Help with Japan Itinerary and Ryokan

I strong encourage you to go on the tripadvisor.com Japan forums. We do have a few posters on here who may be able to help, but on that forum you will find much more information, and more posters that have gone there regularily.

I'd recommend taking the train to Takayama. You won't really need a car there and the train is much more pleasant than driving. Personally I'd take the new Hokuriku Shinkansen extension line to Toyama for the scenery then switch to a Hida limited express or rent a car to get to Takayama rather than driving all the way from Tokyo or Hakone. One could also take the Shinkansen to Nahoya and switch to the Hida limited express. It should be about the same amount of time or even slightly faster.

If your only reason to go to Hakone is as a nice place to stop on the way to the western side of Honshu then I'd say skip it and go to Nikko then take the Shinkansen to Toyama From Tokyo.

DJ

Thank you for your help! I think we have rearranged our itinerary again. We were not planning on picking up the car in Tokyo. We'd most likely get it in Nagoya so that we can drive around Toyama and to Kanazawa. We thought after 4.5ish days in Kyoto, Nikko wouldn't hold much appeal, so we thought the Hakone day trip may be more interesting and different. With this route we also only need an 14 day JR pass, rather than a 21 day which saves us $230. Thoughts on all that?

2 Arrive NRT 2:00PM, train to Tokyo, check in, walk a district, eat (sleep in Tokyo)
3 Tokyo sightseeing (Tokyo)
4 Travel to Nagoya (rent a car) and then drive to Takayama (Takayama - Try to find a Ryokan)
5 Takayama sightseeing (Takayama not at a ryokan)
6 Travel to Shirakawa-Go and to Kanazawa (drop car) (sleep in Kanazawa)
7 Travel to Osaka - afternoon Nara (sleep in Osaka)
8 Day trip to Hiroshima & Miyajima (Osaka)
9 Travel to Mt. Koyasan (Sleep in Koyasan at a temple)
10 Travel to Kyoto -via Nara if not seen yet (Kyoto)
11 Kyoto Activities #1 (Kyoto)
12 Kyoto Activities #2 (Kyoto)
13 Kyoto Activities #3 (Kyoto)
14 Kyoto Activities #4 (Kyoto)
15 Travel to Tokyo - afternoon sightseeing (Tokyo)
16 Tokyo Day Trip - Hakone (Tokyo)
17 Tokyo sightseeing (Tokyo)
18 Depart NRT 10:40AM

It's good you're spending so much time in the Kyoto and Nara area, because it has been said that Kyoto is the cultural and spiritual capital of Japan. And Nara is close. Kyoto was one of the very few cities that was spared the fire bombing attacks in WW2 that incinerated so much of Japan's urban cultural heritage.

I see now, didn't realize your railpass situation. In that case, your plan to pick up a car in Nagoya and drive to Takayama makes sense.

I've stayed in a Ryokan in Takayama that was nice enough but unfortunately I don't recall the name. My only advice is book one new the city center as you won't want or need your car to explore Takayama.

I agree with the other poster that you are right to focus a lot of time in Kyoto.

Have fun, looks like a great trip.

DJ

A few random thoughts . . . Nara is, in my opinion, worth more than an afternoon.

You do realize, don't you, that driving in Japan is on the left? That, plus indecipherable signage would make me scratch the idea of renting a car. The experience of being illiterate is quite dumbfounding. When we visited in 1987 (back in the last millennium), we went everywhere by train. Of course, back then, we didn't have a gps.

You might want to add Himeji Castle to your itinerary. Himeji is on the road between Osaka and Hiroshima. I think I'm remembering correctly that there is a nice little local history museum on the grounds. Btw, Japan is really big on preserving local history, so you'll find these museums frequently. They're quite good.

The other feature promoted by the government and very good is local crafts centers. We visited an indigo dyeing center, a rice paper making center, and a ceramics center. At each we had the opportunity to see the processes and to participate in them.

I remember Hakone as underwhelming. Our best view of Mt. Fuji was from the plane between Narita and Osaka. It's very often shrouded in fog.
There is also a small city, Kurashiki, not too far from Osaka, that is very worth visiting. It has a wonderful folk art museum and good archaeological museum. It's built on canals, so quite scenic.

Just got back from Japan a few days ago...it's a great place to visit!

I can't imagine driving in Japan - and I've driven in some fairly challenging places (Morocco comes to mind...). The signage will be undecipherable. We have always had great experiences in Japan using a combination of train, bus and shuttle vans, even to rural locations - there are oodles of options. I would urge you to reconsider the driving plans. Also, while I agree that Kyoto is a fine place to linger, I think you are short-changing Tokyo - looks like you dedicate 4-5 days for Kyoto but just 2 for Tokyo. I'd re-balance that a bit. Not sure about your plan for doing Nikko as a day-trip....we spent one night and loved it. We also did the Hakone/Mt Fuji and enjoyed it - we got lucky with the weather, clear sky and great views.

I think you may have one or two outlier locations that you might consider cutting (I know, I know...). Our first trip to Japan initially looked a bit like yours - we were trying to include Hiroshima and Nagoya, but decided to cut those. Here's how we ended up squeezing things in: started in Tokyo (2 days); trip to Nikko (1 night); from Nikko we went (via Tokyo) to Hakkone/Mt Fuji/Kawaguchi-go (1 night), back to Tokyo (for 2 nights), then via shinkansen to Osaka (2 nights), Nara (day trip), Kyoto (3 nights), then Takayama (1 night, with day trip to Shirakawa-go), then back to Tokyo (4 more nights there). We were able to do this with just a 7 day JR pass by being tricky: you can get a special pass for the 48 hour round trip to Nikko. Upon returning to Tokyo, from Nikko, we than used a different pass for the trip to Hakone/Mt Fuji/Kawaguchi-go. Again, that returned us to Tokyo. (There are a LOT of these mini-pass/packages available from Tokyo). Only after doing these two short jaunts out of (and back to) Tokyo, then we activated the JR pass and jumped on the Shinkansen to Osaka/Kyoto; we used the JR pass/shinkansen extensively - up to Takayama (don't miss the Hida beef - best cow I've ever had!) and then back to Tokyo. We did this with a 7 day JR pass (admittedly, we had a couple days where we were on the Shinkansen for more than a few hours, but it's a great ride). It all worked out great for us. We did have to lop off the western extension to Hiroshima, I'm glad we did, it would have been too crazy (we'll return). We covered a LOT of ground in our 16-day trip, had a nice mix of big cities and smaller towns/countryside, but the pace of the trip felt relaxing and appropriate.

We loved Japan - so much in fact, that we did another trip there just a year later (returned from that 3 days ago, I'm still jet-lagged and culture-shocked). This trip was shorter, but we managed to get in a day skiing and an overnight at a hot springs ryokan in the mountains - really sweet. Can't wait to go back again.

If you want details, PM me. Hope some of the above helps - have fun!!!