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Day trips - a few questions -
02-02-2008, 11:53 AM
These are all day trips my group will be doing on our trip to Japan, which is in just over a week. Just a few more last minute questions! All of these trips will be from our base in Osaka and then Kyoto.
Koya-san I'm trying to convince the rest of my group to make a day trip out to Koya-san, because it looks fantastically magical. I'm just a little bit concerned about going in winter, because I've heard it involves a bit of hiking. Has anyone made the trip up there in winter? Or is it relatively easy (for people who are reasonably fit but aren't hikers) to get up to the temples and cemeteries? Does it look as beautiful in the winter as it does in warmer seasons? Nara How long does it take to see the main sites in Nara? The daibutsu is obviously on the list of things to see, but I'm not sure what else there is and if it can be done in half a day. Koka/Koga Anyone been to the ninja village/museum? Again trying to figure out if it's a whole day or a half day trip. Himeji, Hiroshima, Miyajima At the moment we have all three of these planned for the same day from Osaka, and because we need to get back to our hotel in Osaka before the trains shut down and the trips are pretty far. Our group isn't reeeeally interested in seeing a lot of Hiroshima since we have such a short trip (although I have heard it's a very interesting city and plan to check it out properly eventually), so we'll be doing our main sightseeing at Himeji castle and Miyajima. Is it possible to do this in a day, or is it a bit too ambitious? Thanks! 
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02-02-2008, 04:36 PM
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Himeji, Hiroshima and Miyajima all in one day? As a day trip? Only if you have wings. You can do Himeji as a day trip and make it back to Osaka, but any attempt to spend more than a photo-op in those other places will require spending the night. May I give a little advice? It sounds like you are trying to see many of the beautiful places Japan has to offer. I went to Kansai with a guy who majored in Buddhism, and we made a trip similar to the one you are making. Osaka, Nara, Kyoto, Tokyo. This guy had Eastern religions coming out his ears and could go on for hours about Shinto and Buddhism. Even he was sick of temples by the end of our trip. It sounds to me your are going to be spending more time going places than being places. Japan is a small country, but not so small that it can be seen in its entirety in a week. Enjoy Osaka and Kyoto...there is plenty to do in both these cities...and don't waste all your time riding trains all day to see a temple here or a castle there when there are beautiful ones closer. Himeji castle is very beautiful, and I only visited it because I lived outside of Osaka. If I was going on a short trip, though, Osaka Castle is more than enough of a Castle to see.
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02-02-2008, 04:54 PM
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From Namba station in Osaka, it'll take you a bit over 2 hours on the Nankai-Koya line to reach the top of the mountain. When I was there, the cable car ride was included in the price of the train ticket, not sure if that has changed or not in 10 years. That will leave you plenty of time to see Koya-san if you leave early, but check the Koya-san station time table to see when the last cable car down the mountain is... I know it's much earlier than most trains stop running, about 9 PM or so, I think. Edit to add: Koya-san in winter is still beautiful, and in fact, sometimes gets some snow up there too, which only adds to the magical feeling:  Nara: The park and the temples in it can be seen in half a day, no problem. You could probably even choose 1-2 other places to see outside the park, if they are close, to round out the full day. Nara is pretty close to Osaka, so travel time will not be too much (45-60 minutes? Not sure, I always went there from Wakayama, not Osaka). This site has a list of some things to see there, and a map: Nara Sightseeing Spots and Map Koga: Never been there, sorry. Himeji, Hiroshima, Miyajima: All of this in a day is too ambitious. Getting to Himeji Castle and exploring it will alone take half a day. Then, traveling on to Hiroshima will take the rest of the day if you aren't using the bullet train. From Osaka, Hiroshima is at least 6 hours by regular express trains, and only 40 minutes by bullet train. What you could do is see Himeji and travel to Hiroshima, maybe walk around Peace Park that evening. Stay the night in Hiroshima, take the ferry to Miyajima, see it for at least half the day, and then head back to Osaka that evening. That would be a good 2 day excursion. When I stayed in Hiroshima, I stayed at a Peace Hostel that was inexpensive and run by very nice people... not sure if it's still in business, but maybe look it up. If you are unable to dedicate 2 days to the trip, you may want to skip Hiroshima and combine Himeji with something much closer, like Kobe or Arima Onsen: Kobe Travel: Arima Onsen (Arima Hot Spring)
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02-03-2008, 01:03 AM
Yeah, I was worried about that Himeji/Hiroshima/Miyajima one
