|
I like to keep the same hotel room, I generally enjoy long-distance train riding, and I will often take fairly long day trips (sometimes starting before 7 a.m., so I know the power of this approach). So Ifm certainly not going to get harshly judgmental about your proposed plan. If I put some of my own past itineraries, which have been splendid for me, up on this forum, I would certainly be pilloried. However, I would never attempt to pack as much into a 7-day pass as you are proposing. And itfs not going to fix things much just to change your hotel location. You may or may not have timed out the specific transit for some of these packed days and know that it is theroretically possible (hopefully there wonft be any disruptions or you wonft miss a connection or something, as you would have very little margin). But your choice of destinations just doesnft make a lot of sense to me when there are so many other options available. Okunoshima, Tottori, and Amanohashidate? Personally, I would drop all of those places, to be honest. There is nothing wrong with any of them, but they are sort of gone-trick poniesh that have gotten famous for a single feature, and it is debatable whether you want to have a bunch of them in a single week, when they take so long to get to. And Kinosaki Onsen? Well, itfs a nice onsen but it takes so long to get there. You ask about hidden gems, but there are so many unhidden gems that are much easier to get to if you are staying in Osaka or possibly some city farther west.
Anyway, I like the idea of using the Sanyo Sanin Area Pass (or one of the other passes for western Japan) for an itinerary that involves gcommutingh from one or possibly two hotels. I just think the number of places you are trying to fit in, and the distances and also complexities of getting to some of them, make for a trip where you donft really have enough time in your days to appreciate the places you go to. When you try to do two major destinations in a day you really spread yourselves thin, and having to worry about missing a train, bus, or ferry connection (which could blow your whole day) adds too much stress.
I understand your choice of Osaka (presumably Shin-Osaka) as a home base and would not rule it out if your destinations were closer. (Yes, as a location it is definitely not interesting. Its virtue is its value as a transportation hub, plus hotels there tend to be cheaper than they are in other places that would be more fun in themselves.) I hate to encourage more people to go to Okayama, as it seems to me that hotel prices are starting to go up there, but I have found it to be a really great home base for day trips in western Japan. So if I were going to go to some of the places on your list I might stay there instead of Osaka, as has been proposed. Hiroshima wouldnft be bad, either, although Okayama gives more great sites in Kansai as options. So you might want to take a look at staying at one of those places (or another place with a shinkansen station on the Sanyo line). But frankly, I would revisit your destinations list.
You are never going to visit all of the famous places in Japan, even if you take multiple trips a year for the rest of your lives, so the best thing to do is to pick your home-base and sightseeing destinations carefully, take the time to really enjoy them, and just donft worry about the ones you will never get to.
|
