Originally Posted by
cas_de
With respect to skiing - you're probably right, we have tons of great skiing areas within a 3hr driving radius of MUC... so, there's not really a need to sample skiing resorts in Japan this time. After doing lots of thinking this what the plan will most likely look like:
Hiroshima/Miyajima
Hiroshima/Miyajima
Kyoto
Kyoto
Hakone
Hakone
Tokyo/NRT pre-departure overnight stay
For Hakone I am aiming at the following location:
http://www.fujimien.com/english/index.htm
I'd be inclined to give less weight to Hiroshima/Miyajima and Hakone than to Kyoto and Tokyo. So, I'd treat Hiroshima as one day + an overnight (e.g. see the museum and peace park, move to Miyajima, overnight at Miyajima, early morning walk, then take a morning ferry to the mainland and train to Kyoto) and then treat Kyoto as 2.5 days.... if you get my drift.
The location you've chosen in Hakone looks like a public institution to me. Certainly, it's inexpensive. But if that's the "ryokan experience", I'd skip it.