A Week in NGO area - where to go?
 

I was able to book cheap tickets from QR to NGO.
My friend and I will arrive at NGO May 29 (in the afternoon) and depart on June 6 (in the afternoon as well).

How would you spend those days?
I have only been to Japan once before (a couple days in Tokyo) and from looking on the map it seems like it would be a good idea to split our time between Nagoya, Kyoto and Osaka.

But maybe there's some other places we should see?

By the way, on the return journey, I have a 6 hour layover at NRT.
Would you go to Tokyo (where?) or just stay in the lounge?

Thanks!

Can't really help on Nagoya as I've never been there. I can highly recommend Kyoto though. It's a fantastic, incredibly interesting city.

Narita Airport is a LONG way from central Tokyo and I would say that it would be pretty unfeasible really (Say 45 minutes to get out of the terminal and buy a train ticket + 60 minutes to central Tokyo - then on the train to return 60 minutes + Arrive at the airport at least 60 minutes beforehand means nearly four of those hours would have gone anyway.
Maybe someone else can recommend something closer to Narita.

Nagoya is only a bit over a half hour from Kyoto by shinkansen (bullet train.) Osaka is another 15 minutes or so. From Kyoto Station, Nara is about an hour on the local train. If you want to see a nice, historic mountain town, Takayama is less than 2-1/2 hours from Nagoya by wide-view tourist express train. There are lots of great places to go and see using Nagoya as a base. Most of those choices are easily walk-able or "bus-able" once you get there.

From NRT, the general rule of thumb is that less than 7 hours is too little to run into Tokyo. As a nice alternative, the charming little town of Narita is only a few minutes by local train from NRT. Narita has a very nice temple to visit and a shopping street that offers a nice walk and several decent places for a last Japanese meal before leaving Japan.

Thank you! How would you divide the time between the different cities?

I was thinking of maybe doing 2 nights Nagoya, 3 nights Kyoto, 2 nights Osaka.
Would that be a good idea?
Or should we stay another night in Nagoya before leaving?

Takayama sounds nice, too. But judging from the photos I found, it looks like a very small town? Would that really be worth 5 hours of traveling from Nagoya?

There is really no compelling reason to change hotels between Kyoto and Osaka. They are only minutes apart by train. It is quite easy to day trip between them. I like staying in Kyoto and running down to Osaka for a meal or some nightlife. Others prefer the high energy vibe of Osaka so stay there and day trip to Kyoto, which is quieter and more traditional. YMMV.

Takayama has a nice morning market but that wouldn't be much use for you as it will be pretty much done by the time you get there. There are several really nice museums, temples and other historical sites if you are into such things. Depending on when you will be there, the Takayama festival is very entertaining and interesting but it is only a few days a year. With your limited time, it might not be the best use of your time.

I would suggest at least 2 days to see much of Kyoto and a 3rd to day-trip over to the even older capital of Nara. With more time in Kyoto, I'd suggest another day trip to Himeji to see the best preserved feudal castle in Japan but you could also use the time for a day or two in Osaka for nightlife, dining and/or shopping.

Some photos from Takayama:

https://photos.smugmug.com/Travel/Ja...IMGP6445-S.jpg

https://photos.smugmug.com/Travel/Ja...IMGP6454-S.jpg

https://photos.smugmug.com/Travel/Ja...IMGP6485-S.jpg

https://photos.smugmug.com/Travel/Ja...IMGP6580-S.jpg

https://photos.smugmug.com/Travel/Ja...IMGP6641-S.jpg

Hmmm, Nagoya isn't looking very good hotel-wise.
Maybe for good reason (not so much to see)?
Maybe we should do just one day there?

I generally don't like staying in one place for more than 2-3 days though, hmmm...

As for Takayama, the photos do look nice and I'm sure I'm a complete Philistine for saying this, but to be honest, to me these shrines all look the same. :D

Should we maybe go somewhere further away? Maybe fly somewhere else in Japan?
Or take the bullet train to Okayama, Hiroshima or somewhere else?
Or maybe there's some nice place with a beach (provided it's hot enough in the beginning of June)?
Then we could just do 2-3 days of Kyoto/Osaka and then go somewhere else? Maybe skip Nagoya altogether?

I'd also like to have as many SPG nights during this trip, if possible without compromising too much on what we'll be seeing...

I know that Nagoya isn't a particularly popular tourist city - though I am sure you would find something to do there for a few days.

