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First Trip to Japan

Josht101
Josht101
3 months ago
1 answer

Hello,

First tip to Japan this year, planning to go from end of September through October for just over 3 weeks. Itinerary at the moment is roughly as follows:

Tokyo 5 nights (day trip to FujiKawaguchiko)
Matsumoto 2 nights
Takayama 2 nights
Kanazawa 2 nights
Kyoto 4 nights (day trip to Nara)
Hiroshima 3 nights (visiting Himeji on the way, and day trip to Miyajima)
Osaka 2 nights
Hakone 2 nights
Back to Tokyo

I may need to reduce by one day, thinking either Matsumoto or Hakone are likely to go down to one night- any advice on which would be better to spend more time in and around appreciated.

Difficulty is also working out trains and buses between the destinations. Whether a JR pass is now worth the extra cost, or all of the individual type of rail passes and then what they actually cover! Think I will need to get a few buses as well. Is it a risk turning up on the day for transport in Japan? Or should I look to prebook where possible?

An hints or trips on travel and this itinerary would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Alexis
Alexis
808 posts
3 months ago
Expert

Hi there,

Apologies for the late reply. Choosing to reduce time in Matsumoto or Hakone is ultimately your choice, but Matsumoto is a significantly more urbanised area than Hakone so it depends if you'd want to spend less time in a more or less urbanised area.

I would suggest trying to prebook a few days in advance, but because you're not going during an extremely busy time you won't find much difficulty booking trains on the day - especially for buses considering how frequently they depart.

I think that even if you decide to not purchase a JR Pass for your trip, I'd suggest looking into a Hakone FreePass (not offered on our site - it is offered by a non-JR company), as it will cover transport to and from Odawara near Tokyo and covers bus/train travel across Hakone, as the JR Pass does not currently fully cover travel to and from Hakone.

Hope this helps!

Alexis


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