Hi everyone! My best friend and I are planning for a two-week autumn trip to Japan when travel is possible again, and we’re looking for ideas on cities and places to pair with Tokyo. For context, we are both \~30yo and we have both been to Japan multiple times (Kansai, Kanto, Chubu, Kyushu for me. Kansai, Kanto, Hokkaido for my friend). We both like exploring districts, visiting temples and museums, and are also both casual anime fans. We also generally travel on a mid-range budget.
Tokyo is pretty much set as we want to see Halloween at Disneyland, return to Ghibli museum, and return to Ikebukuro. We’ll probably spend 5-7 days there and take the usual Yokohama side trip and maybe a Fuji-san side trip.
Now we’re looking into possible places to pair with Tokyo area that’s cost-efficient, meaning can be visited with some regional pass that isn’t the nationwide JR Pass. Now I’d love to return to Chubu (my favorite region!) especially if the Ghibli Amusement Park opens by then, but I think it’s a different JR company operating there so a regional pass may not be possible. It seems that there’s a pass that connects Tokyo to Tohoku, but is it worth a full week? Maybe more or less even? What are some highlights for you guys who have been there?
Thanks!!
8 comments
As far as cost-effectiveness go, following passes should go nicely with Tokyo:
* JR East South Hokkaido Pass (Hakodate , Hirosaki or Kakunodate, Geibikei Gorge + Hiraizumi, Sendai + Matsushima Bay and Yamadera)
* JR East Nagano-Niigata area Pass (Nagano area, Matsumoto, Kairuzawa, Echigo area)
* Hokuriku Arch Pass (Kanazawa, Kurobe Gorge, Nagano, Kairuzawa)
They can be combined with JR East Tokyo Wide Pass, which adds some routes usually not covered by other passes (Spacia to Nikko, Kawaguchiko, Izu Peninsula).
JR East -South Hokkaido five or six day flex pass may easily be the most ‘worth it’ during late October / early November:
Day 1: (1st day of validity): travel to Hakodate
Day 2: Hakodate (+ poss. additional day for Onuma Koen)
Day 3: (2nd day of validity): travel to Hirosaki; stay in Morioka
Day 4: (3rd day of validity): day trip to Kakunodate
Day 5: (4th day of validity): day trip to Geibikei Gorge/Hiraizumi; travel onwards to Sendai
Day 6: Sendai
Day 7: Matsushima Bay (local travel)
Day 8: (5th day of validity) Yamadera and travel back to Tokyo
Addditional day of validity may be spent for a day trip to Lake Toya area (from Hakodate), or Karuizawa (for autumn colors).
I personally think it’s OK to pair Tokyo with a full week of “day trips” for the second week.
Meaning week 1: Tokyo.. Honestly if you’ve been to Tokyo you can probably cut Tokyo back a few days and still have time for Disney/Ikebukuro/Ghibli + any other must-see repeat for you.
Week 2: few days in Yokohama, few days in Kamakura/Enoshima, Few days in Hakone and/or Fuji 5 lakes area. (Atami/Nikko are suggestions too)
These day trips are easy to make a loop down from Tokyo along the coast and back up again. If you go in that order the transit between them is minimal so it doesn’t take up a whole day of riding on a train. They’re “nearby” but offer a complete different experience than Tokyo.
It’s a very nice change of pace. Some people only do one or two of these day-trips in their plans but if you do them all and give ample enough time at each they nicely fill a whole week if not more while not feeling too transit-heavy!
To give other options, check the discount tickets offered by train company other than JR too and you have several options for day trips or overnight stay. Odakyu for Hakone, Hakone + Kamakura, Hakone + Kawaguchiko. Tobu for Kawagoe, Nikko, Aizu. Seibu for Chichibu, Nagatoro, Kawagoe.
That being said, Tohoku with on of the JR East regional pass for a week can be interesting, that is sure.
The Ghibli Amusement Park will be in Aichi Expo Commemorative Park in Nagoya. Nagoya is in JR Central and Tokyo in JR East, and there is no pass to move between the two area. JR Central do have some regional tickets, but more centered around Chubu or going toward Kansai, so maybe plan accordingly for when it open, that should not be before 2022.
It might not offer enough freedom, but when I was in japan last September, there was a JR Pass for just Kanto region. 3-days for 10000 yen. With that you can get pretty far out of Tokyo proper. Pretty good deal of you want to take some day trips further out in the Kanto region in quick succession.
https://www.jreast.co.jp/e/tokyowidepass/
You can definitely fill up a week. I don’t know all the deals and combos and I don’t know all the things you’re into, but here are some suggestions: the Daibutsu in Kamakura, the shrine and burial site of Tokugawa Ieyasu in Nikko, the castle in Odawara, Yokohama, the farmhouses of Kawasaki.
Me, I’ve done a lot of that, but the next time I get out there I want to get over to Yokosuka. Strange choice, I know. But I’m a Shenmue fan and the tourism agency or whatever there actually worked with Sega to make a one-sheet about all the locations that correspond to places from the game (more than you’d think). I am a big ol’ nerd lol.
I used to go to Nikko 日光 all the time. 2 hours from Tokyo and it has great shrines, nature, and hot springs. And monkeys
Budget?
I would personally recommend the Tohoku area as it is one of my favourite regions of Japan. There is a JR East pass that is a flexible 5 days over a 14 day period which I find is a really good format.
Autumn season I would rec Yamadera (in Yamagata) for temples, Oirase stream and Lake Towada for walks in natural scenery and autumn foilage. Towards to eastern coast there is also Matsushima in Sendai and the coast area is beautiful too. Not to mention there are many good onsen in this region.