Originally Posted by
evergrn
Is there any reason why Kinosaki appeals to you so much? It is a nice onsen, probably one of the best ones near Kansai. But it's not easy to get to, and doing Kobe-Kinosaki-Tokyo will make for a big detour. If you just want to do a nice onsen and you're not hung up on Kinosaki, there're other ones that are less out of the way... such as Yamashiro Onsen. If you do Yamashiro Onsen, you could even check out Kanazawa a bit en route to Tokyo.
I'm not tied to Kinosaki. Originally I was considering Noboribetsu when I was going to Hokkaido, but upon further investigation I was turned off by it and how it's operated like a factory. It seems like Kinosaki is more of a traditional onsen town to get the "full onsen experience".
Yamashiro looks quite nice!! I am open to suggestions for onsens. I was disappointed I didn't get to go to one on my last trip.
P.S. Now I'm considering the following -- I realized the above was silly:
20th - Arrive Osaka in evening
21st - Explore Osaka
22nd - Kobe/Nada
23rd - Naoshima/Inujima (overnight in Okayama)
24th - Okayama Castle, Korakuen Gardens, Kurashiki and Himeji. (Shinkansen/JR to Kinosaki)
25th - Kinosaki
26th - Morning train to Tokyo