Travel Plans/Winter 2009-2010: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 20:07, 20 December 2009

Tokyo (12/29-1/3)

<googlemap version="0.9" lat="35.622428" lon="139.69202" type="map" zoom="17" width="200" height="200" selector="no" controls="small"> 35.622222, 139.691913 Mika's Family's Apartment Building </googlemap>

We'll stay in Meguro-ku with Mika's family. Meguro is close to Shibuya, one of the largest transit centers in Tokyo.

Things to do in Tokyo:

Kabuki-za (get tickets?)
Jimbocho (book town)
Osechi
Roppongi Hills (view)
Shibuya (easy) + Harajuku
Meiji jingu or maybe a temple to ring the bell
Asakusa

Train trip

Summary:

Day 1: Travel to Hiroshima; spend day there; travel the rest of the way to Fukuoka at night
Day 2: Stay in Fukuoka for the day; travel to Beppu do onsen in the afternoon;
Day 3: See Beppu and its Hells; travel to and stay in Okayama;
Day 4: Take boat to Naoshima and see the art island; Take boat to Takamatsu; Have udon. Go to Kansai;
Day 5: Stay in Osaka; See Kyoto
Day 6: see more kansai. go to aomori at night
Day 7: see aomori. return at night to tokyo

Useful pages to the city's we will be going through (in order):

Hiroshima: Wikitravel | Wikipedia (Day 1)
Fukuoka Wikitravel | Wikipedia (Day 1-2)
Beppu Wikitravel | Wikipedia (Day 2-3)
Okayama Wikitravel | Wikipedia (Day 3-4)
Naoshima Wikitravel | Wikipedia (Day 4)
Takamatsu Wikitravel | Wikipedia (Day 4)
Osaka Wikitravel | Wikipedia (Day 4-6)
Kyoto Wikitravel | Wikipedia (Day 5-6)
Hida Wikitravel | Wikipedia (Day 6-7)

The JR East bullet train stops.

Railpass Day 1 (1/4)

Summary: Travel to Fukuoka with a stop in Hiroshima

Travel plans:

Train from Tokyo early on first train possible (6AM or 7AM?) to Hiroshima (~5-6h) [UNRESERVED SHINKANSEN]
Train from Hiroshima to Fukuoka on one of the later evening shinkansens (~2.5h) [UNRESERVED SHINKANSEN]

Place to stay in Fukuoka:

Pending answer on couchsurfing

Things to do in Hiroshima:

Eat Hiroshima-yaki in Hiroshima
Explore the Peace Park and atomic bomb memorial
- Dome
- Transportation to Hiroshima Park
- We could possibly walk and pass by Hiroshima Castle. Will be about 5km.
Go to Itsukushima Shrine directly by a ferry or via Hiroshima station/Miyashimakou and then a ferry. Miyashima? (ferry details to the Shrine)

Things to do in Fukuoka:

Meet up with Takara (mail her!)
Figure out more options

Railpass Day 2 (1/5)

Summary: See Fukuoka and travel to Beppu for an Onsen

Travel plans:

Train from Fukuoka to Beppu on a mid-day shinkansen (~2.5-3h) [UNRESERVED SHINKANSEN]

Things to do:

See Fukuoka
Lunch in Fukuoka with Takara?
Onsen in Beppu

Place to stay:

Happy Neko (see WT) in Beppu

Railpass Day 3 (1/6)

Summary: See Hells in Beppu and then travel to Okayama on last train

Travel plans:

Train from Beppu to Okayama in the afternoon or evening (~4h) [UNRESERVED SHINKANSEN]

Things to do:

Morning: See some Hells in Beppu which open at 8:00

Place to stay in Okayama:

???

Railpass Day 4 (1/7)

Summary: See Naoshima and Takamatsu and then arrive in Osaka

Travel plans:

Train from Okayama to Uno as early as possible.
Ferry from Uno to Naoshima (WT) for ¥600)
Ferry from Naoshima to Takamatsu for ¥300)
Train from Takamatsu to Osaka (WT) (Transit time: ~3-4 hours) [UNRESERVED SHINKANSEN]

Things to do in Naoshima:

Naoshima website
Visit the pumpkins by the shore.
Visit the underground museum.

Things to do in Takamatsu:

Rent bikes at cycle rental station (¥100)
Visit Ritsurin Park (栗林公園 ritsurin kouen), 20-16 1-chome Ritsurin-cho, Takamatsu-shi, Kagawa (about 3 minutes walk from JR Ritsurin Koen Kitaguchi Station, 5 from the Kotoden Ritsurin Koen station.
Eat Sanuki udon (as often and as much as possible)
- WT recommends eating at the tsurumaru (鶴丸), it's not far from kawaramachi station. Since it's quite famous, you can ask around and people will guide you. (It's open after 8pm).

