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[HELP CHECK] OSAKA-KYOTO-NARA-TOKYO

zzzzzz2003
zzzzzz2003
almost 9 years ago
2 responses

Hello. Good evening, we're planning for a Japan trip on July. We've made an itinerary for our trip (by using some reference on the internet). Can you guys check for me if some changes need to be done in order to ease the transportation. Here's the draft itinerary:

*We also plan to buy the 7-Day JR pass and use it from Day 03 to Day 09. **In Osaka, is it better for us to buy Yokoso! Japan Pass or ICOCA&HARUKA or the OSAKA AMAZING PASS? since we won't be activating the JR Pass on Day 01, a bit confuse which pass is better to take train from Airport to station in Osaka city area.

Day 01
We'll be arriving in Osaka at 4:30pm and then we plan to take a walk around Minami area at night.

Day 02
Visit Momofuku Ando Instant Ramen Museum, Osaka Castle & Nishimura Garden, continue to Tenjibashi-suji Shopping Street then go to Museum of House & Living to experience what Osaka looks like in the past.

Day 03
Visit Osaka Aquarium, Tempozan area, then to Universal Studio Japan - just to take a look around since we won't go inside the theme park. After that we are going to take the shinkansen to Kyoto at about 4pm or 5pm, will the train be crowded during that time? And at night after check-in hotel, we'll take a walk around Gion area.

Day 04
Start with Arashimaya, Kinkaku-ji Temple, Fushimi Inari Taisha Shrine & Tofuku-ji. Then visit Nishiki Market.

Day 05
In the morning, visit Kiyomizudera and temple around the area (any recommendation which temple is a must visit near the area?).

**Can we fit in Nara for side trip, maybe in Day 04 or Day 05? If cannot, probably, we'll go there on Day 06 and then after finished there, we'll continue to Tokyo.

For the rest of the days probably will be spent in Tokyo, any recommendation which place to go, would like to visit Mt. Fuji but is it a good time to see on July?

Thank you very much!!
Hope to hear from you guys soon. ^^

Warm regards,
Will

Toraneko
Toraneko
1303 posts
almost 9 years ago

Hi,
The Yokoso Japan Pass is from JAL and used for cheap flights - if you were to go a long way to Okinawa or Hokkaido, it makes great sense and can save a lot of money (but low cost carriers are still often cheaper). The ICOCA, HARUKA, and others are just prepaid cards - no savings in them but convenient since you don't need to carry coins. The Amazing Pass can be used to go all over Osaka though. For Osaka be sure to see at night Dotonbori, plus the night views from the Umeda Sky Bldg, and Abeno Harukas Bldg are wonderful. I recommend seeing Nara on Day 6 - your other days are quite packed. Also the Fushimi Inari Taisha Shrine should be with eastern Kyoto (Day 5) due to location. For a good Arashiyama itinerary, see here, for eastern Kyoto, see here. In Arashiyama, also don't miss the Otagi Nenbutsuji - it is amazing and unique.
For Mt. Fuji, try going to Hakone.

For Tokyo, see:

http://www.gotokyo.org/en/index.html

http://www.jnto.go.jp/eng/location/regional/tokyo/index.html

http://www.ar.jal.com/world/en/guidetojapan/city_information/tyo/see/akasaka/

http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2164.html

You didn't mention your return - if you leave Japan from Tokyo, a 7 day Pass would not pay off.

zzzzzz2003
zzzzzz2003
2 posts
almost 9 years ago

Good evening,

Dear Kuroneko,

For the return, we'll be taking flight from Narita.
Forgot to mention it before as we're still planning for the Tokyo part.

And thanks for your recommendation, we'll be checking it out and revise our itinerary as it fit.

Regarding the JR Pass, could you recommend me which other pass to use for our town-to-town & airport trip, can we use ICOCA if we have already top up the balance with enough amount for the trip or is it easier just to buy the ticket directly?
1. Kansai Airport to Osaka City Area
2. Osaka to Kyoto
3. Kyoto to Tokyo
4. Tokyo to Narita Airport

Thank you.
Hope to hear from you soon.

Warm regards,
Will

Toraneko
Toraneko
1303 posts
almost 9 years ago

Hi,
You can certainly use the prepaid cards for travel within the cities. There is no savings in it though - it just is more convenient than carrying around a bunch of coins. If you want to take the train to Tokyo though, you'd need to buy regular tickets since a JR Pass wouldn't be worth the cost.

Good luck!


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