My wife and I are planning a 14 night trip for October. We like to move around some, but don't want to change hotels too often.

We are planning 4 nights in Tokyo and a 1 night stay to see Mt Fuji, or 5 nights in Tokyo and a day trip there. We like the day trip idea to avoid a hotel move, but preliminary research makes it seem like a chore to day trip to Mt Fuji from Tokyo (transfers and extended time to get there and back). I'd love to get advice from those who have done it either way.

We'll also be spending one more night in Tokyo before flying back the next day, leaving us 8 more nights to work with. We want to see Kyoto and Osaka and want 2 locations to stay. We were thinking 4 nights in each and a couple of day trips (perhaps from Osaka to Koyasan and/or Nara).

Then I realize it's a 45 minute bullet train trip between Kyoto and Osaka, so would it make sense to stay in one city and day trip to the other? Perhaps 5 nights in one of them, do a couple of day trips to the other, then think about a 3 night visit to a different area that is can't miss in case we never get a return visit? Would love to hear opinions on this as well.

Thanks.

If you are already spending 4-5 nights in Tokyo I would use Kyoto as a home base; the two are not far apart and Osaka is more of the same of what you experience in Tokyo.

Agreed with Ag CPA. Kyoto is basically a suburb of Osaka at this point, super easy to go back and forth.

Thanks for the advice!

Also, people tend to either LOVE Kyoto or find it kinda quiet and boring. I'm a photographer so it's like paradise to me with so many sacred sites and all the tori gates at Fushimi Inari, but a few non-photog friends have been recently and thought it was a bit quiet for them.

I didn't visit Mt Fuji but I did visit Fuji Speedway.

We left Osaka super early (probably 6am) and took the Shinkansen to Shizuoka. From there we took a bus to the venue.

Because it was with a rock band playing a festival, the transfers were all arranged and coordinated for us.

After the show, we bussed back to Shizuoka and then took the Shinkansen to Tokyo. We got in late to Tokyo that evening (probably around 8pm).

That kind of schedule would be doable but you'd need to have that ground transfer coordinated and it would be a very long day.

Kyoto is amazing. Much more interesting than Osaka.

Totally agree. Kyoto is awesome and very unique. Osaka is basically a smaller version of Tokyo with less to do. We spent a couple of days in Osaka and really only went to go to Universal Studios.

Thanks for the replies. We're leaning toward 5 nights in Kyoto and 3 in Osaka with a day trip from Osaka to either Nara or Koyasan. Thought about just staying in Kyoto but it would be nice if we're going to see Osaka for a couple of days to have our hotel nearby.