I plan on going to Japan for 2 total months and want to know what the best way to get from city to city is on a budget? I have previously visited Japan and know JR pass is the most convenient but the longest pass is only 21 days and it must be consecutive days which doesn’t make sense for my situation. I plan on starting in Tokyo and going as far south as Fukuoka and then flying to Sapporo and go south from Hokkaido back down to Tokyo. What’s the most budget friendly option for all the stops I want to make along the way?
12 comments
Local trains. Skip the Shinkansen and take the slow route. You’ll see a lot in between typical tourist spots. Ferry between islands.
Fully depends on how you base yourself. If you‘re mainly staying at one place, then get the 7 day JR pass as many times as needed, assuming each use brings in the paid value and more.
If you’re moving every few days then 2x 21day & 1x 14day can possibly be the most economical, simply calculate the routes you’re going to take.
Don’t plan on basing myself in any 1 location but I’ll only be traveling city to city like once a week
Trains and legs
You already said it: Flying.
Both ANA and JAL have discounted domestic flights for people in the country on either a tourist visa or a visa waiver temporary stay permit.
If you don’t mind taking highway bus, this pass may be a good option https://willerexpress.com/st/3/en/pc/buspass/
Trains and walking
That flight from Fukuoka to Sapporo makes sense but for everything else, the trains will be everything that you need. They’re incredible. Fast, super frequent, and cover pretty much everywhere you’ll want to go. Don’t worry about a JR pass, they’re really only worth it if you cover a huge amount of ground in a very limited time. Pay as you go I reckon.
Local train would be the cheapest. Catch Local express trains if possible.
Not sure it suits your style, but many years back I visited for 10 weeks, and got great use from 2x one week JR passes. Landed in Tokyo, waited a week to activate the first pass, then did a whistle stop Shinkansen tour of cities down to Kagoshima. Settled in Osaka for about a month to explore Kansai, then activated the second pass to revisit some of the places I briefly saw with the first pass (and finally saw Sakurajima erupting!). Made sure the final use of that pass put me near Tokyo, and explored around there for the last few weeks.
There are probably still cheaper ways to do it, but it’s one way to maximise the benefits of the JR pass during such a length of time.
Overnight ferries
Bus is usually cheaper than train. Otherwise, local train.
You can check if the Seishun 18 Kippu is available, you get unlimited local train for 5 days (non consecutive) for 12050 yen, but only available in certain periods of the year. That about as cheap as you can get. At the same time you might want to do the longest distance possible to cut on the cost by using that pass, but that can mean spending a lot of time in the train to do those long distance (also it can be several trains an not a single one going to the final destination).
But there is limits to what you can do with that, for example going out of Hokkaido, you would have to take the shinkansen, a ferry of fly.
That also only count the longer distances between each cities into account. If you want to do day trips around when you stay for a week in a city, then depending on the distance, you might want to check on some regional pass or special tickets for some of the days.