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Help Needed for best travel option using JR pass

Hi
Can someone pls help me with best route to travel using JR pass:
Tokyo to Hakone ( I will also have Hakone free pass)
Hakone to Takayama
Takayama to Kanazawa
Kanazawa to Kyoto
I am staying at most of these places for two nights. Tokoyo and Kyoto will be longer.
So your help and some useful info will be highly appreciated.
Thanks in advance.

Comments

  • I think your route is perfectly fine.
    But is that your whole itinerary? I show you a little short of breaking even on a 7 day pass.
  • Thank you Tenjin.

    Apologies for confusion. What I am looking for is:
    What modes of transport that I should be using when travelling between these cities using JR pass?
  • I need the same advice please.
    Understand there is a 5 day Takayama region pass from either Nagoya or Toyama (from Tokyo) - not sure if the 7 day JR pass covers the same areas (including bus between Takayama and Kanazawa)

    We are in Japan for 12 days - 4 Tokyo, 2 Takayama, 2 Kanazawa, 4 Kyoto - then need to fly out of Tokyo - so total 13 days transport needed.

    Any advice appreciated
  • Ankitarora -

    The more travel you can do on the bullet train, the more value you get out of using a JR Pass. You can use the bullet train from Tokyo to Hakone (get off at Odawara, and then to save money buy a Hakone Free Pass). You can also use the bullet train to go from Odawara or Mishima Stn to Nagoya, and from Kyoto back to Tokyo. The other routes are covered by limited express trains.

    If you do all your travels within 7 days, you would make a 7 day pass pay off, but not a 14 day pass.
  • Takayama2017 -

    The bus is not covered by the full JR Pass. You can however go by rail from Takayama to Kanazawa (but there is only bus access to/from Shirakawago).

    You are still a long way from making a 14 day pass pay off. You either need to cut your travel down to within 7 days (for all the places you want to see; not recommended) or buy regular fare tickets, or increase your travels to make a 14 day pass pay off. A day trip from Kyoto to Hiroshima/Miyajima with an early morning start would do it. Or you could do a day trip from Tokyo to NIkko, Kusatsu, Karuizawa, Izu, etc and a day trip from Kyoto to Himeji (with Japan's grandest castle).
    You also should not skip Nara either - it's close to Kyoto and worth at least half a day. You can see some of Japan's best sights.

    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 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 see previews of some of the best places to see in Japan on:
    https://www.youtube.com/user/thejapanfaq/videos

    Hope that helps.

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