima island * 20 September - return to Hiroshima, catch train to Kyoto * 21 September - Kyoto Central Kyoto * 22 September - Kyoto * 23 September - leave kyoto by train and go to Nara Miyakoji rapid trains (kaisoku) operate every 30 minutes between Kyoto Station and JR Nara Station. The one way trip takes 45 minutes and costs 690 Yen. The Japan Rail Pass is valid on these trains. * 24 September - leave Nara, catch train to Nagoya and then Takayama From Nagoya, JR Hida limited express train to Takayama (140 minutes, one train per hour). * 25 September Bus from Takayama to Kamikochi By direct bus (75 minutes, 2000 Yen, operating from mid April through October): Kamikochi-Takayama * 26 September - Hiking in Kamicochi * 27 September - from Kamicochi, go to Matsumoto Matsumoto is most famous for Matsumotojo, one of Japan's most beautiful original castles. The city is also a good base for trips into the Japanese Alps, e.g. to Kamikochi. * 28 September - leave Matsumoto by train, and head in to Tokyo - leave straight away for fuiji Five Lakes * 29 September - climb mount fuiji Some mountain huts open a few days before the start of the official climbing season and/or remain opened until around mid September. While there is usually no or only little snow on Mount Fuji until October, temperatures at the summit can drop to far below zero in the shoulder seasons. Only experienced hikers with a strong urge to avoid the crowds, should consider the ascent in late June or September. - onsen * 30 September - Kusatsu onsen (famous onsen town 2 hours from Tokyo) - stay in kusatsu * 1 October - leave kusatsu, head for by train Tokyo - imperial palace - shinjuku, shibuya, rappongi * 2 October - Tokyo - maybe Yokohama for jazz festival * 3 October (fri) - Tokyo - vist Tokyo Dome – ride the mighty dolphin - go to club like Ageha or Womb * 4 October (sat) - Tokyo - Football FC Tokyo v Shimizu S Pulse – Ajinomoto Stadium (3pm) - meet old softball team mates * 5 October (sun) - Tokyo - visit Harajuku * 6 October - Leave Tokyo in morning - Leave bags in locker - Osaka – depart 8pm |
Looks like a great trip! A few points: Koyasan: You mention the bus both coming and going from Koyasan. It's pretty easy to walk everywhere on Koyasan, though you can take the bus to save time. If you do, it'll only be for a few stops, maybe a 5 minute bus ride. It's hardly worth mentioning. :) The cable car fare is included in the train fare, and that takes you to the top of the mountain, which is the hard part. Walking around on the plateau isn't very hard. Be sure to visit Okunoin cemetery while you're there (early morning with the rising sun streaming through the trees is best, IMO)!
Also, when you go to Takayama, see if you can find the time to visit the Hida Folk Village. Have you booked places to stay in each night? Most places you can just walk around and find a place without reservations, but it can be very hard to find a place to stay on Miyajima Island itself... most people stay in Hiroshima and take the ferry across just to visit Miyajima. And I don't recall a hotel in Kamikochi, though it has been many years and my memory of the surrounding area is fuzzy (and they may have built some places to stay in the past decade too). But I left Takayama early in the morning by bus, hiked in Kamikochi all day, and then caught the bus again and continued on to Matsumoto, where I spent the night. The next day I explored Matsumoto Castle and the city a bit, and then headed for Tokyo. Depending upon how much hiking you want to do there, you may be budgeting a bit more time than you'll need there. What I did instead of spending multiple days in Kamikochi was to visit Kanazawa and the famous park there, before heading to Takayama/Hida. It was a very interesting contrast IMO between the beautifully manicured and designed gardens/park in Kanazawa and the wild, untouched beauty of the Alps 2 days later. Finally, if possible, I'd recommend taking one of the days in Tokyo to head north a little ways and visit Nikko. It has a highly ornate and impressive temple complex that is the home of the "See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil monkeys", and other sites as well. Well worth a visit, somewhat different style than many other temples in Japan. |
much thanks
thanks samurai007
your advice is most welcome I think your advice on Nikko is sound i will certainly check out kanazawa appreciate the tip on the hida folk vilage some times it a little recommendation that results in a great day |
question
it seems to me that i should get a 3 week JR pass for this trip
even though i will stay a few days here and there, overall the pass will be worth it tell me if im wrong |
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As for the rail pass, I took a look at the fares from Osaka to Hiroshima and back to Kyoto, and the additional 12,600 yen per person for the 3 week instead of 2 week pass is probably worth it. You might save a little money by just buying tickets for those days and buying a 2 week pass, activating it later in the trip, but it probably wouldn't be very much (and the smaller tickets, such as to Himeji, to the Miyajima ferry station, etc would almost certainly consume most of that). If you were there just 1 week earlier, you could use a ju-hachi kippu for those days instead of the regular tickets, and then you'd save more money (if you were traveling with at least 1 other person, since you can split the ju hachi kippu among multiple people), but they are only valid during vacation times, which means the summer one ends Sep 10th. |
Thanks for the tip about the Yokohama Jazz festival. I may just go to that. :)
Good idea for Hiroshima and Miyajima. Staying on Miyajima will be better than in Hiroshima. Make sure you go to the top of the mountain to see the monkeys and the great view of Hiroshima city and other islands. You can see some photos on my blog. If you have time try to view Hiroshima castle and the view from there will give you some perspective on the city. |
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