Itinerary July 2011 - Advice needed
 

Hello,

This is our first trip to Japan from Belgium and it is seriously overwhelming.

We already booked our flights from Brussels to Tokyo and back from Tokyo to Brussels. We are now trying to put together our itinerary and try to reserve our hotels in these places asap. We will be traveling using public transport, so we will not have a car during our trip.

We were thinking of following route:

15 jul 11: Brussels - Tokyo
16 jul 11: Tokyo - Kyoto (Arrive Tokyo 9am - Travel directly to Kyoto)
17 jul 11: Kyoto
18 jul 11: Kyoto (Daytrip Nara)
19 jul 11: Kyoto
20 jul 11: Kyoto - Hiroshima
21 jul 11: Hiroshima - Miyajima
22 jul 11: Miyajima - Osaka
23 jul 11: Osaka - Nagoya (Visit Toyota Factory + Sumo game)
24 jul 11: Nagoya - Takayama
25 jul 11: Takayama - Toyama
26 jul 11: Toyama - Matsumoto (Tateyama-Kurobe Alpen Route)
27 jul 11: Matsumoto - Kamikochi
28 jul 11: Kamikochi - Hakone
29 jul 11: Hakone - Tokyo (Tokyo Disney Sea??)
30 jul 11: Tokyo
31 jul 11: Tokyo
01 aug 11: Tokyo (Daytrip Nikko)
02 aug 11: Tokyo (Daytrip Kamakura)
03 aug 11: Tokyo
04 aug 11: Tokyo - Brussels

We really need help with the 'Japanese Alps' part. Is this the best way (most logical way) through the Alps (taking into account we do not have a car)? Or is it better to skip some places and stay a night longer in another place?

Ofcourse any other suggestions are more than welcome. Other than our flights, nothing is fixed at this moment and can still be changed.

Thanks a lot.

Wow, it seems like you are trying to do quite a lot! I couldn't handle that much travel each day throughout the middle of your trip... maybe you can, but I would suggest cutting a few places out so you have more time to relax and enjoy.

Thank you jesselt, that is why I needed your advise :)
If you guys think we need to consolidate 2 stays into 1 city, please let us know your suggestions.

Cheers

I think this is doable, I've done something similar myself before with 2 weeks... but as suggested, it will be a LOT of traveling....

Thank you for your input.
Based upon this, I tried to modify the schedule. I would be grateful if you all could have another look at this and spare me your thoughts. Hoping to finalize soon so we can start booking the hotels/ryokans in these places.

15 jul 11: Brussels - Tokyo
16 jul 11: Tokyo - Hakone (Arrive Tokyo 9am -- Travel directly to Hakone)
17 jul 11: Hakone - Kyoto (Hakone loop during morning)
18 jul 11: Kyoto
19 jul 11: Kyoto (Daytrip Nara)
20 jul 11: Kyoto (Daytrip Osaka)
21 jul 11: Kyoto
22 jul 11: Kyoto - Miyajima (Visit Hiroshima on way to Miyajima)
23 jul 11: Miyajima - Nagoya (Visit Toyota Factory + Sumo game)
24 jul 11: Nagoya - Takayama
25 jul 11: Takayama - Shirakawa-go
26 jul 11: Shirakawa-go - Kanazawa
27 jul 11: Kanazawa - Matsumoto (Tateyama-Kurobe Alpen Route)
28 jul 11: Matsumoto (Castle + Visit Kamikochi)
29 jul 11: Matsumoto - Tokyo (Tokyo Disney Sea??)
30 jul 11: Tokyo
31 jul 11: Tokyo
01 aug 11: Tokyo (Daytrip Nikko)
02 aug 11: Tokyo (Daytrip Kamakura)
03 aug 11: Tokyo
04 aug 11: Tokyo - Brussels

PS: Nagoya is must because of visit to Toyota factory (Wife is a logistics nerd ;-). Sumo game would be great, but no absolute must.

Cheers

For the few days in kyoto, i will do this instead:

18 jul 11: Kyoto
19 jul 11: Kyoto (Daytrip Nara)
20 jul 11: Kyoto AM-PM, Osaka - PM/Evening
21 jul 11: Osaka
22 jul 11: Osaka - Miyajima (Visit Hiroshima on way to Miyajima)

On the 21st, you can also do a side trip to Kobe..... I would normally recommend one more day for Osaka....

Your days between Nagoya to Tokyo seems a bit rush... how much time do you intend to stay at each city and to do what?

