Your questions: What are some must-sees in Japan over three weeks?

We have booked flights to Japan for a three-week trip. Other than the flights, our trip is a blank canvas. Can you suggest some must-sees for a couple in their 60s? We would love three to four days on a beach at the end.
C. Denovan, Melbourne, Vic

Autumn colour in Kyoto.Credit: iStock

You’ll probably be starting in Tokyo and the city deserves four nights, at least. Take a half-day walking tour or, better still, two or three – a guide will decipher the small mysteries that are everywhere in the capital. I’d recommend Meg Yamagute, who has been living in Tokyo for the past decade.

Kyoto is a must, on account of its sublime gardens and temples. Kinkaku-ji, Daitoku-ji and Kiyomizu-dera are just a few of the standouts. The city of Kanazawa is home to the large and illustrious Kenrokuen, Garden of the Six Sublimities, which cascades down a hillside, with lakes and artfully contorted pine trees. Takayama is a charming and compact city surrounded by the hills of the Japan Alps. There’s a superb collection of Edo-style merchants’ houses along Ojinmachi, and every morning from about 7am Miyagawa Market brings colour and fragrant smells to the walking path along the river that gallops through Takayama’s heart.

Above the city the Higashiyama Walking Trail wanders through a dozen historic Buddhist temples with enormous bronze bells and shingled roofs. From there you could spend a couple of nights in Magome, one of the towns on the Nakasendo Trail, the original road between Tokyo and Kyoto, and still powerfully evocative of Japan in its cloistered Edo era. You can walk a half-day section of the Nakasendo between Tsumago and Magome, where the trail threads through mossy forests of cypress trees and rice farms, past Shinto shrines and tea houses and over streams. Japan really doesn’t do beaches, at least not the kind we know and love. If you want somewhere to relax, an onsen with accommodation would be a better bet. An onsen is a natural hot spring, and bathing in one of the country’s 3000 onsens is a quintessential Japanese experience.

Our family of six adults and a two-year-old are hoping to gather in Europe for Christmas this year, two coming from New York, the rest from Sydney. We are looking to stay together in a large house in France. No skiing, but markets and small-mid size villages would be perfect.
J. Gentle, Fairlight, NSW

At Christmas, and without snow on the wish list, Provence in southern France is the obvious choice. You’ll probably want to stay in a villa in or close to a village with shops, cafes and restaurants rather than in the countryside, and L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue, Lourmarin and Saint-Remy-de-Provence would be my choices. However, it’s going to be chilly, even around the Mediterranean. The average daily temperature in Nice in December ranges between six and 13 degrees, and the New York contingent, in particular, will probably be looking for somewhere to defrost.

What about Sicily? It’s about as easy to reach for all in your party as southern France, and it’s going to be a few degrees warmer, with average daily temperatures in the east-coast city of Syracuse between 10 and 16 degrees. That eastern region is where I’d be looking for a villa, either Noto in the south, Syracuse or the neighbouring island of Ortygia in the centre or Taormina towards the north of the island. A couple of years ago I rented a villa for a family get-together from UK-based The Thinking Traveller and from start to finish every aspect of their operation made it a dream holiday.

I am heading to Sri Lanka for a two-week holiday. Is it worth getting a travel debit card for that time, or is cash and the occasional ATM withdrawal sufficient?
S. Marshall, Mortlake, NSW

Fruit vendor in Negombo, Sri Lanka.Credit: Getty Images

You could take cash and convert it to local currency, but the exchange rate for Australian dollars is probably going to be quite low. You could also buy US dollars or euros and get a better rate, but in that case you’re making two currency conversions, and each one involves a loss. A debit card specifically for travel will save on your currency conversion fees and also allow you to make ATM withdrawals at lower cost than a card issued by your bank.

Using your bank card to pay bills and make ATM withdrawals, you could expect to pay three to six per cent more than you would using a travel money card. The card I’d use is the Wise card, used by millions of happy travellers. Their currency conversion fees are low, it’s widely accepted, and you can keep your balance low and top it up quickly from your Australian bank account. Wherever I’m travelling to I keep my deposit in Aussie dollars and accept the prevailing rate of exchange at the point of purchase. Any remaining funds at the end of the trip can be transferred to my Australian bank account at minimal cost.

On our way to Europe we have a 12-hour stopover in Singapore. Is it easy to get in and out of Singapore Airport, and can you recommend an activity for three or four hours?
K. and C. Poulton, Hawthorn, Vic

Singapore Airlines has three free city tours that take in some of the city’s highlights. The City Sights Tour takes in the iconic Merlion at Merlion Park and the dazzling Supertrees at Gardens by the Bay while the Heritage and Cultural Tour explores the cultural gems of Chinatown and Kampong Gelam.

The one that might work best for you is the Singapore River and Marina Bay Sands Tour, which gives you an overview of the panoramic skyline views along the Singapore River and striking architecture. Each tour is conducted in English and lasts 2.5 hours. To book, visit the tour booking website and register.

Travel advice is general; readers should consider their personal circumstances