Hopefully you are planning to visit Japan or you are inspired to go after reading my adventures :) so here some tips!
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/
Being very happy, I hopped on the train to Osaka with nice memories and thoughts! And yes, fall asleep.... I got to Osaka, back to crazy city! made it to my hotel and despite being super tired I decided to go out and sample some of the crazy Osaka night!
It reminded me of Khaosan Road in Bangkok, just 10,000 bigger.
An organized mess! full of karaoke places and food, food, food food all over! the specialty here are these balls with octopus called Tako-yaki, these ones were beautiful!
Really, this place it's so full of people, but it's quiet! bars, food, food, really crazy! and sushi all over :) but I was not hungry so I didn't feel like food this time, just enjoyed seeing it and how people would go crazy! really a fun place!
Crazy to think I woke up in a Monastery in the holy mountains and I'm going to bed in crazy Osaka, super party place!
I slept sooo good! up very early... and this is my last day!
Im now taking a coffee and writing before going to explore more of this city and forget its my last day! Let's go !!! :)
I'm on top of Osaka, at the Sky Garden Observatory. Wow! so nice! The city it's huge.. cars coming and going, people here and there, each with a life, with a story... but all looking for the same thing, to be happy in the way that this manifest to each of us! j
aja maybe it was the ''lovers'' corner at the top that made me a bit sentimental! There was a man putting a lock for his loved one. I took him a picture, sweet, I do hope they are happy!
Osaka it's a big city, but feels much more relaxed than Tokyo. I am amazed by this double underground city. I had to go to the info desk to ask how to get out! and as in all Osaka, these path was full of food! I took a Mango shake :) Yummy!
Before getting this high I actually passed by the Osaka castle which is in the middle of a very green park. The castle looks perfect and shiny, beautiful!
I also saw a ceremony of the esgrima competition! And now what else is to do in Osaka?! eat, drink and shop! So this is what I will do! Maybe find another park! till later!
And indeed the last part of my last day was about that. I started being hungry, easy task to solve here... So somehow I ended in a mall, last floor, which was pretty cool with trendy bars, lights and restaurants, loved it!
I found a Japanese tapas bar and had a shiraishi of different fish, miso soup and I went for the plump wine that I tasted with Kaoru in Tokyo. Hay, hay, hay... me and wine at 2PM... not great, jajajaj or YES!.. it got me tipsy despite all the rise I had and this made it at the end all more fun! :)
I walked in the mall and stopped at a Coca-Cola stand, seems they were filming something for the happiness campaign.. I had to flip some footballs and flowers on the screen where it I could see myself and seems I was being filmed?! Well, I went crazy jajajja the girl there was like, ok, yes, you did it, trying to get rid of me.
After this I walked into different stores, got lost again, got handed a candy that was so beautiful (didn't taste as good.. things are not always as good as they look, jajaj). Finally I found my way through the north alley of the underground mall back!
I headed to the other shopping outdoor place and I had fun in a Hello Kitty and other shops! Did some shopping, of course :) I got some cold green tea and made pics of ridiculous things I saw here and there! fun!
Back to the hotel, I packed (buu) and changed to my new yellow Japanese style long skirt I got, success! jaja it was funny a Japanese guy stopped me to say what a beautiful skirt I had, he asked if I was living there, I look so local! jajaj and we had a nice chat for a while. He was a teacher of Japanese to foreigners! And then I got it, I should have dressed like them since the start to get more connections! jajaj then I went to a nice body cream shop and got a candle and hand cream... it was fun as I wanted a body cream but they are all whitening and I said to the girl, look Im already very white, do you have a brown cream and she couldn't believe it! :).... do we always want what we don't have?!?! hay hay hay...
Dinner time! last dinner... I had one sashimi and then some more sushi in another place! hey! Osaka is known for eating until you explode, so I had to try! :)
While waiting in the last sushi place, there was a crazy guy selling chestnuts which he was cooking in a rare machine! It was a great show, especially because of the group of old ladies that were having so much fun... well, as much as I did!
And it was time to go back.... I enjoyed this last day to the max, like all the rest of them! I walked back to the hotel which was interesting as I could see the same streets that were so packed, all empty and all shops closed... in silence and happiness a way to say good bye!
And this morning I woke up very early and got a pic of the sunrise from my window! A new day... time to go back home full of memories of a beautiful adventure in this marvellous country of Japan! :)
The End...
