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what type of pass? how many days? will this itinerary work

HelenMaya
HelenMaya
over 4 years ago
3 responses

Greetings (travelling with my daughter)
My itinerary so far is as follows:
December 3 Narita Airport terminal 2. to Tokyo (evening)
Dec 4-8 sight seeing in Tokyo
Dec 8 tokyo to Nagano and on to Yamanouchi (yudanaka station) for snow monkeys overnight
dec 9-11 Kanazawa (not sure if we do should take side trip on way)
dec11-13 Takayama
Dec 13 take the Hida ?? wide train down to Kyoto (is this a JRtrain)
DEc 13 19 Kyoto (Including day trip to Nara)
Dec 19-21 Hirosima (with day trip by ferry to Miyajima )
Dec 21-24 Osaka ..ON 22nd Day trip to Mt Koya (unless you think we should go for one night there on 21st)
24 December Osaka to Narita Airport terminal 2 (Plane leaves at 7.20 pm so we have enough time to get there)
Should I get 21 day or 14 day pass?
Im not sure about the mountain journeys from the snow monkeys and back to Kyoto...is this a logical itinerary..should we be stopping over to see interesting things on the way.? will jR pass cover this area?
Thankyou for your time . we will be requiring 2 adult passes....If it is close to worthwhile for the money we are happy to pay for the convenience and of course we will make internal trips in the big cities to shrines etc.
Originally I had booked a night in Naoshima Art island travelling from Kyoto and then on to Hiroshima with only 2 nights in the end in Osaka and skipping Mt Koya but feel that is a lot of travelling especially in winter...so I think this is better...your thoughts
Thank you so much..will await your replyd before I purchase rail tickets and confirm all hotel bookings

avatar
Daniel-san
18835 posts
over 4 years ago
Expert

Hi there,

Lot's in here but great plan! It makes sense in terms of routing. The fastest way from Takayama - Kyoto is to take the Hida Wide view express to Nagoya and from there the Hikari Shinkansen to Kyoto. I think there's one Hide View express that goes all the way to Kyoto daily. The JR Pass covers travel between all the cities you want to visit.

Naoshima is beautiful but maybe not best visited in winter, instead I would see what the bigger cities have to offer, like Kobe and Osaka. Same applies to Koya-san, it will be a great experience but the weather might not allow you to get everything out of it.

Kind regards,
Daniel

HelenMaya
HelenMaya
3 posts
over 4 years ago

HI Daniel
Thanks so much for the prompt reply and encouragement. If I buy the 21 day pass ill need to start It from day 2onwards (and get to Tokyo from the airport with a different ticket )..is that right..is it still worth it.....? otherwise should I get the 14 day pass and if I start it dec 11 in Kanazawa it will last all the way back to Narita Airport on 24th dec.
Despite planning the hotels I still have no idea what trains to actually take to get to yudanaka station (can't find it on map ..is it part of Nagano?), then Kanazawa than Takayama so if you are able to point me in the right direction and give me the names/times of the trains I should use..that would be great.
Kind regards
Helen


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