Criss-crossing Japan in 3 weeks: “2nd Golden Triangle” & 3 rural additions:
When planning our 3-week Japanese journey (together with my husband), I aimed at a mix of popular places (Tokyo and Kyoto) and
some quieter, more rural ones to encounter a different side of the country – and to take a break from the crowds. And I wanted a Japanese journey in style, as alway when traveling the world! But this proved to be no easy thing! As Westerner in Japan, you have no feel for what is good and what might be less so. But after tons of research, I finally managed to put together the ideal itinerary for my husband and me.
Japan as travel destination
No other place on earth is comparable to Japan. It developed its own unique character due to its long period of isolation from the rest of the world. And this makes it such a fascinating place to travel. At the same time, almost everything appears unfamiliar to you. It is hard to make the right choices in terms of itinerary, hotels and restaurants. Finally, after a lot of work, my Japanese journey in style was ready.
As in the past, I used Google My Maps to document our trip. It shows all the things we did as well as all the places we stayed and dined. And it comes with short descriptions and pictures. If you love the finer things in life and simultaneously look for value for money, then it might be just right for you too!
Before I share my Google Map of Japan with you, I will give some information as to the route and activities to undertake in the individual stops. As far as the hotels and restaurants (and find & reserve them) of our Japanese journey are concerned, you will learn more about them in other blogposts to follow.
Route options: “Golden Triangle” vs longer alternatives
If you have, say, eight days available for your Japan trip, then the so-called “Golden Triangle” of Tokyo – Kyoto – Osaka might be the right choice. However, this time (and route) will not allow you to experience the true beauty of Japan as you definitely should visit smaller places too.
In case you have two weeks at your disposal for your Japan visit, there is a lesser known yet also frequented itinerary, the “Second Golden Triangle”. This takes you also to the towns of Takayama, Shirakawa-go and Kanazawa, amidst the Japanese Alps. It gives you the chance to get to know not only the big cities but also smaller towns. And so to step back in time and to travel deeper.
As we had three weeks for our Japanese journey, we opted for the mentioned “Second Golden Triangle” plus three additions to immerse ourselves even more into the culture. And these were the following ones: Hakone (for Mount Fuji view & national park), Kiso Valley (for Magome and Tsumago, two old postal towns with traditional wooden houses) and Yakushima Island (a subtropical island off the southern coast of Kyushu, which is covered by cedar forests with some of Japan’s oldest trees).
Final itinerary: “2nd Golden Triangle” & 3 rural additions
In this paragraph, I let you know about our exact route. And I will also report on some problems we had been faced with in the process of booking accommodations and transfers.
As most travelers to Japan, we flew into Tokyo. But instead of staying here for a few days, as most people do, we headed directly to Hakone. We made Tokyo our last stop before flying out three weeks later. The reason for this was the enthronement of Japan’s new Emperor that took place on our arrival. And this event came along with the lack of suitable hotel rooms at this time.
You can reach Hakone quite easily from Tokyo. This small town is one of the prime places to view Mount Fuji – weather permitting – and home of the Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park with many attractions.
Next was the lesser frequented Kiso Valley, running alongside the mountains of the Central Alps. Here you find the best-preserved post towns in Japan. This place was also the reason for renting a car for the first eight days of our journey (from Tokyo to Kyoto). And no, we did not encounter any problems while driving in Japan. On the contrary, it went smoothly due to a good signage (almost always in English too), a great GPS, well behaved Japanese drivers and low speed limits.
We remained in the mountainous area and went on to Kanazawa
and Takayama,
both located amongst the Japanese Alps. And funnily enough, they are equally called “Little Kyoto” along with some other towns too. In-between we also visited two villages in the Shirakawa-go region and in a neighboring one. Again, we had to make changes at the itinerary. Takayama would have been the logical choice on the way to Kyoto, but the Kanazawa marathon took place on our initial arrival day. And again this meant that there were no hotel rooms available.
Kyoto,
as mentioned, was next on the list complete with a side trip to Nara
(Japan’s first permanent capital, by train). And here was also the place where we (reluctantly) returned our rental car. We had liked very much the flexibility of this mode of transportation. From this point of time, we mainly got around by train.
For this purpose, we had acquired a Suica Card on our arrival in Tokyo. This is a prepaid smart card that you can use for most public transport and shopping. In the latter context, I recommend going to the 7-Eleven shops. They offer a great selection of quality goods and are different from the ones outside of Japan.
