Hi everyone, this is our 1st trip to japan. We have booked our accommodation from Tokyo to Osaka. I try to work our the transportation for each place . I wonder if you could please help with our itinerary and how to get to each place and hang around in each city. I have bought 14 days JR PASS.
What the best way to travel in each city using subway by suica card?
This is our plan:
Day 1-3 Tokyo (arrive on 27th morning in Hadena airport)
should I buy airport transfer$14 in advance)
Stay in Tokyo for 3 nights - should I get suica card to get around Tokyo or i check a few websites they offer 1280 yen for 3days around Tokyo, I'm not sure it subway)
day 4 Tokyo to hakon (Mt Fugi) (I already got the day tour)
day 5 -6 Hakon to Takayama (2 nights) - This will be the 1st day that I have to activate my JR PASS. Do I need to activate on the day or a day before, how n where please?
I use Hyperdia to check out the route from Yomoto station to Takayama
How do I know JR PASS cover all route or not? How can I check to make sure lines that for JR only please helps!
I stay here 2days - suggestion please the best way to travel around, Can I use suica card to get around & can I go to Shirakawa-go? how?
day 7 fro Takayama to Kanazawa by JR rail (1day)
suggestion please the best way to travel around locally, what to see in one short day, by the time I arrive it almost 1/2 day gone!
Day 8 - 12 Kanazawa to Kyoto (stay 5n)
suggestion please the best way to travel around locally, plan to go to NARA? not sure how to get there yet. Any where else that I can full use my JR PASS
DAY 13-14: Kyoto to Hiroshima (2n) plan to go to MIYAJIMA island
suggestion please the best way to travel around locally (suica card?)
DAY 15-16: Hiroshima to Kagoshima - IBUSUKI (2N)
as we want to experience sand bath in IBUSUKI
suggestion please the best way to travel around locally (suica card?)
Day 17-19: Osaka, from here my 14days almost done just one more day, where to go to see using JR Pass. After day 18 I no longer have JR Pass.
suggestion please the best way to travel around locally (suica card?)
- Osaka to airport?
After book through accommodation I realize I'm short of my JR PASS. I wonder I can use JR Pass when I am at Kyoto (go further out of Kyoto)
Welcome suggestion from every one! I have no idea what the best way to go around with local transport.
Please helps
Thank you so much for your Time
0
Comments
There are some good discount tickets for getting from Haneda and using the subway. Try looking at:
http://www.jnto.go.jp/eng/arrange/transportation/discount/rail-
bus.html
There is also a good 3 day subway pass for 1500 yen:
http://www.tokyometro.jp/en/ticket/value/travel/index.html#anc03
But if you find a better deal online, then go for that. The Suica card is convenient but there is no real fare savings with it.
If you want to start using your JR Pass after seeing Hakone, then you should go to either Odawara or Mishima Station. I don't recognize the station you mentioned.
For the pass, please remember that the day you activate it for to use counts as Day One - which starts and ends at midnight. So if you activate it to use it that day at 6 PM, your first "day" is just 6 hours long.
You can also exchange your order for the pass and designate a future date to start on it - so for example to start using your pass from the earliest train possible (sometimes departing before the office even opens) or to leave from another station where you can't exchange your order for the pass, you can set the first day as tomorrow, or 3 days from today, or whenever up to a month in advance. Please note that the exchange order must be turned in for the pass within three months of the date the order was issued. So if you want to start using the pass in mid-Sept, you should not buy the exchange order until after the middle of June.
If you bought a 14day pass but want a 21day pass, you should refund it and get the 21 day pass. But I don't see the need for it. You can use the Pass for Days 5-18, which covers all your long distance travel. Travel between the Kansai cities is not costly. If you wanted another place to go, you could go see Himeji, with Japan's finest castle. If you can fit that into your 14 day pass, then great. But if all that travel makes you too tired, you could get a Kansai Area Pass to go there.
https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2361_03.html
The only way to go to Shirakawago is paying for a bus - and you need to make reservations ahead of time when you get to Takayama. I'm not sure if they take Suica but I doubt it.
Half a day is too little to see all of Kanazawa. But the BEST sight by far is the Kenrokuen Garden, and you should not miss it. The castle nearby is worth looking at too. You may not have time for much else. There is a loop bus you can take, or there are rental bicycles.
