valgalchi

Thanks progol! I've been following along on your trip report actually! Sounds like you had a great time, So glad you fell in love (that'll happen with Japan lol) Shikoku is a great region and I hope it makes your short list for next time (though there are certainly bigger sites to see still). We were just in Japan again this past August/September doing a road trip through Tohoku and then train to Hokkaido. And we still have so many more spots to visit (though we're trying not to go every year)! If you do decide to go to Shikoku happy to answer any questions you might have..

Oh, an we're intrigued by Taiwain now too because of that recent trip report as well! Maybe we'll see you there!

progol

valgachi,
Thanks for that quick response! Japan does seem to get under one’s skin, doesn’t it? I hadn’t even considered a possible return but my husband has also been interested in Taiwan and I figure that if we can manage another trip to that region, I’d love to go back to Japan.

I’m also intrigued by your earlier trips, particularly the 2017 trip. Have you written up your trips elsewhere? I’ll probably try to come up with several scenarios and then ask more questions. We probably wouldn’t be renting a car, though, but we did well on this trip with public transportation and I hope we can do that again.

It would be fun to meet up in Taiwan!

valgalchi

Sorry, this was the first trip report I did for Japan (and my only one on Fodors). The 2017 trip was all by public transportation so that is definitely doable. I think it was a good 2nd trip. Still a lot of bigger/well known spots (like Hiroshima & Fukuoka) but we sprinkled in some smaller/less visited places (like Matsue and Arita). The Shikoku trip was by car and that would be my recomendation for that area. The public transportation isn't as robust (so I understand) on Shikoku.

jeffreycwuk

Travelling by public transport in some parts of Shikoku is viable.

Kochi city, for example, has an extremely affordable public transport pass (just 300 yens per day). It covers Godaisan and Katsurahama (500 yens). Public transport runs reasonably frequent even during winter low season.

Sunny Kochi (city), Shikoku in December

Even in Tokuhima, the public bus can cover a couple of fairly rural sites.

Natural beauty of Tokushima, Shikoku & handling baggage delay at Kansai Airport

progol

<<Previous trips were Tokyo-Matsumoto-Takayama-Kanazawa-Kyoto-Osaka (with day trips) in 2016, Fukuoka-Nagasaki-Hiroshima-Onomichi-Kurashiki-Matsue-Sendai for Yamadera Temple- Tokyo in 2017 (with day trips) and then in 2018 we went specifically for cherry blossoms so we slept in Tokyo & send the days taking day trips to places that had full bloom like Matsumoto & Fukushima.>>

valgachi, I’m really intrigued by your choices in your second (2017) trip. You covered a lot of territory and wondered what made you decide on those places. I think they all look wonderful though they are a bit far flung from the beginning to the end. Did you fly to Sendai?

At the moment, I’m thinking of a trip that includes Hiroshima, Onomichi/Tomonoura (see tripplanner’s recent visit), Himeji, Naoshima and maybe Matsue. Though the other “Mats…”, Matsuyama, seems a good fit with Hiroshima. I then became intrigued with Shikoku because it is not on the popular tourist trail but I don’t think I’d spend the entire visit there since there are other places I’d like to see. But nothing is set in stone and (assuming we do go), we’ll be combining it with Taiwan so I imagine we’d be in Japan for a little over 2 weeks.

jeffreycwuk - thank you! I did see your recent TR on Kochi and was intrigued by it as well.

jeffreycwuk

progol- Shikoku and Chūgoku are quite well-connected with Taiwan. Except Tokushima (which has a chartered flight), all Shikoku prefectures have direct flights to Taiwan. You'll save much time from the long queues at Kansai airport.

progol

Thank you! That's very helpful to know and I will definitely look into that as an option. It'll make our travels easier to manage.

valgalchi

Hi progol, this trip was about 26 days including travel time so we were able to pack in a lot. A lot of the places we went had been on our short list for our first trip (like Hiroshima, Fukuoka & Nagasaki) and we wanted to combine those with some smaller places like Kurashiki and Onomichi. We are both cat lovers so the “cat alley” of Onomich appealed to us and my husband is a fan of the original castles so Matsue came up. Kurashiki just looked cool with the canal and fit in the itinerary. And Yamadera was probably a better fit on a later trip (like the one we just took in Tohoku!) but it worked and we enjoyed it. We had also not loved the crowds in Kyoto and wanted to get at least a little off the beaten path for this trip in some spots. We were definitely all over the place! I don’t believe there were flights from Matsue to Sendai so we had to fly to Tokyo & take the train (this may have changed). The final actual itinerary with day trips was

Flight to Tokyo, then another flight to Fukuoka
Fukuoka
Fukuoka
Fukuoka- day trip to Arita
Fukuoka to Nagasaki
Nagasaki
Nagasaki
Nagasaki to Hiroshima (train via Fukuoka)
Hiroshima
Hiroshima- day trip to Matsuyama
Hiroshima-day trip to Miyajima
Hiroshima to Onomichi
Onomichi to Kurashiki -also went to Okayama for a few hours
Kurashiki to Kibi Plain to Matsue
Matsue
Matsue- day trip to Sakaiminato
Matsue- day trip to Izumo Taisha
flight Yonago to Tokyo (Haneda), then train to Sendai
Sendai - Yamadera Temple -end day Tokyo
Tokyo for a few days then home

progol

Thanks so much! I’m thinking we’ll focus around Hiroshima/Naoshima/Onomichi and see how that goes.

I know a lot of folks found Kyoto too crowded- and it was- but we had a wonderful time, in large pool art because we stayed at the very delightful Hotel Mume.

valgalchi

We stayed there too! Just for a couple of days as a splurge (in their cheapest room lol). We're usually more business hotel people but I had read so many good things and it was our first trip so we were able toget them for part of our Kyotottime. They were really great and even booked us restaurant reservations for nights were weren't staying with them.

progol

Mume is wonderful ❤️ . I mixed up our stays and had larger hotels and smaller ryokans and, of course, Mume.

And that wasn’t supposed to say, “ in large pool art” ( though I love the concept!), but “in large part”. Writing on my phone gets me in trouble!

PJTravels

This is a great report! Thank you so much for taking the time to write it. I am just now planning our second trip to Japan for this coming fall. We'll revisit some of Honshu, and then plan to go to Shikoku and perhaps Kyushu. I logged onto Fodor's today, and before I even began a search your trip report popped up. Many thanks again.

valgalchi

Thanks for reading PJTravels, I'm glad you enjoyed it! I hope it's helpful in planning your next trip.