gs78

Hi,

I'm looking to get a good taste of Japan in 2 weeks - see some temples, some autumn colours, see a bit of the countryside as well as the cities and visit some onsen. I'm visiting this month, in fact, flying out Thurs!

Itinerary:

13 - kyoto
14 -kyoto
15- kyoto
16- kyoto
17-nara
18-koya-san (I'd like to stay over)
19 nao-shima
20 hiroshima
21 hiroshima
22 takayama
23 takayama
24 matsumote
25 hotaka
26 tokyo
27 tokyo
28 tokyo

Now I'm thinking I'll use the JR pass 19th-25th and was thinking about getting a 2 day kansai pass to cover nara etc.

I know I haven't really left any time in my itinerary for travel so I'll have to look at dropping something ?nara/ koya-san ?takayama or hotaka

Also how easy is it to get from takayama to hotaka, I haven't managed to work out.

Any advice greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

RichardInSF

I am not expert on these destinations but plugged them into Hyperdia and found out that Takayama to Hotaka is 6 to 7 hours in transit and about Y11,000 fare.

You can do this too, the site is http://www.hyperdia.com/

If you are just going Kyoto-Nara-Kyoto, you don't need a Kansai pass, just pay the private rail fare.

jpatokal

Yup, Takayama-Hotaka-Matsumoto would be a more sensible routing. Not much public transport in that neck of the woods though, and spending only one night each would be a bit rushed to my liking.

The other long hauls there are Koya-Naoshima, which involves way too many transfers for comfort (Koya > Namba > Shin Osaka > Okayama > Uno > ferry) and will probably take a whole day, and Hiroshima-Takayama, which is a solid 5 hours on the train with optimal connections.

So, yes, you should drop something. I'd lean towards skipping Naoshima/Hiroshima and concentrate more on Kansai and the mountains. Also, where are the big cities on your itinerary? Don't miss Osaka or Tokyo if it's your first time in the country! (Not that Kyoto is small, but it's just not "intense" in the same way.)