2 of us will be traveling to Japan in May and have the below itinerary. I am having a difficult time determining the most cost effective travel pass option – Buying a card/ ticket to Kyoto, then activating a 7-day nation-wide pass half-way through our stay in Kyoto OR loading a Card and buying a 14-day nation-wide pass?
Any critiques on our itinerary would also be appreciated. We tried to leave time for exploring/recovery each day. Only the main activities are called out. Cycling is a bike rental at a local shop and beach volleyball will likely be in the Ota City, Odaiba Beach, or Higashi-Ogishima Higashi Park area. Thanks!
Day 1 – **Tokyo** (Narita>Hotel in Shinjuku)
* Arrive at 4pm
* Pickup Pocket Wifi from Japan Wireless
* Pickup pass(es)?
Day 2
* Beach Volleyball
* Toyosu Market (open to other seafood market suggestions)
Day 3
* Cycling or Beach Volleyball
* Ghibli’s Grand Warehouse @ noon (have tickets, will likely cancel)
Day 4
* Disney Sea
Day 5
* Cycling or Beach Volleyball
* TeamLab Tokyo
Day 6 – **Kyoto**
* Train to Kyoto
Day 7
* Aoi Matsuri (Kamo Festival) (Morning)
* AIR BnB Excursion (1.5 hours)
Day 8
* Day trip to Himeji Castle
Day 9
* Arashiyama Bamboo Forest
* Arashiyama Monkey Park Iwatayama
* Nara Deer Park
Day 10 – **Osaka**
* Universal Studios – Super Nintendo/World of Wizarding
* Nightlife
Day 11 – **Matsumoto (Nagano)**
* Train to Matsumoto Station
* Pickup Rental Car – Matsumoto City
Day 12
* Chubusangaku National Park
* Onsen
Day 13
* Chubusangaku National Park or Myoko-Togakushi Renzan National Park
* Onsen
Day 14 – **Tokyo** (Toshima City)
* Drop Off Rental Car in Morning – Matsumoto City
* Train to Tokyo
* Cycling or Beach Volleyball
Day 15
* Sumo Match
Day 16
* Train from Toshima City to Narita
1 comment
Most cost effective will probably be 7 day pass activating right before you go to kyoto since that’s going to be the single most expensive trip, and since you’re doing a lot of day trips in the area.
Very roughly, Tokyo to kyoto is around 15000, kyoto to himeji round trip is around 10000 if you take the shinkansen, usj and nara are pretty insignificant probably like 2000 each. And then back to matsumoto is roughly 10000. JR pass is around 30000, so you benefit already.
You don’t really need the nationwide pass in tokyo, or day12-14 where you’re presumably driving