We are a family of three ( 2 adults and our teenager son that plan to visit Japan on April 2018.
Our itinerary is planned as follows
April 1, 2018 Arrival at Narita Airport around 1.55 Local time
April 2 to April 6 Tokyo with side trips to Nikko and Kamakura ( probably on 4th and 5th of April)
April 6 ( Take the train and overnight to Takayama)
April 7 to April 10 Kyoto (with any suggested side trips)
April 11 Kyoto- Hiroshima-Miyajima (overnight)
April 12 Miyajam (Himeji and Himeji Castle) and return to Tokyo in the evening
April 13 Departure from Haneda Airport for onward flight to Europe.
Please feel free to make your own comments and suggestions on our itinerary. We have booked IBIS Shinjuku Hotel which i think is close to Shinjuke JR Station to my understanding.
Do we need a 14 days JR pass or we can make it through with a 7 day? Could we use a combination of suica card and jr pass? To my understanding from Sept 30, there will be an option to add shinknansen tickets on suica cards. Is that the case?
Thank you all in advance and wish happy travels
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Comments
You can use a Tobu Nikko Free Pass for Nikko
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2358_002.html
And for Kamakura, there is the Enoshima-Kamakura Freepass.
http://www.odakyu.jp/english/deels/freepass/enoshima_kamakura/
To get from Narita cheaply, there is the 1000 yen bus.
http://accessnarita.jp/en/home/
For Kyoto, you should definitely spend at least half a day in Nara as well. It has some of Japan's best sights.
I've heard that you will be able to get bullet trains with a suica card, but if you have a rail pass, it is a moot point. There is no real savings in using an IC card like Suica - it's just more convenient in that you don't have to lug around a bunch of coins.
If you have time, you could also see Iwakuni, which is just a bit past Miyajima.
Within Tokyo, a 2-3 day subway pass can save money.
http://www.tokyometro.jp/en/ticket/value/travel/index.html#anc03
And in Hiroshima City, you can use the JR pass on the loop bus.
You can see previews of some of the best places to see in Japan on:
https://www.youtube.com/user/thejapanfaq/videos
Hope that helps.