From Kyoto, taking a day to see Nara is very worthwhile - it has some of Japan's best sights, mostly in the Nara Park area. The Todaiji Temple is a must, but there is also Kofukuji Temple, Kasuga Shrine, and the Isuien and Yoshikien Gardens. Nara Park is about a 20 minute walk from Nara Station. Inside Kyoto, the JR Pass is very limited in its usefulness. To see Nara and the Fushimi Inari Shrine, you can go down the Nara Line from Kyoto Station, and you can also go from the Station to see Arashiyama on the city's west side. Otherwise, there is a 500 yen bus day pass. There is a subway, but it doesn't go to a lot of places and it is rather pricey.
Since you are already seeing Tokyo, you can largely skip Osaka during the day. After the temples of Kyoto close down around 5PM, you can zip over to Osaka for the evening. At night the city comes alive and has some great places to see, such as Dotonbori, plus the night views from the Umeda Sky Bldg and Abeno Harukas Bldg are wonderful.
On another evening, you could also go and see Kobe.
You can use the JR Pass also for the Loop Bus in Hiroshima City, as well as the JR ferry to Miyajima. It's a small island and you can walk around to see all the best places.
For Ibusuki, you can take the bullet train up to Kagoshima-Chuo Stn, then board another train for Ibusuki.
You can see regular fares, routes and schedules on Hyperdia.
http://www.hyperdia.com
Under "More Options", be sure to uncheck the Nozomi box since you can't ride that train using the pass. You can use JR and the pass to all the places you plan to except what I mentioned above. There are a few exceptions where JR uses another rail line's tracks and there is a surcharge - you can see a list at:
http://www.japanrailpass.net/en/about_jrp.html
When you check a route, if you see the train is purple, then you know it is not a JR train and not covered with the pass. Lines with a surcharge are not purple, however. I actually saw one line that was green but not covered by the pass, but such mistakes on Hyperdia are quite rare.
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.
Thank you so much for your info. I would like to double check this with you.
I have a day tour - Mt Fuji-Hakone 1-Day Tour, Tour ends near Hakone-Yumoto Station
We stay at Tenseien overnight, the next morning we have to get on 7:20am train from YUMOTO back to Tokyo station and then TOYAMA line to Takayama. Total 406 mins.
As you mention that I can exchange the pass with designate a future date to start on it – can you give me more details on this.
Day 1 - Arrive on 28th Oct, 5AM in Tokyo
Day 2 – 3 (29, 30 Oct) – still in Tokyo
Day 4 (31st Oct) - Mt Fuji-Hakone 1-Day Tour (from Tokyo), stay overnight in Hakone
Day 5 – Hakone-Yumoto Station to Takayama (start 7:20am train, 406 min in total)
Can I exchange my pass on 29 Oct but let them know I would like to start my pass on 1st Nov. How & where I do this, where to go please? booking for seat here too!
As mentioned earlier it is a long trip so I better take the early train so I get there around 2pm. It would difficult to exchange my pass on the 1st Nov. Please advice
Regards
Phuong
You don't need to backtrack to Tokyo to go to Takayama. Just go to Odawara and catch the bullet train to Nagoya, then a limited express to Takayama. With a good connection you can get there in about 4 hours, not 6¾ hours.
You can see the list to exchange your voucher for the pass at:
http://www.japanrailpass.net/en/exchange.html
As I said, you can either start your pass immediately, or set a future date as your first day. Once you activate your pass however, it *cannot* be changed.
You can make seat reservations for free with the pass at any JR office.
For a list of popular places for autumn colors (koyo), see:
https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2014.html
But you'd likely be too early to see much except at higher elevations.
http://bit.ly/2yVClaC
the faster way is through Nagoya.
The autumn leaf season starts first up north and then moves southward. The southern half of the country generally has its season around the latter half of November and early December. Higher elevations have it earlier.
You can see a list of popular places as well as the ideal time to see the colors on:
https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2014.html
as I said previously. There are a few places you can see them in early November.
Many thanks.
You can see a list of some providers at the bottom of:
https://wikitravel.org/en/Japan
I am unable to recommend one company over another for you.
I look through the route that you suggested earlier about Takayama, just want to double check HAKON Tozan Railway for ODAWARA, is this cover in the JR Pass or not? or I have to purchase this ticket separately.
I assume the JR PASS will cover me the Shinkansen and LTS.EXP (WIDE VIEW)?
Many thanks