Hi, we ( 2 adults 2 children) will be visiting japan earlier of dec 2016, with itineraries as below:
6th Dec : Arrive Haneda airport on 10 pm, get suica card, take airport express (Keikyu Railway) to Shinagawa.
7th Dec : To Tokyo Disneyland, still travelling on suica card.
8th Dec : To kawaguchiko by Fujikyu line from Tokyo Station
9th-15th dec : Osaka, Kobe, Kyoto, Nagoya, Takayama, Shirakawago (by bus) , Tokyo ( using 7 days JR pass)
16th - 21th dec : Travel within Tokyo and returning back to Haneda Airport by using Suica card.
My questions are:
1. Does this itineraries look good, buying only 7 days JR for with additional suica card for Tokyo area, or should we buy 14 days JR pass?
2. Can we get refund of Suica credit balance at Haneda airport?
3. Can we leave our luggage at Takayama train station for a half day walk before going for Shirakawago?
4. Understanding round trip bus fee will be 4420 yen per person, 4 persons means 17680 yen.
Is it worth or to rent a car at Takayama and drive by ourselves to Shirakawago ( in this way luggage can be kept inside the car), any toll fee incurred on the way from Takayama to Shirakawago?
Thanks in advance for your advice.
0
Comments
Your itinerary is way too much for 7 days. You could actually spend the whole 7 days in Kyoto and not come close to seeing all there is. And you should spend at least half a day in Nara as well. Every place has something to see, but of all the places you list, Nagoya is the least interesting of them all and you could safely omit it. Instead, I suggest you take that day and spend half of it to see Himeji (with Japan's finest castle) and Kokoen Garden, and half to see Kobe on the way back.
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.
I'd allocate at least 2½ days for Kyoto. A 14 day pass would not pay off.
Regarding Tokyo, you are putting in way too much time. I suggest you take a few day trips to enhance your whole Japan experience. Using a Tokyo Wide Pass would save you a lot of money, and there are many good places, like Nikko, Karuizawa, Izu, Kamakura, Kusatsu, and the Hitachi Seaside Park. Hakone and the Fuji 5 Lakes area are good too, but for that the Odakyu Passes work better.
http://www.odakyu.jp/english/deels/
Hiring a car and driving to Shirakawa-go could be a good option - cars can be rented from several places in Takayama. A highway is now open which can get you to the village in under an hour. I believe it is a toll road, and costs around 1600 yen return. You will also have to pay 500 yen for parking in Shirakawa-go.
Taking these extra costs into account, the bus may be the cheaper option, but you can certainly look into the cost of a car rental and compare prices!
Japan Experience