If you are going to travel in Japan in October, what kind of sightseeing spot is the best? From October to November every year, Japan will have full-fledged autumn. If you want to enjoy the beautiful autumn leaves, since autumn leaves have not begun so much in Kyoto and Nara, I recommend you to visit a little cold areas such as Hokkaido and the Tohoku region. On the other hand, Kyoto and Nara are still not as crowded as in November, so I think you can enjoy comfortable sightseeing.
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October: Weather and Clothing Information for All of Japan
If you are planning to go anywhere in Japan in October, the following articles provide information on weather and clothing for major tourist destinations. Click on the name of a destination to see articles about the weather and clothing for that destination in October.
| Tokyo | Osaka | Kyoto |
| Hokkaido | Sendai | Nagano |
| Nagoya | Hiroshima | Fukuoka |
| Okinawa |
Enjoy autumn leaves at Hokkaido or highlands in Honshu
The ginkgo street in fall season in Hokkaido University Sapporo city Hokkaido Japan on 26 October 2016 = shutterstock
If you want to go to see authentic autumn leaves in October, I recommend you go to Hokkaido or highlands in Honshu. Major cities in Mainland, such as Tokyo, do not have much autumn tints yet in October. On the other hand, Hokkaido (including urban areas such as Sapporo) and highlands in Honshu are reaching their peaks in autumn in October.
It can be said that there are 2 kinds of viewing spots of autumn leaves in October. The first is sightseeing spots in mountainous areas such as Daisetsuzan in Hokkaido and Hakuba in Nagano Prefecture. In these spots, you can see the scenery of really vast autumn leaves. Such spots are often very crowded in many cases, so please make plenty of sightseeing time.
The second one is in the city. In this period, for example, if you go to major cities in Hokkaido such as Sapporo city and Hakodate city, you can walk the cityscape beautifully colored yellow or red. The photo above is the national Hokkaido University campus located in the immediate vicinity of Sapporo station. Everyone can enter Hokkaido University campus. Many tourists are visiting this age because the tree-lined street is very beautiful. In this way, I also recommend you to enjoy autumn leaves in the city.
A beautiful season of traditional cities such as Kyoto
October 11, 2014 Kyoto, Japan – Kinkaku-ji Temple in Kyoto = shutterstock
If you travel in Japan in October, I strongly recommend you to explore the traditional cities such as Kyoto and Nara.
In October, the trees in the streets of Kyoto and Nara have not got so much autumn leaves yet. For this reason, there are not many tourists as of November when it comes to a full-fledged autumn leaves season. Therefore, I think that you can enjoy the temples and shrines calmly, compared with November.
If you go to mountainous areas such as Kibune and Kurama in Kyoto, I think trees are considerably autumn leaves even in October. If you want to enjoy the autumn leaves sufficiently, you may want to go to such a mountainous area.
Of course, the fact that there are a lot of tourists is unchanged, I just say that there are not a lot of tourists relative. I encourage you to make hotel reservations as soon as possible.
Now, let’s plan to make your vacation in Japan the best experience ever!
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