Hello
I will be grateful if you can please give me advice.
I am planning to visit Japan, arriving on 10th Sept at Haneda Airport Tokyo at 3 PM. I am then planning to take a train to Kyoto where I will stay for two full days (three nights) I will then travel to Tokyo on 13th Sept to attend a meeting in Tokyo (staying in Tokyo till 17th Sept). My trip to Japan finishes on 17th September.
Questions
(1) Should I buy Japan rail pass?
(2) I want to visit Hiroshima also, can I visit it while I am in Kyoto?
(3) Are there any other places not far from Kyoto that I can visit and should visit?
(4) Places to visit from Tokyo (day trip) ?
Thanks for your help.
0
Comments
The big question is what to expect of Kyoto, since you have two days and you're considering day tripping. With 2 days, I can think of so many ways to do the thousand year capital, and you would still be missing out.
My honest advice is to remain in Kyoto during the couple of days that you have. You might want to consider checking out Osaka for an evening, but I don't think a single day-trip to Hiroshima is worth the expense.
If the purpose of a JR Pass is to save a lot of money, then I don't think you benefit very much, due to the limited time outside of Kanto. I'm sure that you're going to get a helpful second opinion on how to make the pass work, but that would require making an itinerary for you.
As far as day-trips from Tokyo, I can't recommend Kamakura and Enoshima enough, but still, nothing that requires a JR Pass.
I hope this was useful.
I have to see Hiroshima (my bucket list)
Regards
Enjoy!
One more question please
I am arriving Tokyo Haneda airport about 3.15PM. From here I'll go straight to Kyoto.
How long (roughly) it will take to reach Kyoto?
Which train should I get from Haneda to go to Kyoto? Do I have to change the train at Tokyo station or any other station?
Will my 7 days pass be valid from Haneda?
Thanks again
You can see regular fares, routes and schedules on Hyperdia
http://www.hyperdia.com
From Haneda if you want to go to Kyoto, you'll need to catch the bullet train from Shinagawa Stn. To get to Shinagawa, it is slightly faster to take the Keikyu train from Haneda, but you'd need to pay the 410 yen fare. If you want to solely do it on JR, then you can take the monorail from Haneda to Hamamatsucho Stn and transfer to the JR Yamanote Line to Shinagawa Stn. The time to Kyoto in total is about 3 hours.
Yes your pass can be used from Haneda if you activate from there. You'd need to go to the Tokyo Monorail 2nd Floor Ticket Gate/Arrival lobby.
If you're going to Kyoto straight from the airport, there's no need to reach Tokyo Station. You should catch your Shinkansen at Shinagawa Station.
You can exchange your voucher and validate your JR Pass at Haneda, but instead of trying to use it to get to Shinagawa Station, I think it's much easier if you just pay the 4 dollars for a direct Airport Express service (non JR).
Be sure to reserve/use a "Hikari" service to Kyoto. They are your quickest option.
Using the direct Keikyu Line, it takes no more than 15 minutes from the airport to Shinagawa. For there it takes ~2.5-3 hours to Kyoto.