You can ‘do’ Nara in half a day (albeit with an early start), and Osaka is definitely better in the evening/night time.
If you don’t mind a long day, you can do Hiroshima & Itsukushima Shrine (the famous “floating” temple) in a day from Kyoto, or at least I did back in 2010. Obviously the monuments, etc. in Hiroshima are pretty sobering but I also really enjoyed the food and general vibe of the city.
Watch out for the temple deer in Nara, one bit me on the arse.
Anyone got any recommendations for Osaka specifically? Probably going to use it, as advised above, as a base for visiting Nara and Kyoto and then enjoy the nightlife in Osaka in the evenings. However, would quite like to spend a whole day in the city itself and explore a bit. The castle is on the list obviously.
off the top of my head:
Sumiyoshi grand shrine
Walk around shinsekai
minami/namba/dotonburi
Mino Park
Umeda sky building is a fun building and good views of the city AND you can see the place where the railtracks go through an office block.
den den town is like the osaka version of akihabara and pretty sure on certain days of the week theres loads of people wondering around cosplaying.
if you like football gamba osaka
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I have made the decision to do an overnight trip to Nara to do an early morning walk around the deer park before heading back to Tokyo to meet up with friends. I will go to Osaka if I’m not super exhausted from trying to do everything in Kyoto.
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Of the Japanese cities I’ve visited recently, Fukuoka, Kagoshima, and Sapporo are the highlights.
Great vibes in these places. Want to go back to Sapporo and eat more soup curry.
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Would like some guidance building a rough 2 week itinerary for next year…
Rough idea is to start in Tokyo for 2 days then train to Osaka / Kyoto / Nara for the main 10 day chunk then back to Tokyo for the final 2 days.
That seem ok? Or can we stretch to visit another southern city?
Think we’re saving the north for another trip in a few years and been to Tokyo & Hakone before so that isn’t the main focus.
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Sounds sensible. Only other southern city I’d consider is whether you wanted a side trip to Hiroshima given its place in modern history (and to eat the best okonomiyaki) but it is a bit of a trek from Osaka…
I think you might want a little longer in Tokyo, and a little less time in Osaka/Kyoto/Nara, depending on which days you’re travelling, and whether you’re planning day trips to Kamakura, Hakone or Koya.
If you pushed it, you could squeeze in Hiroshima and Itsukushima, but I think they might be better done if you had three weeks, or on a subsequent trip (perhaps combined with island hopping in the Inland Sea during the Setoichi Triennale or riding the Shimanami Kaido).
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Forget that - I missed that you’ve already been to Tokyo and Hakone.
I still think 10 days for Osaka, Kyoto and Nara is maybe a bit too generous. I’d try to get down to Hiroshima and the Inland Sea for a couple of days each, and try to get to Koya if you’ve not done so already.
Fukuoka and Kyushu are best done on another trip.
Did a lot of puzzling over finding the right balance, ended up settling on 4 full days in Tokyo region (will probably include a day out to Kamakura), two days/one night in Hakone, three days in Osaka (using it as a base to visit Kyoto and Nara), and then two final days in Tokyo.