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What travel pass/s would be best for the following itinerary?

My husband and I are planning to travel to Japan. We are trying to work out what travel pass will be best for us. Any input is much appreciated.

Our rough itinerary is as follows:
Day 1 arrive at airport travel to shibuya, Tokyo
DAy 2 visit shibuya crossing, hachiko statue, harajuku and the Meiji shrine
Day 3 visit Mt Fuji/Hakone (have seen day trip tours for $200 each, may book this)
Day 4 visit Ginza/Akihabara
Day 5 Tokyo to Hiroshima using Shinkansen???
Day 6 visit Atomic bomb dome, Hiroshima peace memorial park, shukkeien garden and Hiroshima Castle
Day 7 visit Miyajima via ferry return in the afternoon after high tide and travel to Kyoto via Shinkansen??
Day 8 Kyoto visit Nijo Castle, Golden Pavillion, Kyoto Imperial Palace and KiyomiZu Temple. (Could look for a tour to do this)
Day 9 visit Fushimi Inari Trisha, Bamboo forest, maybe do some sake tasting and visit Gion for dinner
Day 10 Himeji Castle and Philosophers walk
Day 11 return home, not sure which airport we will leave from.


Comments

  • Hi,
    You'd do very well with a 7 day pass used Days 5-11. Your plans need a lot of fine tuning however. If you are going to see Harajuku, the best time to go is on a Sunday afternoon, if your schedule allows it.
    You might consider a Tokyo subway pass for 2-3 consecutive days to save money.
    http://www.tokyometro.jp/en/ticket/value/travel/index.html#anc03

    For Hakone, you can pay the $400 for the tour if you want, but it would be such a waste. You can easily do it on your own and save a lot of money.
    Just get a Hakone Free Pass:
    http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2358_008.html
    and follow the Loop Course - it's a common and easy way to see the sights there.
    http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e5210.html
    http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e5200.html

    Your Day 4 is woefully empty. Try looking at:
    http://www.gotokyo.org/en/index.html
    http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2164.html
    and adding more.

    For Days 8-10, you need to better organize it. The Fushimi Inari Shrine and Sagano Bamboo Forest are on opposite sides of the city. You could actually use your pass to get to both, but to be more efficient, try to group your destinations as close together as you can to save time. Both are open 24/7 and very popular - so I suggest you go to them in the early morning or evening to escape the huge crowds. If you could move them to Days 8 or 10 and free up at least half the day of Day 9, it would be great because you really should not skip Nara - it has some of Japan's top sights, mostly clustered together in Nara Park.

    If you still have the energy, after the temples of Kyoto close down around 5 PM, 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.
    On another evening, you could also go and see Kobe.

    Be aware also that with the pass, Tokyo to Hiroshima or the reverse with a good connection will take you about 4½ hours. If you need to go to Narita after that, it'll be an additional hour on the Narita Express train.
    You can see regular fares, routes and schedules on Hyperdia.
    http://www.hyperdia.com
    Under "More Options", be sure to uncheck the Nozomi box since you can't ride that train using the pass.

    You can see previews of some of the best places to see in Japan on:
    https://www.youtube.com/user/thejapanfaq/videos

  • Thanks for the advice, I will do some more research.
    I have left day 4 pretty empty as I love anime and will most likely potter around and I need my husband to have a rest day as he had a double stroke last year. If he decides he's ok there are plenty of things we can do to fill in the day.
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