Advice about squeezing in Day Trips and opting for Train Passes

7 comments

1. It’s worth spending a couple of days in Hiroshima, if you can, as there’s lots to see there and it’s a nice city.

   >How do you feel about spending only 1 night in a Ryokan?

   Isn’t that really a question for you and your friends? If you think you’ll like this style of accommodation, add more nights. Ryokans are quite nice, but not essential.

2. Hiroshima I would personally do it as an overnight trip for two reasons. While it is true that it is not too fat, if you want to see both Hiroshima and Miyajima, it will be quite a full day.

   On the other hand, if you do it in two days, you can even stop by Himeji on the way there. What I would do is start the day early and try to be at Himeji when the castle open, grab a bento to eat in the train, check Hiroshima, likely starting by the peace museum and get Okonomiyaki for dinner and you can end the day more in the city center for shopping of go grab a drink, next day can be spent in Miyajima.

   As for rail pass, because you are doing Osaka-Tokyo, the only real option is the full pass and it would be worth as that trip plus the round trip to Hiroshima is more expensive than that. Most of the other places you named will be less than 1200 yen round trip, so not enough to justify having a pass active at all time. So as long as you do Hiroshima trip and going to Tokyo within 7 days, it’s all good. Of course if you decide do add one more long distance trip, try to do it within that week.

   Otherwise, yes there is discount tickets for some destination, like Hakone free pass is usually worth if you do the loop with the cruise on the lake and all. There is also things like Osaka amazing pass that is great as long as you do enough of the free attractions (so might not be worth), there is bus pass in Kyoto (but the time I got it, I did not use the bus enough time as I walked instead of waiting for some of the bus). Otherwise there would be specific pass/discount tickets to places like Nikko, Kawagoe, Chichibu/Nagatoro, Mount Takao.

   As for the number of days in Tokyo vs Osaka, that is totally up to you, if you want to be a bit more logic about it, try to check how many days you need to do what you want. I can easily count 8-9 days for Kansai so far, so if you want to do more in the Osaka region, you can easily add more.

   For ryokan, I think it depend on what kind of experience you are looking for. A ryokan is just a Japanese inn, so usually a more traditional room with tatami and you sleep on futon. I’ve been to places that were cheaper than business hotels. In that case, I would say you could do your full trip in ryokan if you are ok sleeping on futon. However, I know that many people want the full ryokan experience with kaiseki meal, so in that case, I would personally not do it two days in a row, because it’s a lot of food and it can remove some freedom to visit what you want when you have early check in or you need to go back early to the ryokan to eat. Of course budget could be a consideration when starting price for ryokan with meal is 12000 to 15000 by night by person. Considering you have Arima onsen in your list, I would even consider doing a ryokan there and one in Kyoto if you want to do a total of 3 nights during the whole trip.

3. I randomly decided to go to Sendai my last trip and loved it 🙂 My itinerary was:
   Day 1: Leave Yokohama 8:00 AM, Matsushima Bay, shopping downtown, drinks/hotel in Kokubuncho
   Day 2: Morning stroll on Jozenji-Dori, Yamadera, back in Tokyo for 5:00 PM. If I hadn’t had theatre tix in Tokyo I would have toured the Nikka whiskey distillery

   I liked it because you can see the kind of nature views you see in Japanese paintings in a quick trip from Tokyo, and it’s “off the beaten path” for Western tourists so it gives you a taste of a different vibe. Downside is the train tickets are pricy. I would try to do this on the same JR pass as your trip to Hiroshima and Kyoto-Tokyo.

4. One question you have to seriously ask is whether you want to stay in ryokan in Kyoto or a renovated machiya (traditional house), especially since the truly unique ryokan (facilities or menus) would usually set you back $500 per night and staying at a machiya would probably be a more interesting experience.

   You are not climbing Mt. Fuji in June. The climbing season does not even start until 10 July and climbing it during rainy season would be an absolute suicide.

5. I did Hiroshima and miyajima as a day trip from Kyoto. It was indeed a busy day but it was fun nonetheless and better than not seeing it at all. Of course with time permitting it would be fun to stay there overnight but it’s not always possible.

   The museum in Hiroshima was immensely emotional. I recommend taking the time to watch the videos of the survivors talking about their experience.

   Hiroshima style okonomiyaki is a must. I went to okonomimura and just picked one.

   I recommend the momoji manju on miyajima. There’s a fried one, get it. Also if you see a honeydew melon crush drink thing, get it.

6. > Should we consider lengthening our time in Osaka in order to hit all of those day trips?

   Tokyo really has more going on to fill up the “no plans” days with so I’d just plan to stay in Osaka for as long as you need to see everything you want there without having to rush.

   > Is Hiroshima a worthwhile day trip from Osaka?

   100% yes, very profound and moving to visit the atomic bomb site and worth making the trip out. You don’t need to stay overnight; I even stopped in Himeji on the way when I did this (only spent the afternoon in Hiroshima) and saw everything without feeling rushed.

   > Any suggestions given the general Itinerary above?

   Buy a one-week JR pass starting on the 8th. Plan your longer Osaka day trips (eg. Hiroshima) for the last few days so they’re covered by the pass, and then use the pass for the trains to Hakone, Fuji, and Tokyo. Buy IC cards and use them to pay cash for the rest of the trains.

   You might run the numbers and find a second week will make sense depending on how many day trips you’re planning on Tokyo, so do some due diligence there (you don’t need to plan every second but you’ll do a lot better if you at least have a rough itinerary instead of totally “winging it” in Tokyo).

   > Do you think we should squeeze in a trip up to Sendai while in Tokyo? In my research it doesn’t seem like my group would enjoy it as much as a few more days in Tokyo.

   Domestic flights in Japan are pretty cheap and unless you’re attached at the hip, then you can split up your group for a few days depending on who wants to do what.

7. In terms of rail passes, I would just push your more distant day trips from Osaka (namely Hiroshima) to the end of your week there. If you plan it properly, a one-week [JR pass](https://japanrailpass.net/en/) (I’ve bought them from [this site](https://www.jrailpass.com/) before) that costs about $290/person may be able to cover all your shinkansen transport to and from Hiroshima, to Hakone/Fuji and then to Tokyo from there.

   The JR Pass is a tourist-exclusive rail pass that gets you unlimited free tickets to any train run by JR (Japan Rail) just by showing the pass at the gate for local trains and the ticket booth for reserved shinkansen tickets. If you ride the shinkansen 3 times in one week, it is almost guaranteed to have paid for itself, and it will also get you free access to many local lines in bigger cities (mostly Tokyo and Osaka).

   Also, to answer your bonus question, I’d say you should go for a trip to Sendai or somewhere else in the north, even if it’s for just a day+night. I’d even consider renting a car and driving somewhere more rural outside of Tokyo if you can figure out the logistics (getting set up to drive in Japan is a process). If you’ll be there for 17 nights, I don’t think you’ll be struggling to find time for things like that. And when you’re there, there will come a time when you’ll feel it’d be nice to get out of the city for a bit.