I’ll be visiting Japan in a few months and am going to be going from Tokyo-Kawaguchiko-Kyoto-Tokyo. What was a little alarming was that it’s roughly 5 hours from Kawaguchiko-Kyoto….
I honestly hate long commutes and especially when it requires a lot of public transport. I don’t mind taking the Shinkansen and that was my plan originally, but I’m wondering if it would make sense to rent a car in Tokyo and drive to Kawaguchiko and then drive from Kawaguchiko to Mishima station and drop the car off there. That would make it a 1.5-2hr drive to mt Fuji, then a 1 hr drive to Mishima station with a 2 hr Shinkansen from Mishima to Kyoto… it cuts the travel down by about 2 hours from Kawaguchiko to Kyoto and seems like it would be simpler….
The con is obviously the cost, as roughly the rentals seem to be about $170 For the 1 day. We’re 2 people, so I don’t really mind the cost, but is there anything I’m missing? Any reason why this might be a bad idea?
Alternatively, I could take a taxi from Kawaguchiko to Mishima station, but seems like that’s almost the same cost as the rental, but the bonus of the rental would be to make a slightly shorter trip from Tokyo to Kawaguchiko. + it would be cool to experience driving in Japan.
Thanks in advance for any feedback.
6 comments
Yes, the con is the cost since you are getting hit with drop off fees on top of the rental cost, because you are renting in Tokyo and returning in Mishima (Shizuoka-ken.) I would perhaps see how long it would take you to get to Gotemba Station from Tokyo. and see if the rental car rate goes down by renting in Gotemba and returning in Mishima, since both are in the Shizuoka-ken.
Just make sure you know the times for the shinkansen (preferably Hikaris) stopping at Mishima since they won’t all stop there.
Are you overnighting in Kawaguchiko? If you are, some hotels or resorts may have a shuttle bus that can take people to Mishima Station. Our ryokan was able to do that, and it saved the hassle of bussing it.
Also, I think there’s trains and highway busses that can take you from Shinjuku to Kawaguchiko for a reasonable price. We plan on doing the highway bus for our next trip to Kawaguchiko.
If you actually enjoy driving, do it. Highly recommend it. The tolls are obscene (I did a day trip from Tokyo to fuji and back and the toll was 4200 yen), but the experience of driving in Japan was still worth it (coming from driving in north america).
the view from the train to Kawaguchiko is something else
maybe you might want to consider using both, Tokyo – Kawaguchiko using train and Kawaguchiko – Kyoto using car
Renting a car and driving in Japan is a terrible idea unless you intend to go way out in the boonies where there are no trains especially north of Tokyo, or they’re so rural that they only go by once every hour or two. The freeway tolls are designed to be more expensive than train fares; long distance train fares are literally structured to be less expensive per person then driving a car; that is the deliberate intent unless you’re carrying four or more people. The freeways are also enforced much more stringently than most other countries around the world, so casually go over the speed limit out on the highway and you’ll probably pay for it too.
Suck it up and use a train, or Highway bus overnight that will save you Hotel costs and drop you off in the middle of the city first thing in the morning.
You should check whether your travel period coincides with any major holidays. Traffic jams can be bad.