PJTravels

Greeting all. I'm planning our second trip to Japan, and have identified spots on Honshu I want to revisit or see for the first time, along with the desire to spend some time on Shikoku. I've mapped out the following itinerary, but I'm wondering if it would be more efficient to put Shikoku at the end of the trip before Osaka and flying home. On paper it doesn't seem to make a difference, but those of you with real life experience may have a better circuit to suggest. We plan to spend just over three weeks. I'm also toying with the idea of staying in western Honshu and skipping Shikoku, but this could be our last trip to Japan. Thank you!
Tokyo
Kyoto
Matsue
Kurashiki
then on to Shikoku
Takamatsu
Kochi
Matsuyama
then back to Honshu
Hiroshima
Osaka

mrwunrfl

Are you planning to stay in Osaka overnight before flying home?
Which airport are you flying from Osaka Itami (ITM) or Osaka Kansai (KIX) or other airport?

Your plan is doable no matter the answers. I could assume your answers are yes and KIX in which case the plan works fine and is more than doable.

PJTravels

Thank you, mrwunrfl, for your input. Yes, we will be staying in Osaka, one or two nights, before flying home from KIX. I'm glad to learn that our plans are doable.

progol

PJ, I’m curious to know what your itinerary will be. We will be returning to Japan next fall for our 2nd trip, though combining it with Taiwan. I’m currently planning Osaka, Kinosaki, Himeji, Onomichi, Hiroshima and returning to Kyoto (staying in Hotel Mume is like returning home), but I’m intrigued by the Shikoku locations you’ve mentioned and toying with them as well as considering Naoshima.

By the way, for a brief moment, I thought your post on Takayama on another thread was something I wrote because it sounded just like our experience!

mrwunrfl

Thanks for the reply. Your route is good, more than doable. It would be possible to go to KIX airport from Takamatsu but your route would go via Awaji-jima and then ferry from Kobe to the airport (which sounds cool - to take a ferry to the airport). But your route to Osaka is easier and I would want you to take the train across the Seto Ohashi bridges.

There are flights between Izumo and Osaka Itami. Izumo being the home of Izumo Taisha which is a must-visit not far from Matsue. It might work for Kyoto to Matsue. Getting from Kyoto to ITM pretty much means going via Kyoto Station one way or another, so maybe a train would work out as well in terms of time and money.

Better at the end, though, because you are staying in Osaka (might have worked really well if your departure from Japan started at ITM). The route could be Kyoto- Hiroshima- Matsuyama- Kochi- Takamatsu- Kurashiki- Matsue all by rail and then fly to Osaka.

Your route is probably better.

I have only visited one place on Shikoku. That was Matsuyama and I loved it. I will say it again: Matsuyama is where I fell in love with Japan on my first visit.

PJTravels

progol - I've outlined the itinerary in the initial post. I'm still working out the number of nights in each place, considering where we may want more, or fewer. Currently, it looks like:
Tokyo - 4
Kyoto - 4
Kurashiki - 2 (if we can book a nice place)
Matsue - 2 or 3 (probably 3)
Takamatsu - 2
Kochi - 2 or 3
Matsuyama - 2
Hiroshima - 2 (stay Miyajima)
Osaka - 1 or 2 fly home to SFO

I keep reading about hotel Mume, and hope to look into it. We were quite happy at the Cross Hotel for our first time in Kyoto. It was a good size room, and a great location for a first trip.
Funny that you thought you were reading your own words regarding Takayama. Would love to return.

progol

You’re right, I saw the outline of your plan though it wasn’t clear to me that you were doing the locations in that order. Are you renting a car or traveling by public transportation? I see that you have Matsue in your plan though it seems like a long trip with multiple changes to Takamatsu for only 2 nights. Matsue does seem very interesting and worth a visit.

Hotel Mume is a one of a kind place. It’s run by a woman whose mission is truly to make her guests feel as taken care of as possible. The staff cater to the guests. It’s a small boutique hotel with only 7 rooms, but it’s truly the personal connection that makes it so special. The rooms are lovely but that’s not why one stays here. It’s really hard to separate our experience of Kyoto from our experience of Mume, because they really are intertwined. Cross hotel was my backup hotel since Mume is often hard to book.

PJTravels

I made a mistake when outlining our proposed itinerary in response to you. We are looking at going to Matsue after Kyoto, then to Kurashiki before heading to Shikoku. if I am getting to correct transit information it looks like one transfer with less than 2 hours travel time. Thank you for pointing out my error.
We will not be renting a car, but relying on trains and buses as we did for our first trip to Japan. (That was fall, 2019, and I have yet to write reports on the 4 trips we took that year prior to the pandemic.)

mrwunrfl

Matsue to Takamatsu (Kagawa) would be 4 hr 5 minutes including one transfer that takes 35 minutes. Choose a different Takamatsu, like Takamatsu (Ishikawa), and get a different result.

Matsue to Kurashiki is 2h 28min no change of trains, hourly at/near top of the hour for most of the day..

West Japan Railway Company - Timetables, Route Maps, and Station Maps (westjr.co.jp)

That is for Feb 23 but the schedule for your travel date won't differ much, if at all.

PJTravels

Thank you for your replies. As usual when itineraries begin to take shape, desire and reality push changes. I realized that I would prefer not to have Tokyo and Kyoto back-to-back, and I began to think that it might be better to spend more time traveling further in West Honshu, rather than spending so much time on Shikoku. All personal preferences, I know. I also think that I really can't go wrong with either choice. The revised itinerary I am currently working with follows:
5 nights - Tokyo
2 nights - Kurashiki
2 nights - Miyajima (Hiroshima)
2-3 nhts - Matsuyama
3 nights - Yamaguchi
3 nights - Matsue
4 nights - Kyoto
Bus from Kyoto to Osaka for flight home
Considering time in Kinosaki Onsen.

mrwunrfl

Looks good. There is a limited express from Yamaguchi to Matsue via Masuda that takes 4 hours. After Masuda the trip is along the coast of the Nihon Kai. So close that if you sit on the right side of the train and look out the windows on the left side that I think all you would see is the sea.

Matsuyama to Matsue would be too long and require a change of trains;.

PJTravels

I think I have worked out what will be the most efficient itinerary for our fall, 2024 trip. I've changed when we arrive on Shikoku, adding two nights in Takamatsu before going to Matsuyama and then on to Hiroshima. It may be that we skip the nights in Takamatsu, day trip there from Okayama. That will depend on what I find for accommodation. If we do that, I have extra nights to add to Okayama and Matsuyama. It now looks like:

5 nights - Tokyo
2 nights - Kurashiki (Okayama) - possibly 3 nights
2 nights - Takamatsu (possibly day trip from Okayama)
2 nights - Matsuyama - possibly 3 nights
2 nights - Hiroshima (Miyajima)
3 nights - Yamaguchi
3 nights - Matsue
4 nights - Kyoto

We have the luxury of not being constrained by a set number of days, but three weeks plus a few days seems like a good amount of time to be away from home. (Unlike our younger days of empty nest travel that were often 6-7 weeks.)

mrwunrfl

That will be a fun trip.
I think I would try to get the view of the Seto Ohashi from Kojima (Okayama) which happens to be the jeans capital of Japan. There is another viewpoint on the Shikoku side with a small museum about the bridges or maybe it is a train museum.
The Great Seto Ohashi - Kurashiki, Okayama - Japan Travel

PJTravels

Thank you, mrwunrfl, for all the tips! The link you sent about the bridge network makes it look like an interesting way to spend part of a day and get outside. I now have my itinerary in place, and I'm beginning to book lodging.