Thanks a lot. We are still trying to figure out what to do in each city. But we would like to book our hotels asap, so we have first choice (if even possible ofcourse)

Thank you all for your constructive input. Based on this, we adapted our schedule a bit, hoping to come closer to our final itinerary:

15 jul 11: Brussels - Tokyo
16 jul 11: Tokyo - Hakone (Arrive Tokyo 9am -- Travel directly to Hakone)
17 jul 11: Hakone - Kyoto (Hakone loop during morning)
18 jul 11: Kyoto
19 jul 11: Kyoto (Daytrip Nara)
20 jul 11: Kyoto (Daytrip Osaka)
21 jul 11: Kyoto
22 jul 11: Kyoto - Miyajima (Visit Hiroshima on way to Miyajima)
23 jul 11: Miyajima - Nagoya (Sumo game)
24 jul 11: Nagoya - Takayama
25 jul 11: Takayama - Shirakawa-go
26 jul 11: Shirakawa-go - Toyama (Spend day in Kanazawa)
27 jul 11: Toyama - Matsumoto (Tateyama-Kurobe Alpen Route)
28 jul 11: Matsumoto (Castle + Visit Kamikochi)
29 jul 11: Matsumoto - Tokyo
30 jul 11: Tokyo (Tokyo Disney Sea??)
31 jul 11: Tokyo
01 aug 11: Tokyo (Daytrip Nikko)
02 aug 11: Tokyo (Daytrip Kamakura)
03 aug 11: Tokyo
04 aug 11: Tokyo - Brussels

Perhaps we could take one day off our stay in Tokyo in favor of the Alps. But where would you guys suggest we add a day in our Alp schedule?

Also another question: We really want to see Mt Fuji and surroundings, but it was my understanding that this would be from Hakone? If not, perhaps its better to leave the extra Tokyo day and do a daytrip to Mt Fuji and surroundings from Tokyo?

PS: Disney at Sea is not really a must, but if it's at all possible, we would try to fit it in our schedule.

Cheers

Mt Fuji from Hakone area.
What do you mean by the word "surroundings"?What do you wanna see?

this seems to be harder than expected :-)
Ofcourse, we want to see as much as possible during our time in Japan. That being said, we are used to a tight schedule when traveling, but we do not want to rush through everything.
I tried to modify the schedule a bit, taking into account all of your recommendations. Can you guys please have another look at this to see if the order is a bit 'logical'?
We opted to travel directly to Kyoto when arriving in Tokyo after our international flight. I know it will be a long day, but we hope to arrive in Kyoto late afternoon. That way, we can drop our bags in the hotel, go out for something to eat and have an early night, hopefully bright and ready to start the next morning in Kyoto.
We also dropped 1 day of Tokyo in favor of the rest of the schedule. If necessary, we can also drop 1 day Kyoto to add to the rest of the schedule.

15 jul 11: Brussels - Tokyo
16 jul 11: Tokyo - Kyoto (Arrive Tokyo 9am -- Travel directly to Kyoto)
17 jul 11: Kyoto
18 jul 11: Kyoto
19 jul 11: Kyoto (Daytrip Nara)
20 jul 11: Kyoto
21 jul 11: Kyoto - Hiroshima (Visit Hiroshima + Miyajima)
22 jul 11: Hiroshima - Osaka
23 jul 11: Osaka (Daytrip Kobe)
24 jul 11: Osaka - Kanazawa
25 jul 11: Kanazawa - Toyama
26 jul 11: Toyama - Matsumoto (Tateyama-Kurobe Alpen Route)
27 jul 11: Matsumoto - Takayama (Visit Kamikochi / Shirakawa-go)
28 jul 11: Takayama - Nagoya (Visit Toyota Factory + Sumo game)
29 jul 11: Nagoya - Hakone (Hakone Roundcourse)
30 jul 11: Hakone - Tokyo
31 jul 11: Tokyo
01 aug 11: Tokyo (Tokyo Disney Sea??)
02 aug 11: Tokyo (Daytrip Nikko)
03 aug 11: Tokyo
04 aug 11: Tokyo - Brussels

Thank you guys for all your recommendations and your patience with me

Hi, Hust out of curiosity, did you plan this base on transit route? It may save you some time if you go along the route... For example, maybe you should go all the way west and stop at different cities as you travel back east...

Right now, you are making a stop in Kyoto first, then you travel to hiroshima, and come backto Osaka to continue your trip....

There are 2 reasons for travelling to Kyoto first (on our arrival day):
- The Yamaboko Junko procession on July 17th (learned about this after we booked our flights, but would be a shame to miss it now)
- Travelling to Kyoto on arrival day is already a long trip, travelling to Hiroshima would be even longer

Anyway, thank you for your advise.

Woaw! That looks like an amazing trip!!

I went to Hakone and Mt. Fuji and really liked it. I was there for 1 day and had plenty of time. I traveled there in the morning and came back to my hotel in Tokyo the same night.

As for things to do in Tokyo, my favorite was a full day guided tour, we went to Tokyo Tower, Gardens, tour of the city, etc, etc. And I got to meet some people from around the world on the same tour. It was TONS of fun. We booked it online, I can't remember the company, but I found it just by browsing google.

Ok, i see, just that when i arrive, i am usually dead tired, so the travelling actually gives me an opportunity to stretch in the train and just pass out....