 How about Hiroshima/Miyajima as a day trip, with Himeji on another day? Personally I'd really rather not go to Hiroshima on this trip because of the travel involved (although we do have a rail pass so can go by shinkansen, I think), but one of my group is really keen to see it. I'm gonna try and talk them out of it and put in a day at Koya-san instead >_>You have a point, MMM, I did get really sick of temples in China. Especially travelling for hours to one that to me looked the same as all the others! We'll probably be mainly hitting up the main one in Nara, a day or half a day looking at the ones around Kyoto, and a few on Koya-san (although I'm more interested in the forest and cemeteries for photos, really). Hopefully that shouldn't be too much to overload us with temples... although that's all in the space of a few days, so we'll see. samurai007, thanks for the info! It's your photos that make me want to see Koya-san, heheh. Good to know it doesn't involve much hiking, and that its still as beautiful in the winter. Dunno if I'll be able to convince my friends with the length of the trip, but I'll make it there someday for sure  This is the itinerary we have at the moment, although we'll have to make some changes in bits.. 1 - arrive in Kansai in the morning, explore Osaka 2 - Osaka, Osaka Aquarium 3 - Day trip to Himeji, Hiroshima, Miyajima <- (looks like I'll have to change this one) 4 - Move on to Kyoto (or go up to Koyasan if I can slot it in) 5 - Day trip to Nara, afternoon/night in Kyoto 6 - Temples around Kyoto 7 - Koka, afternoon/night in Kyoto 8 - train to Tokyo, afternoon/night exploring Tokyo 9 - day trip to Karuizawa for skiing 10 - Tokyo 11- Tokyo 12- Tokyo 13 - Tokyo 14 - Hakone, spending night in ryokan 15 - Fly out from Narita in the afternoon ... looking at this again, we really are going to be spending a lot of time travelling >_>
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02-03-2008, 01:38 AM
I didn't know you have a JR Rail pass... that would cut the time to get to Hiroshima considerably (down to an hour, maybe a little less). But I still think Himeji/Hiroshima/Miyajima in 1 day is pushing it a bit. If you really flew through everything, you might be able to do it, but you probably wouldn't fully enjoy it in such a hurry. But with the Rail pass, it could conceivably be done, especially if you start early in the morning, leave Himeji by around noon, don't stop for any sights in Hiroshima and just go straight to the Miyajima ferry.
Day 4 you should be able to fit in Koya-san, I would think. Here's how I'd do it (assuming you haven't already booked hotels). Day 4: Day trip to Koya-san, come back to spend night in Osaka. Day 5: Day trip to Nara (Nara is closer to Osaka than it is to Kyoto, so leaving from Osaka will save you some time), and travel to Kyoto to spend the night there. Day 6: Temples in Kyoto, as you planned. Also, you have 5 days planned in Tokyo, which IMO may be a bit much (but I am biased against the big city, and much more attracted to the countryside, as you know). I think rather than squeezing some of the other places down to a half day, you may want to consider giving up 1 of the 5 days in Tokyo so you have more time elsewhere. You can get burned out on temples, but the key is to not see each and every temple, but the ones that really have something spectacular and different. Places like the Daibutsu-den in Nara and Okunoin in Koya-san are not your run of the mill temple, but something truly unique and memorable.
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02-03-2008, 02:34 AM
That is pretty much what we had planned to do, but yeah, it is a bit of a rush.
We have already booked hotels, so it would be a bit hard to change things at this point =/ I wish we were staying in Osaka another night instead of Kyoto, everything seems to be closer to there. I'm thinking suggesting to everyone that we split up on one of the days, with some of us going to Hiroshima/Miyajima and some going to Koyasan, if we can't agree. Although then we'll have to find another day for Himeji. Ack, so hard! I think shopping is the main thing for us in Tokyo, and personally I can shop for 5 days without getting bored >_> I'd like to have an extra day skiing though, so if its possible to change things I might try and book a hotel in Karuizawa and stay the night there so we have a bit more time. Do you happen to know if a hostel would hold our baggage for a night if we spent one in Karuizawa? That way we wouldn't have to drag all of it with us and back.
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02-03-2008, 02:43 AM
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If they won't, Japan has a lot of train station lockers where you can stash your bags for only a few yen. I used them quote often as well, but they won't fit a massive suitcase. If you take a backpack or duffle bag, they would fit. You can still go to Koya-san and all the way to Kyoto that night... it'd just be an extra 70-90 minutes by local trains, and probably less than 10-15 minutes if you catch a bullet train from Osaka to Kyoto! You might want to combine Himeji with Kobe and Arima Onsen... a hot spring bath is just the thing to relax on a busy trip! Arima Hot Springs Kobe Travel: Arima Onsen (Arima Hot Spring) Japanese Onsen - Arima Hot Spring :: Japan Visitor Japan Visitor Blog - Tokyo Osaka Nagoya Kyoto: Arima Onsen
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