Hi all,
I’m about to book a trip to Japan for my family. Because my wife & I have 2 sons who are having their first holiday overseas, none of us speak Japanese (I’m trying to learn the basics beforehand), and a couple of us have sensory processing issues, I’m sticking to one place/thing to visit most days to allow us extra travel time/rest time/spontaneity. We’ll be getting a 14 day JR pass to do the travel.
27th December – fly into KIX in the morning. Stay at Universal Studios hotel. Visit Universal Studios.
28th – more Universal Studios, or Himeji Castle.
29th – Train to Kyoto. Monkey Park and old Kyoto.
30th – Day trip to Nara.
31st – Fushimi-Inari temple, Tori gates, etc.
1st – Kiyomizu-dera temple early morning; train to Tokyo, Akihabara (Super Potato)
2nd – Harajuku/Shinjuku
3rd – Asakusa, Kimono wearing.
4th – Kodokan + Wrestle Kingdom 17 at the Tokyo Dome.
5th – Take train to Hakone. Odawara Castle, Homma Yoseki museum. Stay in Ryokan near Yumoto.
6th – Tour Hakone area (old Tokaido road/museum, ropeway, pirate ship ride, open-air museum) stay in Ryokan near Gora.
7th – Hakone to Yamanouchi. Visit Jigokudani Monkey park, stay in Yamanouchi.
8th – Visit Shiga Kogen, catch train back to Tokyo.
9th – Visit whatever we’ve missed in Tokyo, fly out of HND that evening.
Any thoughts/suggestions?
6 comments
JR Pass 14 days is a total waste. It only can make sense to get the 7 days pass and do Himeji trip, going to Tokyo and trip to Nagano/Shiga Kogen. If you cannot fit all that in 7 days, then there is ways to get it cheaper without a JR Pass. This mean move the Nagano part earlier and put Himeji later. You can check to get a Kansai one pass (that is an ICOCA IC card with rebate is different attractions) and use if to pay for most of the train/bus/subway outside of what the JR Pass would cover.
You could consider doing Hakone between Kyoto and Tokyo. If you start the day early and you would be able to visit a it on that day an finish on the next day. Moving from Hakone to Yamanouchi in a single day will be pretty long, I do not really see why you would want to do that, I would stay at least a night in Tokyo before going to Nagano.
I would also skip Odawara castle that is a reconstruction, you already have the option for an original one with Himeji.
You should check if things are open on new years and the following days. New years is big in Japan and 1-3 are bank holidays.
You might already know but if not FYI Jan 1st will be quite busy for [Hatsumode](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hatsum%C5%8Dde). I think you’ll be quite busy taking a train from Osaka to Kyoto, doing hatsumode, taking a bullet train to Tokyo (can you even get a seat?) and exploring Akihabara all in one day, but not necessarily impossible.
Edit: and will you take all your luggage with you from Osaka to Kyoto so you can ride the bullet train from Kyoto station? You might want to look into luggage storage options at Kyoto station.
You know the border isn’t open to tourists, right? And there’s no indication it will be open by Christmas.
theres a jr pass calculator to see if you will maximize what you paid for.
there are passes specifically for JR WEST and tokyo rails that you might want to look into. these cost less than jr pass since not all rails/trains/subway are covered by jr pass.
Hi, what travel agency are you using?