We land Tokyo evening 1 but plan to start our 7 day pass day 2.
2 nights Tokyo - 2 nights Hiroshima -4 nights Kyoto with maybe day trip to Osaka - day 8( last day of 7 day pass ) Kyoto - Fuji for the day - afternoon train to airport Tokyo for 8.15 pm flight.
Question - is this good plan and will 7 day Japan jrr pass be worthwhile
- also should I pre buy bus/train ticket from Narita to Tokyo (staying at Roppingi)
Or would Taxi be better and how much approximately?
Thank you in anticipation .
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Comments
As long as you can get all your travel within the seven days and not activate your pass until you leave Tokyo to travel to Hiroshima. This will be the most cost effective way of travelling to all these areas. You can use this website, www.hyperdia.com to find the schedules. To find the schedules for the trains that you can use with a JR Pass in the 'more options' section you need to un-tick 'private railways' and 'Nozomi'.
To get to Tokyo from Narita it is about 60-90 mins away from the city. So we would recommend either the Narita Express Train from the airport to Tokyo or a Limousine Bus to your hotel or the nearest stop. We would not recommend a taxi as this would be very expensive.
Hope that helps.
Best regards
Japan Experience
The cheapest way to from Narita is the 1000 yen bus.
http://accessnarita.jp/en/home/
Do NOT even think of taking a taxi - it'll cost nearly half your air fare.
If seeing Tokyo for 2-3 days, you might consider a 2 or 3 day subway pass
http://www.tokyometro.jp/en/ticket/value/travel/index.html#anc03
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.
Use that daylight time and go see Nara - it has some of Japan's top sights.
You can see previews of some of the best places to see in Japan on:
https://www.youtube.com/user/thejapanfaq/videos
Jun-03 9:00AM kamarimon (kamikari gate)
shinsoji temple
asukasa shrine
nakamise shopping st.
akibahara
Jun-04 9:00AM disneysea
Jun-05 8:00AM mt. fuji tour
Jun-06 9:00AM dineyland/kamakura buddha
Jun-07 10:00AM shibuya
Jun-08 9:00AM uenoonshi park (large park withthe zoo)
Jun-09 9:00AM flight
thank you so much
If you are only staying in the Tokyo area, then getting a JR Pass would be a huge waste of money.
There is a good regional pass for going to see Kamakura and Enoshima however:
http://www.odakyu.jp/english/deels/freepass/enoshima_kamakura/
But trying to see both Disneyland and Kamakura on the same day is unrealistic.
The cheapest way from Narita into Tokyo is the 1000 yen bus:
http://accessnarita.jp/en/home/
There are some good 2-3 day subway passes at
http://www.tokyometro.jp/en/ticket/value/travel/index.html#anc03
but it looks like you are traveling so little that they might not be worth it.
You can find more things to see and do at:
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2164.html
Best of luck.
This site has more info:
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2359_003.html
I was wondering if I could also get advice on our travel plans to Japan in July (8 days in Japan).
We are arriving close to midnight on Sat, 7th and was thinking about just taking a cab into Tokyo since trains might be out of commission by that time. Sun, 8th may or may not be a throw away day since we're getting in so late the previous evening but we'd still like to be able to see some of Tokyo that day at least. We're hoping to do the Tokyo-Hakone-Osaka-Kyoto itinerary but not sure if this is doable with our timeline.
Suggestions on how many days to spend on each location would be appreciated. We would love to get as close as possible to an authentic Japanese experience.
Also a bit confused about how the railway works. I know the 7 day JR pass is the best but I also read that Hakone is not part of the JR railway system. How would we get to Hakone from Tokyo? And would a regular JR pass work? Or is coach preferable?
Thank you in advance!
Again, it's better to start a new thread and not piggyback your question on someone else's.
I presume you will be arriving at Haneda, since there are no flights close to midnight at Narita. It is close enough to take a taxi, though it is rather expensive. Actually there are late night buses:
http://hnd-bus.com/airport/route/nightmorningbus.html
They can take you into Tokyo, where a taxi fare will be shorter and cheaper.
You could see Hakone as a full day trip. A Hakone Free Pass can save you money.
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2358_008.html
The Hakone Loop Course is a common way to see the area.
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e5210.html
Since you are already seeing Tokyo, you can largely skip Osaka during the day. After the temples of Kyoto close down around 5 PM, 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.
Instead, I suggest you take at least half a day and see Nara - it was also a former capital and has some of Japan's best sights. Nara is often neglected by some tourists, which is a shame. Missing the Todaiji Great Buddha would be a tragedy. Nara Park has a lot of other great places, such as Kasuga Shrine, Kofukuji Temple, and feeding the many deer in the area.
But just going Tokyo-Kansai round trip still leaves you a little short of making a 7 day JR Pass pay off. So you might look at getting a japanican ticket, which is overall still much cheaper and gets you there faster.
http://www.japanican.com/en/tour/detail/VJOPENTK1/
For Kyoto, try to time your visits to places to be more effective. The Fushimi Inari Shrine is open 24/7, so fitting it in early in the morning or evening allows you to add other places in between, and you can avoid a lot of the crowds at either time. The Honganji Temples open at the crack of dawn and are within walking distance of Kyoto Stn. so they are easy to fit in too.
If you have 8 days, I suggest 3 for Tokyo, 1 for Hakone, and the rest for Kansai.
Good luck.
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Hope that helps.