Trying this again, my post was deleted earlier (I think because I was not clear that I was not looking for respondents to fill in my itinerary / activities.).
We are leaving in 5 days. Talk about last minute. (Sth came up that seemed like it would require cancelling the trip, then we worked that issue out just this last week.) It's OK, we are not the detailed planning type of travellers anyway, we know we'll have fun in Japan no matter what our itinerary ends up being.
Flying in and out of Osaka. Partner and / or I have been to Tokyo Kyoto Nara, granted it's been 20 yrs but don't want to repeat those places on this trip.
Will be in Japan again next spring so not worried about "missing" great places because there is always next time.
We like wandering around in cities but we also love nature, walking, quiet, don't require activities to fill every moment, can easily hang in a park or a tea house (or a quiet bar) for a couple hours.
We really, really love seafood (food and drink are a big deal for us in general), enjoy modern art and architecture (but max one museum a day), and coastal beauty and to be on the water (even just a port city) at least some part of every travels. Thus Niigata … which is also talked up a lot here!
Plan right now is
11/13-17: Osaka (we get in really late on Nov 13, so this is 3 full days in Osaka)
17-18: Niigata
18-20: Sado Island
20-21: Niigata
21-23: Karuizawa, Nagano **this is start (Fri) of a 3-day weekend**
23-25: Kanazawa
Day 13-15: ???
Day 15: Travel to Osaka airport for a 6 pm flight
My main question is:
Where for the ???
Also, we usually don't love moving around a lot, prefer to stay still, relax and really dig into places that appeal to us (we also will return to those places on subsequent trips).
So I wonder if moving every 2 days is going to drive us nuts. Should I eliminate something here? Or not go as far north as Niigata?
I also wonder about being in Karuizawa/Kanazawa for a 3-day weekend … might be better to move things around so we are in a not-so-attractive-to-long-weekenders sort of place for those days. Niigata maybe?
by DogandCatMom007