My family and I are looking to travel to Japan in April next year. I have created the following itinerary:
Day 1 - Arrive Osaka (how do I get from airport to hotel?)
Day 2 - Osaka
Day 3 - Osaka - day trip to Nara (1 day Kansai Pass)
Day 4 - Osaka to Hiroshima - Himeji Castle on the way
Day 5 - Hiroshima - Miyajima
Day 6 - Hiroshima to Kyoto
Day 7 - Kyoto - Arashiyama
Day 8 - Kyoto
Day 9 - Kyoto
Day 10 - Kyoto to Tokyo
Day 11 - Tokyo - Nikko day trip (All Nikko Pass)
Day 12 - Tokyo
Day 13 - Tokyo
Day 14 - Flight out Narita (how do I get from hotel to airport?)
Do I get a 7 day JR pass and activate on Day 4?
What is the cheapest way to see Nara from Osaka and Nikko from Tokyo?
or is this better (start 7 JR days from Day 8)?
Day 1 - Arrive Osaka
Day 2 - Osaka
Day 3 - Osaka - day trip to Nara (2 day Kansai pass - Day 1)
Day 4 - Osaka to Kyoto (2 day Kansai pass - day 2)
Day 5 - Kyoto - Arashiyama
Day 6 - Kyoto
Day 7 - Kyoto
Day 8 - Kyoto to Hiroshima - Himeji Castle on the way
Day 9 - Hiroshima - Miyajima Day trip
Day 10 - Hiroshima to Tokyo
Day 11 - Tokyo - Nikko day trip
Day 12 - Tokyo
Day 13 - Tokyo
Day 14 - Flight out of Tokyo Narita Airport
Any help appreciated!
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Comments
For your first question, only you can say - nobody knows where your hotel is. For Day 3 a Kansai Area Pass would not pay off for you. You might look at the Icoca & Haruka discount ticket:
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2359_icoca_haruka.html
Day 4 - Possible with an early morning start. You can see Himeji Castle (and don't miss the Kokoen Garden next to it) and then go to Hiroshima for the main sights (Peace Park/Museum, Shukkeien Garden, castle...)
Yes, your idea of a 7 day JR Pass for Days 4-10 makes sense. For seeing Nikko, you might look into getting a Tobu Nikko Free Pass:
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2358_002.html
Within Kyoto and Nara, each has a 500 yen day bus pass. But most of the best sights in Nara are in Nara Park, which is just a 20 minute walk from the JR Nara Station.
Within Tokyo there is also a good 2-3 day subway pass.
http://www.tokyometro.jp/en/ticket/value/travel/index.html#anc03
And for the hotel to Narita, again, who knows? You again didn't say where your hotel is. The cheapest way is by the 1000 yen bus from Tokyo Stn or Ginza:
http://accessnarita.jp/en/home/
But if your hotel is near Ueno, the Keisei may make more sense:
http://www.keisei.co.jp/keisei/tetudou/skyliner/us/fares/index.php
If you have the Tokyo Wide Pass and use it for a day trip, you could also use it on the JR Narita Express:
http://www.jreast.co.jp/e/nex/
But you could use the Tokyo Wide Pass from Shinjuku to Narita on the Narita Express.
http://www.jreast.co.jp/e/nex/
Just make sure that other trips added in make the Tokyo Wide Pass worth it.