Hi there. My friends and I will be traveling to Japan this coming December and will stay for 12 days. I wanted to get a second opinion on if we should buy a 14 day JR line pass.
We have a rough idea of what we will be doing.
I have family members in Japan so we will be headed to Mitaka right when we land from Haneda. Our plan is to head to Hokkaido then work our way back slowly to Mitaka visiting areas in between along the way (maybe Akita and Niigata). Then we will be traveling South to Fukuoka and slowly work out way back to Mitaka. Again, we will be making stops on the way like Hiroshima, Kyoto, and Osaka.
Please let me know if it's worth the JR line passes and I would love any suggestions on where we should go on out trip as well.
Thank you!
0
Comments
Well a 14 day pass would pay off handsomely for so much travel. Although that is a lot of places for just 12 days. I suggest that you break up your trip with several stops in between to avoid too much fatigue. Also be aware that December can get very cold in Hokkaido and the Tohoku Region.
I suggest you look at the various places listed on the map on
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2361_southhokkaido.html
as places you might visit. But again, covering that amount of distance you plan to travel in 12 days really means you shouldn't stray too far from the bullet train line. Akita and Niigata are further away - and while Akita has some good sights, Niigata is one of the least interesting prefectures.
Kyoto, Nara and Himeji are worth some considerable attention though. Hiroshima & Miyajima could be done in a day with an early morning start. Fukuoka is actually an often overlooked gem with some excellent places, especially the Nanzoin Temple just outside the city.
http://www.thejapanfaq.com/fukpic.html
There are some good previews of the places you may want to see on:
https://www.youtube.com/user/thejapanfaq/videos
I'm glad the 14 day pass will be worth our money.