After several sleepless nights reading the forum and evaluating all the tips we got from you all (thanks for that), we modified our itinerary. This is what we came up with:

15 jul 11: Brussels - Tokyo
16 jul 11: Tokyo - Kyoto (Arrive Tokyo 9am -- Travel directly to Kyoto)
17 jul 11: Kyoto (Gion Matsuri Parade)
18 jul 11: Kyoto
19 jul 11: Kyoto (Daytrip Nara)
20 jul 11: Kyoto (Daytrip Osaka)
21 jul 11: Kyoto (Visit Hiroshima + Miyajima)
22 jul 11: Kyoto - Nagoya (Visit Toyota Factory + Sumo game)
23 jul 11: Nagoya - Takayama
24 jul 11: Takayama (Visit Kamikochi)
25 jul 11: Takayama - Shirakawa-go
26 jul 11: Shirakawa-go - Kanazawa
27 jul 11: Kanazawa - Toyama (Visit Kamikochi)
28 jul 11: Toyama - Matsumoto (Tateyama-Kurobe Alpen Route)
29 jul 11: Matsumoto - Hakone (Castle + Hakone Roundcourse)
30 jul 11: Hakone - Tokyo
31 jul 11: Tokyo (Fireworks)
01 aug 11: Tokyo (Tokyo Disney Sea??)
02 aug 11: Tokyo (Daytrip Nikko)
03 aug 11: Tokyo (Daytrip Kamakura)
04 aug 11: Tokyo - Brussels

The questions I have regarding this itinerary are:
- Is the number of days we have in Kyoto (taking into account the daytrips we plan) enough or perhaps too much? We do want to see some shrines and temples, but not all of them.
- What do you guys think of our route through the Alps? Is it in a logical order without backtracking too much?
- Is it worth staying in Shirakawa-go or do you think we should spend that day/night somewhere else in our route? Perhaps a visit to the Kiso valley (Tsumago)? If so, where do we best plan this in our itinerary?

Thanks a lot for the advice.

To muddy the waters possibly further, this was my itinerary

Fri day 1 05th Narita arrive 4:25pm à Tokyo
Sat day 2 06th Tokyo
Sun day 3 07th Tokyo
Mon day 4 08th Tokyo - Kyoto (activate JR 21)
Tue day 5 09th Kyoto
Wed day 6 10th Kyoto -- day trip Nara
Thu day 7 11th Kyoto - Osaka
Fri day 8 12th Osaka -- day trip Kobe
Sat day 9 13th Osaka
Sun day 10 14th Osaka - Okayama - Hiroshima
Mon day 11 15th Hiroshima --day trip Miyajima - Fukuoka
Tue day 12 16th Fukuoka
Wed day 13 17th Fukuoka
Thu day 14 18th Fukuoka àAso
Fri day 15 19th Aso - Beppu - Yufuin
Sat day 16 20th Beppu - Osaka via ferry
Sun day 17 21st Osaka - Hakone - Tokyo
Mon day 18 22nd Tokyo
Tue day 19 23rd Tokyo
Wed day 20 24th Tokyo -- day Nikko night Utsonomiya
Thu day 21 25th Tokyo -- night Yokohama
Fri day 22 26th Tokyo -- day trip Kamakura
Sat day 23 27th Tokyo
Sun day 24 28th Leave Japan 7pm flight

Pretty close difference was I went south to Kyushu to hit Fukuoka for the Grand Sumo Tournament and I really wanted to see all the hot springs down there...Yufuin was the highlight and I wished I had planned at least another day.

One thing I did feel and I do see it in your plans as well...before I headed back to Tokyo for my last week I was super tired of bouncing around from location to location. It was nice to use Tokyo as my base and just head out from there.

I felt Nara was nothing special after seeing so many temple's in Kyoto only difference... it has deer. Lots of people get "temple-itis" after Kyoto. Now you may say but my wife loves deer...Miyajima has the deer too.

Myself I would allot more time to Tokyo, there is a lot to see and do...each ward has a different feel to it. Yokohama is really cool as well with MM21 and the China town.

Osaka is not a huge difference from Tokyo if you are only popping in for a day trip, you will probably just get to see dontonburi, maybe the aquarium, and won't get a feel for the differences between the two cities.

**Also why not fly into Osaka its a whole lot closer to Kyoto?

Make sure you spend sometime along naka river at night.. the yatai food is just..... mmmmmmmmm.....

China town isn't all that exciting, but then, I am chinese and I practically live in a Chinese dominant area here in Canada, so China Town or not won't make a difference to me....

I find people in Kansai to be even friendlier and more helpful... I got lost when i was in Osaka a LOOONG time ago, my best friend was with me, and i only had a map... we wandered into some housing area, and there is no sign of a major street or transportation, this really old guy passed by with his bike, he got off, and helped us.. instead of giving us the direction, he walked 45 minutes with us to the bus station.. and its completely out of the way of where he was going...

And I agree, one can get temple out in kyoto, so Nara may not be necessary... a lot of people will probably disagree, but i guess something must go on a tight trip like this. Just make sure you visit kiyomizudera, and if you are into souvenir, don't take a cab up the walkway to kiyomizu, walk up, you will hit a BUNCH of store selling small special items

if you can afford it, then definitely fly to Osaka, it will cost about the same as riding the shinkanzen. I had a debate with someone a while back, about missing all the scene... to be honest, there isn't much to see when you are in the shinkansen, especially when its moving at such a high speed... you may get a glimpse of Fujisan if you are lucky....but thats about it....