First off, with JR rail pass, Suica, Kansai Area Pass, and possibly more options I am not aware of, I am very confused on what would be the best thing to use while traveling in Japan for my itinerary. I am mostly concerned with getting the right pass for the trains I will be taking and convenience (fastest way there/least amount of transfers). Affordability comes third/last.
My trip will be from July 12th-July 16th 2023. I will be arriving-most likely-through KIX airport in Osaka from Seoul, KR(flight not purchased yet but probably early morning flight). And I have reserved a hotel stay near the Shinsaibashi train station, this will be my base for my entire stay just so we don’t waste time traveling with luggage. My departure flight is leaving at 4PM from Tokyo HND (not changeable) so please take into account a Shinkansen trip to Tokyo and a trip to Haneda airport. What would you recommend for this trip?
**Day trip to Kyoto:**
Kiyomizu-dera
Nishiki Market
Arashiyama (bamboo grove walk and cafe)
Adashino Temple (walking from bamboo grove)
Otagi Temple (walking from Adashino)
Fushimi Inari (if time allows)
**Half Day in Nara:**
Tōdai-ji
Nara Park (to feed deer)
Kōfuku-ji
Nakatanidou shop
**Osaka**
Tsutenkaku
Kuromon Ichiba Market (for crab legs and seafood)
Dotonburi (people watch, shop and snack by the river)
Pokémon Center Osaka (to shop)
Universal Studios (probably 6-8 hours will be spent here)
**Tokyo**
I was thinking of going straight from Osaka to HND airport on the morning of our flight on the 16th.
I’m not sure whether I will stay one night (the night before) in Tokyo. If you recommend staying the night of the 15th, what additional travel cards should I purchase?
**PS.** If you have advice on something that’s already on my list, I would really appreciate it.
**PPS** I am young and traveling with just one other person, we snack and skip/delay meals if it gets in the way of our site seeing, we can walk for hours, we are used to planning 3-5 separate activities within one day, we wake up early, we don’t stay up to party, we will not be tired/jet lag and hopefully we will be in great health and hydrated by the time we reach Japan.
Thanks in advance!
1 comment
At best get a Kansai One Pass, that’s a prepaid IC card that you can use for local transit and purchase in convenience stores (among other). It will make the payment of your transit easier and as a bonus it give rebates in different attractions.
You do not want to get a JR Pass, that would be twice the price of the one way to Tokyo.
Yes, I would consider going to Tokyo to spend a night there, it will just make things easier in case that something happen like the shinkansen get delayed. If you stay in Tokyo and something happen, you can take the train, monorail, bus or worst case taxi the airport.