A short train ride later from Kyoto, and we arrived in Osaka,
with another side trip to Himeji (castle, by train).
And further on we went to Fukuoka (Kyushu) by Shinkansen where we immediately boarded a plane to Yakushima.
This lesser traveled, subtropical island is famed for its old cedar forests. One more time we were forced to make adjustments at our travel plan. Originally we wanted to fly out from Osaka, but all the flights from here on our date of departure were already gone one day after being ready for booking. As we thought due to a long weekend taking place at this point of time!
And, as said, our Japanese journey ended in Tokyo,
after flying out from Yakushima via Kagoshima, which was no big deal.
So much to our Japan itinerary. In the following a few words to the things you can do on the route we opted for.
Activities “2nd Golden Triangle” & 3 rural additions
You find detailed information of attractions in my Google Map. Here, I will go into the general nature of things to do in the different places.
In Hakone, a mountainous town not far from Tokyo, it is all about viewing Mount Fuji, the holiest mountain in Japan. Furthermore, you can explore the natural and man-made wonders of Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park.
Kiso Valley is the place to experience a great example of historical rural Japan. And this in the charming old postal towns of Magome and Tsumago, which are connected by part of the Nakasendo Trail. The latter is a super hike to do with lots to see. And it is not too strenuous. I will go more into details in one of my next blogposts.
Kanazawa and Takayama are both towns – the former a large town, the latter a small one –, which were spared by the World War II. Therefore, they have lots of period wooden merchant houses, which are delightfully preserved. Kanazawa has in addition to this a famous garden and a samurai history. Between these two towns, you can find three villages (Ogimachi, Ainokura
and Suganuma) with A-frame farmhouses. They are known as gassho-zukuri, which is quite a sight.
Kyoto is the city in Japan that is from a cultural point of view the most important one with its more than 1,600 temples. Go not only to the top attractions but visit also less popular ones as this allows you to escape crowds. Sightseeing in Kyoto involves a lot of walking as many highlights are close together. Work your way from one neighborhood to the other. A side trip to Nara with its important (and large) temples complete with an abundance of deer is quite a worthwhile thing to do. In my opinion half a day is sufficient for this. For a three and a half-day itinerary, refer to my Google Map in the next paragraph.
The neighboring city of Osaka is quite different from Kyoto as here it is all about shopping, from very whimsical shopping streets to “normaler” ones. A side trip to Himeji to see the beautiful castle is well-worth doing.
Yakushima, a short distance away from Kyushu’s south coast, is a secluded and largely unspoilt nature paradise famed for its old cedar forests. And luckily, you can see its main sights in a few days. Activities include driving around its perimeter and hiking (attention: quite hilly with steep climbs and extremely wet climate). More about our stay here you find in one of my next blogposts.
Last but not least, the megacity of Tokyo is impressive just because of its sheer size. Must-dos to realize its dimensions are taking in its panoramic views. Good choices for this are Tokyo Skytree, Tokyo City View and Sky Deck. Make your way from one neighborhood to the other and visit the particular attractions. This involves long walks but also using the subway and busses quite often. Have a look at my Google Map below where I propose a three-day route.
This is it what I wanted to share with you about our Japan trip as to itinerary and activities. I will not go further into the well known places in Japan just as Kyoto or Tokyo. So much has already been written about them on the internet. However, there will be a post about our stays in the lesser visited spots of Kiso Valley and Yakushima Island in the time to come.
But here and now to my Google Map of Japan I keep telling you about.
My Google Map of our Japanese journey in style
My apologies for making you wait until the end of my blogpost for my Google Map of our three-week trip across Japan in style! It comes with all our activities, hotels and restaurants including short descriptions and pictures. A tip: do not view pictures with Safari, as they often do not show with this browser.
If you are not only interested in the itinerary and things do in the particular places, then stay tuned. My next three blogposts will be about the topics of upscale hotels
and gourmet restaurants (and find & reserve them)
in Japan. So much in advance, it is no easy thing as Westerner to figure out where to go for luxury travel in the land of the rising sun. And the same is true when it comes to make reservations once you have come upon adequate places!
Date of visit: November 2019
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The post My Google ITINERARY Map of a Japanese journey in style first appeared on Swiss Traveler
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