Three days is enough to see the key highlights of Kyoto, and I really don't think you'll be bored there unless you are really into partying and nightlife.
It's a fairly popular thing here to recommend commuting from Osaka to Kyoto (or vice-versa), however, I really wouldn't recommend it for a short stay. From Namba in Osaka to an attraction in Kyoto could easily take well over ninety minutes each way (People like to quote Shinkansen station to station times which is unrealistic at best), which isn't ideal when you are only there for a few days.

I visited Hiroshima from Kyoto last year and had a pleasant few days there. It seemed practically untouched by tourism compared to Tokyo and Kyoto which was a very nice comparison. It also felt it bit more provincial/ like the 'real' Japan. A daytrip to Miyajima is also a must.

I like Takayama, and there's more to it than just temples and shrines. There's a sort of heritage village of traditional houses, lots of craft shops, and great scenery on the way there and back. If you go in the winter, there are sake brewery tours.

As for thinking that all shrines and temples are alike, the antidote to that is reading up on them beforehand. Gateway to Japan, a travel guide from the early 1990s (it's prices and lists of hotels and restaurants are WAY out of date) has one of the best explanations of what the different styles of architecture mean and who all those statues represent and what the difference is between Amida and Dainichi Nyorai, but The Insight Guide to Japan is pretty good on that score, too.

Actually, if you haven't done so already, buy a guidebook (paper or e-book) of some sort and figure out what you want to see in western Japan.

Japan is the size of California, and the part of west of Nagoya is half the size of California, so you really don't need to change hotels, especially if you get a rail pass and use the Shinkansen a lot.

I've been to Nagoya a few times, and IMO it has some attractions, but noting that would put it on the itinerary of a first-time (or second, or third) time visitor to Japan. I've stayed there for three reasons: (a) the sumo tournament in July, (b) to visit some technology museums a friend (who's an engineer for BMW) wanted to see, and (c) as a cheap hotel stopover after arriving into NRT and heading onward toward Kyoto/Osaka. For the latter, during busy seasons, hotels in Tokyo and Kyoto/Osaka might run hundreds of dollars, while the Westin Nagoya is available for next to nothing on points and cash. The Marriott (right next to the station) also used to be good value on points, but has seen some brutal category increases.

I would probably rate Nagoya as one of the least appealing Japanese cities for visiting --not really walkable, relatively hard to get around on public transportation, not that much to do--, so I wouldn't spend more than a day or two there. The recommendations others have given are good -- head on to Kyoto/Osaka or even Hiroshima.

My favorite attraction in the Nagoya area is Meiji-mura. Loved having coffee in the reconstructed lobby coffee shop of Frank Lloyd Wright's Imperial Hotel.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meiji-mura

I agree with all of this. Also great Hida beef if you know where to go to avoid the tourist traps! We spent a couple of nights just outside of Takayama in the countryside and it was not difficult to fill a day in the town. There's great nature & temple walks that I highly recommend doing at sunset, which lead up a mountainside and end at an old cemetery, offering great views of the town. The historic center is also a lot of fun to walk through and can easily fill up a couple of hours. 3 nights in Kyoto is a decent amount of time, though I'm one who would recommend an extra night or two in Osaka as well, because I really enjoyed the contrast. It's a lot of fun to walk around the city late at night and there are some neat attractions.

Nagoya is a good base for a trek to the mountains and smaller villages up north, such as Shirakawa-go and the Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route. That can easily fill up a week.

The city itself isn't much special. If you like cars, their Toyota museum and factory tours are quite famous.

My photos : http://www.globalphotos.org/nagoya.htm

After doing some more research, I think that maybe doing only 2-3 days of Kyoto/Osake might be enough to get an impression of the area.

Instead of spending more time checking out smaller villages, maybe we should go to Okinawa or South Korea instead?
I prefer seeing many different places in a short period of time over visiting fewer places more thoroughly (during my first trip to NYC, I got bored after two days and felt like I had seen it all - which obviously wasn't true, but that's how it felt to me).

What do you think? Is Okinawa worth visiting? Or maybe Busan?
Would that be an alternative? Or is that a stupid idea?

I think Meiji Mura is one of Japan's most underrated tourist attractions. It really is worth the hike from Nagoya proper.

Don't spread yourself too thin. I have not been to Okinawa, but South Korea is a trip in itself. I had only one night in Busan (after a hydrofoil trip from Fukuoka) and took a bus tour of the highlights of the city, but I wish I had scheduled at least another day in each of the cities I visited (Busan, Gyeongju, and Seoul) and visited other places as well.

Before I went to Japan, I was sure I would get bored in such a homogeneous country after living on the East Coast of the U.S., but in fact, Japan continues to surprise me even nearly forty years later.