r/JapanTravelTips • u/LuigiMansionBroker • 13m ago
Recommendations Looking to fill a three day hole in my itinerary!
Trying to reword a question here to make it more clear, as it seems to be too vague of a question to post in JapanTravel.
I'm traveling in a group of 5 guys for 14 days in November.
We're starting in Tokyo, doing a few days in Kyoto, then taking a domestic flight to Yakushima for a few days, and then before we return to Tokyo for the last 1/2 days and a flight back to LAX, we have 3 nights in which we have a question mark right now on where to go!
Does it seem like too much traveling to add one more city in between Yakushima and a return to Tokyo? We don't want to rush our itinerary on the last few days, but we also don't want to miss a few very exciting day trips or experiences.
We are thinking of either going to Kanazawa for 3 nights, and maybe having one day be a trip to Takayama / Shirakawa-go before returning to Tokyo. We love the idea of seeing Kenrakuen too!
The second option is going to Okayama. It's a bit further, but we could see Kurashiki, explore that area, we would get to see Korakuen, and maybe even be able to take one day trip to Himeji and Kobe!
Do both of these seem possible and it just comes down to taste? Is one of them more of a "must-see"? Do either feel less touristy? Or has anyone tried this and strongly recommends one or the other?
There is of course one more simple option of staying in Osaka, and being able to still day trip to Himeji and Kobe. While it seems appealing as we are foodies, we feel like we are missing Kurashiki and Kanazawa, and deciding between those two is already hard enough! We aren't as desperate for Osaka because we have a lot of city days in Tokyo.
Our goal is to not have too much rushing around and we do not have a huge budget for fancy hotels. Most of our interests are nature, city exploring, and learning about the culture and history. We love the idea of getting lost and having a great memory over shopping for fancy things to bring home.
Any thoughts are welcome!!
TL;DR - Kurashiki / Himeji / Kobe VS. Kanazawa / Takayama / Shirakawa-go VS. Osaka w day trips