Hello. I plan on traveling to Japan for the first time. I will be arriving in Tokyo via Haneda airport on April 13th and I will be leaving out of the same airport April 25th. I honestly just started planning, and my itinerary is pretty much open, and am open to all suggestions, except I have to return to Tokyo April 22nd for 4 days, to leave April 25th.
A must see for me is Kyoto, Osaka, Kobe, Nara and perhaps Wakayama, which looks like the Kansai regional JR pass would cover all these places. I'm trying to figure out what passes I must purchase in order to make this trip the most cost efficient as possible, and I'd like to take advantage of this pass as much as possible. I'm not sure how these passes actually work, should I purchase separate regional passes or is the 14 day National JR Pass is my best option.
I am thinking two options so far:
- stay in Tokyo for the first night and then head straight to Osaka (or Kyoto, which ever is less expensive) to stay there until my return to Tokyo, and use the JR pass to travel back and forth until I come back to Tokyo on April 22nd
- head straight to Osaka (or Kyoto, which ever is less expensive) upon my arrival at the Haneda airport
My questions are:
- Slightly confused about the National JR pass. Does the National JR pass cover all regional parts of Japan?
- Is it most cost efficient for me to purchase the 14 day pass or separate passes? Such as just the Kansai pass? But I don't believe this covers my trip from Tokyo to Osaka/Kyoto and back again.
- Very open to suggestions, and would appreciate any advice as I haven't planned anything yet.
Thank you.
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Comments
Simply going from Tokyo to Kansai and back would not make a 14 day pass pay off. But for example, if you took a day trip from Kansai to Hiroshima/Miyajima, that would put you over the top.
The full JR Pass covers all JR routes in the country. It's just a question of going to enough places or distance to justify the pass. You can see regular fares, routes and schedules on Hyperdia.
http://www.hyperdia.com
A few areas like Koyasan in Wayakayama, or the Mt Fuji area are not covered well by JR, so other passes can help. If you wanted to see Koyasan for a spiritual experience, there is the Koyasan World Heritage Ticket.
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e4900.html
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2358_012.html
For the Fuji area, there are Odakyu passes.
http://www.odakyu.jp/english/deels/
Both Hakone and the Fuji 5 Lakes area are popular day trips from Tokyo. For your time in Japan, you'll probably be too late for the cherry blossoms (unless you want to go up farther north to Sendai or beyond), but you could see the shibazakura near Mt. Fuji.
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e6919.html
Also it would be an ideal time to see the Hitachi Seaside Park in Ibaraki.
http://en.hitachikaihin.jp/
Your next step really is to flesh out your itinerary. Kyoto, Osaka, Kobe, and Nara are all worth some time, but you could branch out more. Himeji has the nation's finest castle, and farther south are many more good places. Your question has been asked a zillion times elsewhere, you might find some good suggestions on
https://www.quora.com/What-are-some-places-you-must-visit-and-things-to-do-in-Japan
I decided I will travel from Tokyo to Osaka and stay there for 8 days to go to Kyoto, Kobe, Nara. If I purchase the JR pass for only the Kansai Region pass for 4 days, will this pass cover my trip from Tokyo to Osaka?
Thanks again.
You cannot use the Kansai Area Pass to go to Tokyo.
Actually it would be very hard to make the Kansai Area Pass pay off too without some long distance travel such as a day trip to Himeji.
So you have 4 choices -
1) Cut your time in Kansai down to 7 days and use a 7 day JR Pass (or alternatively there is an even cheaper choice, the japanican ticket).
http://www.japanican.com/en/tour/detail/VJOPENTO1/
2) Just buy regular fare tickets
3) Get the 14 day pass and expand your itinerary as I mentioned previously, either with some day trips from Kansai, or from Tokyo (Nikko, Kusatsu, Karuizawa, Izu, Sendai, etc).
4) Forget the trains for long distance and fly on a low cost carrier or ANA's Experience Japan Fare.
http://www.jetstar.com/jp/en/home
http://www.flypeach.com/pc/en
http://www.vanilla-air.com/en/
http://www.ana.co.jp/wws/us/e/wws_common/promotions/share/experience_jp/index.html
- April 13th: Arrive in Tokyo via Haneda airport, staying over in Tokyo for the night near Tsukiji Fish Market.
Staying in Osaka from April 14-21:
- April 14: Tokyo to Osaka, explore Osaka
- April 15: Nara back to Osaka to eat
- April 16: Southern Kyoto
- April 17: Western Kyoto
- April 18: Wakayama (I would really like to visit the Zaobashi bridge as they call it, but i am having trouble mapping it on google maps, is there a different name for this bridge that you know of?)
- April 19: half day in Himeji, half day in Kobe
- April 20: Half day in Hiroshima, half day in Miyajima
- April 21: Osaka
Staying in Tokyo April 22-25:
- April 22: Osaka to Tokyo, explore Tokyo
- April 23: Hitachi Seaside Park
- April 24: explore Tokyo
- April 25: fly back home from Haneda Airport
What JR pass do you recommend I purchase for the itinerary above?
Sorry for the back and forth.
Thanks again!
Well if you used a 14 day JR Pass for your trip, you'd more than make up for the costs and you'd get some excellent savings.
The wild card is the Zaobashi Bridge - I found it easily enough, but unless you are going to rent a car, it really is not in the cards (and not worth all the trouble just to see a bridge). Since you asked, you can see it on the map at:
http://bit.ly/2gi92bp
Just zoom out and you can see how isolated in the mountains it is.