Winter in Tokyo. We want to stay in one hotel and take day trips and explore Tokyo disticts. Below is what we have. In terms of what we would like to do, it really is just eatting and exploring the area. Taking some nice pictures together, and just relaxing. We are from the US and speak English only. We are young, enjoy the winter and snow, and are okay with the cold.
If some of the districts are close or may not take more than half a day to explore and enjoy, we are open to combining some of the “explore Tokyo” days and adding an extra day trip. For day trips, we wanted to explore areas that were around 1-3 hours away.
I guess the general idea for the explore cis we wake up, eat breakfast, then go to a distict to explore, then head back to our hotel to reflex a bit before having dinner close by the hotel. We are really open to doing anything that we may not get to explore in the US.
Also, because of all the day trips we will be taking, would we get the Japan Rail Pass before hand or buy it the day of? Can we also book resevered seats or would it be okay to not for certain days?
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Day 1 – Plane to Tokyo (Dec 23)
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Day 2 – Arrive (Dec 24)
1. Hotel and explore the area
2. Because we are staying in one hotel to cut down on all the travel time and luggage carrying, we were thinking of staying in hotels near Tokyo Station to make the day trips easier (Ginza most likely
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Day 3 – Explore Tokyo (Dec 25)
1. Districts we were looking into exploring for the “explore tokyo” days
2. Asakusa, Shibuya, Roppongi, Ebisu, Akasaka, Meguro
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Day 4 – Day trip 25 (Dec 26)
1. Day trips that are 100%: Hakone and Kyoto
2. Day after christmas we were considering Kyoto as trains might not be too hectic
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Day 5 – Explore Tokyo 26 (Dec 27)
1. Districts to consider: Asakusa, Shibuya, Roppongi, Ebisu, Akasaka, Meguro
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Day 6 – Day Trip 27 (Dec 28)
1. Day trips we were considering: Kamakura, Enoshima, Kawagoe, Nikko, Tateyama Kurobe Alpine
2. Most likely would go to Hakone or whenever the weather is clear
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Day 7 – Explore Tokyo 28 (Dec 29)
1. Districts to consider: Asakusa, Shibuya, Roppongi, Ebisu, Akasaka, Meguro
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Day 8 – Day Trip 29 (Dec 30)
1. Day trips we were considering: Kamakura, Enoshima, Kawagoe, Nikko, Tateyama Kurobe Alpine
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Day 9 – Explore Tokyo (Dec 31)
1. Districts to consider: Asakusa, Shibuya, Roppongi, Ebisu, Akasaka, Meguro
2. Because it would be New Years Eve, we wanted to visit a shrine at night
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Day 10 – Day Trip (Jan 01)
1. Day trips we were considering: Kamakura, Enoshima, Kawagoe, Nikko, Tateyama Kurobe Alpine
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Day 11 – Explore Tokyo/Last day before flight (Jan 2)
1. Last day in Tokyo
2. Flight is next day Jan 3
5 comments
I guess it’s possible but I would not consider Kyoto to be a day trip from Tokyo. You should at least spend 1-2 nights there.
JR pass wouldn’t be worth it at all for your itinerary as you stay in one area pretty much. As a rule of thumb, the 7 day pass is roughly a round-trip on the Shinkansen from Tokyo to Osaka. Looks like your farthest day trip is Nikko, it’s about 11,000 yen roundtrip/person.
What you need is a Tokyo Metro pass to explore all your districts. It’s available in 1, 2 or 3 day passes.
Daytrip to Hakone and Kyoto ? this is unrealistic and even down stupid. Hakone is easily one if not two days on itself and Kyoto is 2-3 days only for the highlight, it’s also not a daytrip from Tokyo in my opinion.
Kamakura/Enoshima could be done together, but they can be a day each too. Kawagoe is ok for a single day, Nikko would be 1 or 2 days depending on what you want to see and I feel that Tateyama Kurobe Alpine route is unrealistic as a daytrip from Tokyo.
If not doing Kyoto or Tateyama, then JR Pass does not make sense. There is cheaper pass like the Tobu Nikko World Heritage Pass, Odakyu Hakone Free pass, there is discount ticket for Kawagoe too.
Could make sense to use the Tokyo Wide Pass if you are to do 3 days in a row in places that are far enough to make it cheaper than going to each of them individually.
I would probably stay in Tokyo Jan 1, especially considering that shops in smaller locations might be close while you would still find plenty of things to do around Tokyo.
I’ve heard a lot of stuff closes down during the New Years Break (Dec. 29 – Jan. 4) so it may limit what you’re able to do as there may be a number of stores and restaurants closed and many people will be traveling home for the holidays.
I’m interested to hear from anyone whose been during this time if that’s the case. I had planned to try during this timeframe as well, but hearing that made me reconsider.
Kyoto isn’t worth visiting as a day trip from Tokyo. If you want to visit Kyoto, (it is definitely worth visiting), then go for at least 2-3 days.
With 11 days I would probably do 4 days Kyoto (possible day trip to Nara or Osaka), 2 days Hakone, 5 days Tokyo (inc day trip to Nikko and Kamakura).
You could also skip Kyoto entirely and focus on Tokyo and surrounds in 11 days.
ETA: if you’re at all into temples and shrines I would definitely suggest spending New Years at one. It’s a pretty unique experience and I’ve truly loved every New Years visit I’ve made.