Hello! :)
Today I would like to add a final part of general information concerning the travel arrangements to Japan. After selecting the date and purchasing the airline tickets, prepare a list of cities and monuments which we want to see the most. Such information will be necessary when booking hotels, which personally I do via the web site called booking.com. I would recommend this page to everyone, where you can find a search engine of hotels and guest houses, and you can make a reservation free of charge, which one you can cancel without consequences up to few days before departure! The system offered by booking.com never let me down and I could not find a more comfortable and cheap accommodation search system. Depending on how much you want to spend time in Japan, for a period of two or three weeks, it is the best to choose 3 hotels. Please remember that every change of hotel is associated with check-out (in the early morning) which usually leads to (including the time to transfer to another city and check-in) with a loss of almost the whole day of your stay.
The more unnecessary changes of hotels, the less time for sightseeing.
The choice of a few hotels makes sense when you want to visit the the city which is located from each other at a greater distance. For example, when I went to Japan I chose to stay on the island of Honshu, because that is the place where are the most of must-see monuments. During the nearly three-week stay I was sleeping in Kyoto, Nagoya and Tokyo. Personally, I admit that accommodation in Nagoya was unnecessary, because of fast shinkansen Nagoya or Tokyo does not make much difference. Also, unfortunately, Nagoya is not a place where I would come back :) . Although usually Kyoto offers the most expensive accommodation, I recommend to spend there as much time as possible, especially during Hanami. Kyoto is much more quiet and peaceful than for example-Tokyo.
And so basing on previously designated plan I visited from Kyoto : Nara, Osaka, Miyajima, Ise, Okayama, Kurashiki and also very beautiful surrounding cities around Kyoto, literally dotted with monuments and charming atmosphere. From Nagoya I visited Matsumoto, Inuyama and Kanazawa, and from Tokyo I went to Kamakura, Yokohama, Fuji-san, and Nikko. As you can see it is really important to plan your trip very well to use fully all available time :).
See you next week ! ;)
