Itinerary
This is what I did in 17 days. If you want the costs, please reach out!
Hotel Reviews
Tokyo: Shinjuku City Hotel N.U.T.S
This place is great. Location is fantastic, just 10 mins walk from crazy Shinjuku but far enough to be in a quiet area. The good thing is the walk from the hotel to the station is very nice, either via the park or little streets. If feeling lazy there is another metro station 2 mins from the hotel.
The room was great with all you need and good amount of space in my view.
The people at reception are fantastic and speak english. The lady was great helping me with shipping my luggage to my ext hotel.
I would recommend this hotel!
Narai: Iseya
http://www.oyado-iseya.jp/index.html
Excellent place! This is a great Ryokan. The place is wonderful with a small garden, the people are super nice and speak english. The baths were not the best of the trip, but good enough for me. The dinner and bfast was served in a common room and each piece was delicious.
The room was big, had green tea and a welcome sweet. Yokata and all needed for the toilet provided. Shared toilets super clean and excellent location in the old town!
I would recommend and stay again here!
Kiso Fukushima: Inn Murachi Ya
Ok Ryokan in comparison with the rest. The lady at reception speaks no english but she is super nice. She ended up calling someone to be a translator. The bath was simple and nice. No food was served.
Location is good, close to train station. Room big and nice sleep!
There are probably better places to stay.
Kyoto: Hotel Unizo Kyoto Shijo Karasuma
This is a normal nice standard/more business type hotel. Location is good for a travelling base as I did. Its close enough to the train station and the main metro connections.
I stayed at the women's only floor I don't know for what reason and this was nice, there was a lounge with free tea and coffee!
Kyoto is big and everything will always be far, so I find this a good spot!
I would recommend this place.
Kinosaki: Morizuya
http://www.morizuya.com/
BEST BEST BEST place of the whole trip! The owner, Takayuki Hachisuka is an incredible host that will make you feel as if you are a very special person! The Ryokan is stunning with two private baths that are beautiful One with a small garden/fountain and the other which is a cave. The rooms are huge and super comfortable. I could chose among a lot, really a lot of Yukatas and all were stunning! The dinner and bfast were the best of my life! Because if had to take a very early train I got bfast very early at 6:30 which is out of normal times but this was not a problem. Takayuki Hachisuka took a lot of pics of myself around the village and then took me by car to the train station. The full experience was 5 stars!
I super recommend this place and would certainly stay here again! :)
Koya San: Fukuchi In (Monastery)
http://fukuchiin.com/
Excellent Monastery stay! the place its stunning, the temple beautiful. The room was ok though. Food absolutely amazing! I got the chance to participate in the morning prayer and there is a possibility to also do some calligraphy (at a cost). The private onsen it's really beautiful and there is also a sauna :)
Location was perfect as well! a great stay!
I would recommend this place and stay again.
Osaka: APA Hotel Midosuji
Normal business hotel. Here the room was too small though... location was great, very close to the main shopping area and easy access to airport.
There are probably better places to stay.
What to pack
Just normal clothing, no issues in Japan! Ladies, for me good news was that for the temples there is no need to cover shoulders or legs, you can go with skirt/shorts and sleeveless t-shirt.
Wifi
There is no wifi in Japan... yes, you hear it! even Starbucks doesn't have wifi everywhere. It is though very handy to have internet connection, Google Maps will be your BFF during the trip to check how to go from where to where by train, bus, etc and because you will get lost all the time!
I took the travellers 1GB SIM card and it worked perfect, lasted the full 14 days and I used it all the time for What's App and Google Maps, sometime browsing.
You can get it here: http://www.bmobile.ne.jp/english/
Japan Rail Pass
You probably know this, but yes, you need the JR pass, you will use it al the time, super worth it! I bought it here: http://www.jrpass.com/
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