Things to do in Osaka:

Food (we'll get in late)
Meet up with Kizu-san?

Place to stay in Osaka:

???

Railpass Day 5 (1/8)

Summary: See Kyoto or elsewhere in Kansai

Travel plans:

Train from Osaka to Kyoto (~1h) [UNRESERVED SHINKANSEN]
Train from Kyoto to Osaka (~1h) [UNRESERVED SHINKANSEN]

Things to do in in Kyoto:

See Shrines and Temples!

Place to stay:

See above

Railpass Day 6 (1/9)

Summary: See Osaka proper and then leave for Hida

Explore Kansai (probably Osaka) to Hida.

Travel plans:

Train from Osaka to Hida in the evening ~5-6pm via Nagoya (~4-5h) [UNRESERVED SHINKANSEN]
- Details on infrequent direct trains from Osaka to Hida which we might be able to take

Place to stay in Hida:

???

http://www.hidatakayama.or.jp/

Railpass Day 7 (1/10)

Summary: See Hida and return to Tokyo

Travel plans:

Train from Hida to Tokyo on last train ~5-6pm via Nagoyo (~6h) [UNRESERVED SHINKANSEN]

Place to stay in Tokyo:

Back with Mika's Family in Meguro-ku

<googlemap version="0.9" lat="35.622428" lon="139.69202" type="map" zoom="17" width="200" height="200" selector="no" controls="small"> 35.622222, 139.691913 Mika's Family's Apartment Building </googlemap>

General Links

JR timetables and maps

@@ Line 30: / Line 30: @@
 * Day 7: see aomori. return at night to tokyo
-Wikitravel pages to the city's we will be going through (in order):
+Useful pages to the city's we will be going through (in order):
-* [http://wikitravel.org/en/Hiroshima Hiroshima] (Day 1)
+* Hiroshima: [http://wikitravel.org/en/Hiroshima Wikitravel] | [http://en.wikipedia.org/Hiroshima Wikipedia] (Day 1)
-* [http://wikitravel.org/en/Fukuoka Fukuoka] (Day 1-2)
+* Fukuoka [http://wikitravel.org/en/Fukuoka Wikitravel] | [http://en.wikipedia.org/Fukuoka Wikipedia] (Day 1-2)
-* [http://wikitravel.org/en/Beppu Beppu] (Day 2-3)
+* Beppu [http://wikitravel.org/en/Beppu Wikitravel] | [http://en.wikipedia.org/Beppu Wikipedia] (Day 2-3)
-* [http://wikitravel.org/en/Okayama Okayama] (Day 3-4)
+* Okayama [http://wikitravel.org/en/Okayama Wikitravel] | [http://en.wikipedia.org/Okayama Wikipedia] (Day 3-4)
-* [http://wikitravel.org/en/Naoshima Naoshima] (Day 4)
+* Naoshima [http://wikitravel.org/en/Naoshima Wikitravel] | [http://en.wikipedia.org/Naoshima Wikipedia]  (Day 4)
-* [http://wikitravel.org/en/Takamatsu Takamatsu] (Day 4)
+* Takamatsu [http://wikitravel.org/en/Takamatsu Wikitravel] |  [http://en.wikipedia.org/Takamatsu Wikipedia] (Day 4)
-* [http://wikitravel.org/en/Osaka Osaka] (Day 4-6)
+* Osaka [http://wikitravel.org/en/Osaka Wikitravel] | [http://en.wikipedia.org/Osaka Wikipedia] (Day 4-6)
-* [http://wikitravel.org/en/Kyoto Kyoto] (Day 5-6)
+* Kyoto [http://wikitravel.org/en/Kyoto Wikitravel] | [http://en.wikipedia.org/Kyoto Wikipedia]  (Day 5-6)
-* [http://wikitravel.org/en/Hida Hida] (Day 6-7)
+* Hida [http://wikitravel.org/en/Hida Wikitravel] | [http://en.wikipedia.org/Hiroshima Wikipedia]  (Day 6-7)
 The JR East bullet train [http://www.rosenzu.com/rr/rrj31.html stops].
@@ Line 54: / Line 54: @@
 Place to stay in Fukuoka:
+* ''Pending answer on couchsurfing''
+*
 Things to do in Hiroshima: