Andariego,

Summer is the best season to travel around Japan. You can go to the montain areas as well as seashore area.

Your itenerery looks nice and considerate. Here are some comments.

11 Day trip to Iruyama - This should be Inuyama. One hour train ride fron Nagoya(Meitetsu Line).

12 From Nagoya to Kiso Valley / Night in Tsumago - Are you walking throuth Magome Pass along the Nakasendo Highway, an Edo Period hghway? Very good hiking route.

13 From Nagiso to Nagano, stopping at Matsumoto Castle - Are you staying the night at Matsumoto or Nagano?

14 Monkey park and Nagano - I guess monkey park is in Inuyama. You can go this park at Day 11.

20 Day trip to Mount Fuji - Are you going to climb to the summit? Or where in particular are you going to?

21 Day trip to Hakone area circuit - Hakone and Mt. Fuji areas are nearby. You can stay overnight at Day 20 in ths area.

As a whole your plan is very feasible.

Enjoy Japan!

This is a great itinerary overall. You are staying in Kyoto, travel a lot, then stay in Tokyo. That should work well.

One suggestion I have would be to take a day trip to Hiroshima from Kyoto if you have time. I think that the Peace Museum is very important for everyone to experience, especially your teen agers. But I understand that you might not have a chance given all the wonderful sites there are to see in Kyoto!

Another suggestion, when you take the day trip to Nara, stop on the way there or back to see Fushimi Inari. Your teenagers will love it. It is a hike up the hill through tunnels of giant red Torri gates. The view from the top is beautiful. You can easliy do it in a day trip that includes Nara. I have done it several times.

In Tokyo there is so much to see, and you might want to take them to ODaiba. There are many attractions there that will likely appeal to them! Sega world, the amusement park, the Toyota showroom (including concept cars and race cars!!)

You also might consider combining the Hakone/Mt. Fuji days for an overnight there, then maybe even go from there directly to Narita for your departure if the flight time is later in the day. Others on this forum know more about the Hakone area than I do. Hopefully edokko will pipe up with her knowledge about the Hakone area and give you suggestions.

Your itinerary looks fine. Now here's the reality, good news first-

There are festivals galore in Japan, and fireworks shows almost every weekend so check at the tourist information center when you arrive to get the lowdown. Cold noodles, shaved ice, grilled food at street stnads are all fabulous! Beer gardens are open, too- on the rooftop of nearly every department store there will be a beer garden(this is a concept totally unique to Japan, and totally unlike the beer gardens in Germany!). Children of all ages are allowed and you pay a flat fee(around $25 per person) for all-you-can-eat-and-drink. This includes beer, juice and cocktails and of course the buffet! Lots of fun!

Now the bad news- it is extremely hot and humid in Japan in the summer months- you will be sweating constantly and it is a chore to keep yourself properly hydrated, especially if you will be outdoors walking around all day. Imagine when you go to the wet sauna at your local gym- that's pretty much what it's like. If you are out at night where there is shrubbery you will have to watch out for mosquitos. No malaria in Japan, but this variety of mosquito packs a horrific itch!

Next horror is "Obon", the week of summer holidays, around the 11, 12, 34, 14 of August, when the entire nation is on vacation causing crowds in every public place imagineable. If you haven't made your hotel reservations/Shinkansen bookings yet for this period DO IT NOW! Also know that some hotels raise their rates during the holiday. In spite of the heat(I sweat 24/7 from June-Sept.!), summer is still my favorite season as there is so much fun stuff to do, delicious cold beer and sake, and you don't ever need to wear more than one layer of clothing at any time!

Andariego,

Additional information. Enjoy following sites. (Do not worry about Japanese. Just enjoy photos.)

1. Inuyama Castle

inuyama.gr.jp/special/…index_inuyamajyou.html

2.In Inuyama we have Ukai. It is a special experience.

www.gifucvb.or.jp/kankou/ukai/index.shtml

www.city.gifu.gifu.jp/kankou/matsuri_07.html

www.geocities.jp/tunemaru_gifu/ukai.html

3. Monkey Park

http://www.japan-monkeypark.jp/zoo/

4. Tsumago

http://www.dia.janis.or.jp/~tumago/

http://www.shinshu-tabi.com/kiso.html

5. Magome

http://www.shinshu-tabi.com/kiso2.html

http://www.kiso-magome.com/

www.cnet-kiso.ne.jp/m/magome/ibent/migaru.htm

6. Matsumoto Castle

…nagano.jp/kanko/siro/annai/siroannai/

***

7. How about going to Kamikochi Hights? It is located between Takayama and Matsumoto.

Kamkochi Hights

http://www.i-sks.com/kamikochi/

http://www.kamikochi.or.jp/

Enjoy summer of Japan

>> Another suggestion, when you take the day trip to Nara, stop on the way there or back to see Fushimi Inari. Your teenagers will love it. It is a hike up the hill through tunnels of giant red Torri gates. The view from the top is beautiful. You can easliy do it in a day trip that includes Nara. I have done it several times. <<

Japantravelteacher, this was on my itinerary but alas, we never made it. I'm sorry, as the pictures of Fushimi Inari are beautiful.

Thanks you all for your advice and suggestions

First, nomonomo, you’re right, I mistyped Inuyama. And yes, we plan to hike from Magome to Tsumago along the Nakasendo Pass.

On day 13 we are planning to visit Matsumoto Castle and then continue to spend the night at Nagano.

The monkey park I am referring to is Jigokudan Yaen-koen near Yudanaka. The Monkey Park you referred, near Nagoya, Does it have snow monkeys and other wild monkeys? I am unable to determine from the web page if it has live animals or if it is an amusement park only.

We do not have a specific plan to Mt. Fuji. We are considering the idea of staying overnight in the region, combining Hakone and Mt Fuji. The definite plan will depend on how we feel at that stage.

And finally, thanks for the links. Kamikochi Heights looks very appealing!!

Japantravelteacher, in our initial plans Hiroshima and Miyajima were included, but we are unsure if a day trip will be advisable. We hope this is not our last trip to Japan, and we plan to cover the south and north in other trips.

Your suggestion regarding Fushimi Inari is greatly appreciated. I am including it. Thanks

The teens are planning our schedule in Tokyo, and they have already included Sega world, but I pass along your suggestion the Toyota showroom. Thanks

Maneki-neko, thanks for your tip regarding local festivals. Regarding weather and mosquitoes, we live in a tropical country in South America, so probably the perspective of a summer in Japan is not as daunting as for someone from a colder climate. However, we appreciate your tips.

I am a bit confused regarding the exact dates of Obon. Does it begin on August 11th or the 13th? We make our plans trying to limit long trips between 13th and 16th, but if it starts on the 11th, Should we reschedule the itinerary?

I plan to start booking our reservation tomorrow, but can we book Shinkansen seats by Internet? I understood it could only be made at JR stations.

Andariego,

1. Traditionally Obon begins on 13 August and 15 August is its peak. But this year, 13 August is Sunday. So the traveling peak begins in the afternoon of Friday 11 August. This is for traveling. If you stay in Tokyo, you will not be in a crowd because many people go out of this city. In Tokyo at this season you feel kind of 'emptiness.'

2. We have two monkey parks in Inuyama. One is an amusement park and the other is a zoo specialized in monkeys. This is an academic institution. Look this.

http://www.meitetsu.co.jp/japan-monkeycentre/

3. Jigokudani Yaen Koen is here.

jigokudani-yaenkoen.co.jp/english/top/englis…

The topic of this facility is that you can watch monkeys bathe in an onsen. But this is seen in the snowy season. I do not know if you can see this in hot summer. You can go to Yudanaka riding on Nagano Dentetsu Line from Nagano City.

4. Shiga Hights is beyond Yudanaka. Shiga Hights is very famous for the ski resort. In summer you can also enjoy hiking along lakes, riding ski lifts and getting into onsens. You can go through Shiga Hights to Kusatsu Onsen via Mt. Yokote. This route is very beautiful. I love this route.

5. Combining Fuji area and Hakone area is a good idea.

Enjoy all over Japan!

Thank you very much nomonomo for your helpful information.

I hope the monkeys bath in summer as well :-)

I am wondering how your trip went. We are also taking 2 teens this coming end of June and are having a hard time deciding on accomadations. Two rooms are just too much money. We are looking at Ryokans in Kobe, Kyoto and Hiroshima and a hotel in Tokyo. What kind of places did you stay at??? Was your weather in August unbearable?

thanks

Our trip was fantastic, everything went smoothly and the advices I got here were invaluable. Rooms large enough to accommodate four people are not easy to find, and sometimes you can get double rooms with affordable rates. We didn’t stay in Kobe or Hiroshima. We just made day trips there from our base in Kyoto. We stayed at different types of places. We splurge in Kyoto at the Granvia Kyoto, right at the station. We were disappointed that my daughter couldn’t use the pool there because it is limited to over 18 years old!!!!.

In Tokyo we stayed at the Kadoya Hotel, in Shinjuku district, using 2 doubles rooms. The rate was Yen 13,650 per night each, which we found very competitive for a central Tokyo location. The hotel is in the “good” side of Shinjuku, next to four blocks full of entertainment, restaurants and electronics’ shops. The walk to the rail/metro stations is about 5/10 minutes. It can be done by an underground passage, which can be important in June, if it rains. I would suggest checking this hotel and its reviews here.

We stayed in three places in just one room: a ryokan in Tsumago (Hanaya Ryokan). It was nice although not having a private bath was a minor inconvenience for all of us. It is important that your teens be prepared to experience all kind of food since the dinner and breakfast are set. We also stayed at an excellent small Japanese style hotel in Takayama, (Rickshaw Hotel). Finally we spend one night in a business hotel in Kanazawa (Castle Inn Hotel) that offers 4-bed rooms. The room is targeted to women groups and the hotel was full of young people. I suppose that similar places must exist in Kobe and Hiroshima.

The weather in August was hot and humid as I was advised several times here. We live in a warm country so we did not expect to be bothered by the weather. However, sometimes the heat was extenuating, and limited the number of things we could do in a day. Nevertheless, on our way back we stayed 3 days in Dallas and we found the Texas’ heat unbearable compared with Japan.

My final recommendation: decide how much you wish to spend on accommodation on the whole trip and then search for places. Take into account that Tokyo is much more expensive that the rest of the country.

Good luck