It all started as a “Perfect” Plan We thought we had a well thought out plan. We took into consideration last year full bloom dates and the average “ten year” full bloom dates. We planned for four days in Tokyo…
Day 14: Sakura City Tulip Park
Plan for the day This day was our last full day in Japan as we would be flying out tomorrow morning. The plan for today would be an easy day of just getting back to Narita where we had booked…
Day 13: Ashikaga Flower Park
Plan for the day The plan was to visit Fuji Shibazakura Park near Lake Motosu, another of the five famous lakes of Mount Fuji. In the afternoon we would visit Lake Motosu, Oshino Hakkai and Lake Yamanaka. End of the…
Day 12: Narai Post Town & Kawaguchi Lake
Plan for the day We had planned to travel to Narai Post town in the morning and then to Lake Kawaguchi (one for the five famous lakes of Mount Fuji) in the afternoon. There after if we still had time…
Day 11: Ainokura Gassho Village & Takayama Sakura Festival
Plan of the day The plan was to visit another Gassho-style village, Ainokura village in the morning. In the afternoon we would proceed to Takayama city and join the Takaya Sakura Festival. For the night we would be staying at…
Day 10: Shirakawago Historic Village
Plan for the day We planned to visit two very famous cherry trees and we hoped we had arrived at the right time to see them. Then we would proceed to Shirakawago Historic village. For the night we had booked…
Day 9: Makino Metasequoia Walk, Mikata Five Lakes, Hikone Castle
Plan for the day Our plan for the day was to visit Makino Picland Metasequoia Road which was just 4.5 km from Shanshui House in the morning, then we would proceed to Mikata Five lakes and Rainbow Line Sancho Park.…
Day 8: Osaka Mint & Kayabuki no Sato
Plan for the day In the morning we would be at Osaka Mint for cherry blossom viewing again. In the afternoon we would travel north to visit a traditional thatched roof village, Kayabuki no Sato in Kyoto Prefecture, north west…
Day 7: Kyoto – Bamboo Forest and La Shomon
Plan for the day Today we were leaving Kyoto and were only too glad as we were not particularly fond of our family room at Hostel Kyotokko. In the morning we would drive down to Arashiyama to visit its bamboo…
Day 6: Kyoto – Kinkakuji, Fushimi-Inari, Kiyomizu-dera & Nijo Castle
Plan for the day Though our original plan was to be in Kyoto for cherry blossom, we were a week late as the “best viewing” period was 6-7 days. At that time we were in Tokyo since our flight (which…
Day 5: Hasedera, Butsuryu-ji & Nara city
Plan for the Day Our plan for the day was to skip Mount Yoshino and proceed to Hasedera (Temple) and Butsuryu-ji in the morning. Later in the day we would proceed to Nara City and visit Todaji and for the…
Day 4: Takato Castle Ruins
Plan for the day Our plan was to visit Takato Castle in the morning. The castle was only 11 km from Ina City where we had spent the night. In the afternoon we would be driving some 324 km taking…
Day 3: Cherry Blossom at Matsumoto and Ina
Plan for the day We would drive westward toward Matsumoto, our first destination was Koboyama of Matsumoto. Our second destination would be Takato Castle of Ina. From Tokyo to Matsumoto was a 228 km – 3 hours drive. From Koboyama…
Day 2: Tokyo Cherry Blossom – Inokashira, Shinjuku, Meguro
Plan for the day For our three days in Tokyo we had picked up 6 cherry blossom sites to visit. Four of them were in and around Tokyo central and the remaining two were located outskirt of Tokyo. Yesterday we…
Day 1: Tokyo here we come
Plan for the Day The plan was to fly from Singapore to Narita transiting at Kuala Lumpur on a night flight. We should touch down at Narita by 8am. We gave ourselves two hours to clear custom and get into…