Originally Posted by invisible

Hello everybody,

I've been number of times in Tokyo, all those trips were work related and my wife accompanied me couple times as well.

Now I decided that after one of such upcoming trip in mid-July to take a week-long vacation with her to see and experience Japan outside Tokyo.

I would appreciate itinerary suggestions for six nights (leave Tokyo on Monday afternoon, come back on Saturday afternoon and go directly to NRT) which would also allow maximizing benefits provided by the JR Rail Pass, but without the need to spend half time on train.

Points of interests - history and nature (I know that Japan has plenty of them), plus experience cases 'only in Japan' (however I think I've seen enough of such at Akihabara and Harajuku). Would be great to attend traditional Japanese festival.

One of the desired option is to stay at traditional ryokan for couple of nights but without the necessity to break the bank - the budget for the whole trip, including JR passes is $1000. ...