Twelve days in mid-November, planning Tokyo then Kanazawa then Kyoto, with about $2,000 for everything on the ground. I can read exactly nothing and my worry list is eating dinner alone, getting on the wrong train, and paying for things. I'd rather hear the boring practical failures than the highlights — what went wrong for you that you didn't see coming?
Do not buy the nationwide rail pass reflexively. It used to be an automatic win and after the big price rise it stopped being one for a lot of itineraries, including short loops like yours. Price your actual legs individually on a fare site first and compare — for a Tokyo–Kanazawa–Kyoto–Tokyo trip I came out cheaper on single tickets, and I got the reserved seats I actually wanted instead of working around pass restrictions.
I over-scheduled and it's the only thing I'd change. Every hour was allocated, and the afternoon I accidentally spent in one neighbourhood because a train was delayed turned out to be my favourite part of the trip. Also, mid to late November in Kyoto is autumn colour season and the famous temples are genuinely packed — go at opening or go to the ones nobody photographs.
Opening time is not a suggestion in Kyoto in November. The difference between 8:30 and 10:00 at a well-known temple is the difference between a garden and a queue.
Three cities in twelve days is fine, but you've got three hotel changes and each one costs you the better part of a day. I'd give Tokyo four nights, Kanazawa two, Kyoto five and accept a slow day. Also plan around the light — mid-November it's properly dark by around five, so gardens and anything outdoors need to be morning and early afternoon, and your evenings will be indoors whether you planned it or not.
Carry cash, forward your bag, book fewer cities. The maps app handles trains better than you'd expect, down to which carriage to stand in. You'll be fine.
@sourdough_stella · 4mo ago · 2 replies
Eating alone is the least of your problems there — counter seating is the default in a huge number of places, plenty of restaurants take your order through a vending machine before you sit down, and nobody registers a solo diner as unusual. The two things that caught me out were cash and luggage. Small places, shrine offices and some rural stations still want physical yen, so don't let your wallet run dry on a Sunday, and dragging a big suitcase between cities on trains is miserable — send it ahead with a luggage forwarding service from your hotel front desk and travel with a day bag.
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@gongfu_greta · 4mo ago
Get an IC card onto your phone on day one if your handset supports it. Tapping through gates and paying at convenience stores removes about ninety percent of the interactions where you'd otherwise have to say something.
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