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Itinerary Draft..making the best use of a 7 day JR pass?

jimmysilvs
jimmysilvs
about 11 years ago
2 responses

8/22 Arrive Tokyo, pay for Narita Express to get to downtown (any other alternatives?)
8/22-8/27 local tokyo sightseeing. Activate 7 day JR pass on 8/26
8/27-8/30 Tokyo-Kyoto-Hiroshima-Tokyo using JR Pass..visit Miyajima using pass as well. Buy 2 day Kyoto Sightseeing pass for subway and bus in Kyoto
8/30-9/1 Tokyo (using JR pass to get around)
9/1 Use JR pass to go to Narita and fly back to USA.

2 questions: am I making the best use of the JR pass? I checked the schedules for the Shinkansen and there are early departures (not the highest speed trains) that work out well.

2: What do you recommend for getting around in Tokyo for the first 4 days before I activate the JR pass? I don't know what attractions we will be visiting or where we will be staying, but we will probably be using public transit a lot.

Any comments/suggestions would be apprecitated, thanks!

jimmysilvs
jimmysilvs
2 posts
about 11 years ago

Just found the N'EX & Suica pass online. How much would you budget for traveling around Tokyo for the first 4 days (before activating the JR pass)? We will probably be staying near Akihabara Station and going to many different attractions around Tokyo (haven't decided on which ones yet).

avatar
mari
1950 posts
about 11 years ago
Expert

If you're staying near Akihabara, then I may recommend the Keisei Skyliner + 2day unlimited metro pass deal from Narita coupled with an additional 2 day Tokyo Metro card deal. That should come to ¥3,960, which is a bit more than the SUICA+NEX but will mean you don't have to worry about overspend in Tokyo as long (as you stick to the Metro), and the Keisei Skyliner also stops at Ueno which is super close to Akihabara.

As an alternative, you could get the SUICA+NEX and Pay as you go. Assuming each public transit trip within Tokyo is around ¥150-180, you can fit 8-10 trips into the ¥1500 prepaid SUICA card that you get included with the SUICA+NEX deal before you need to recharge it. This will mean you're limited to around 2-3 trips on public transit per day if you don't want to top up the SUICA card. If you're anything like me I think that number will be closer to 4-6 public transit hops per day so you may well be better off with the unlimited Metro Pass.

About your JR Pass travel, yes. You're making the best use of the JR Pass by using it for your long distance trips. Looks like a great trip btw!

Hope this helps!

nojay
nojay
7 posts
about 11 years ago

The super-cheap method to get into Tokyo from Narita is to use the regular Keisei train which only costs 1000 yen and delivers you to Ueno which as Mari says is not far from Akihabara (about a kilometre to the north). It's not as fast or as comfortable as the Skyliner or N'EX but it's cheap.

There aren't a lot of hotels around Akihabara station particularly; I normally stay in the area around Ueno station myself, especially along Askausa-dori running to the east of Ueno station towards the river.


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