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20 days through Japan

mgsara
mgsara
almost 10 years ago
4 responses

Hi!
My boyfriend and I will travel to Japan at the end of August for 20 days! We'd like to receive some advices about our journey. We are going to travel with the JPR.

These are our destinations:
1) Tokyo, although the 1st one where we'll land, we are going to visit it at the end. So we gonna go straight to Nikko as soon as we arrive at Narita airport in the afternoon ( would that be an easy journey?). We gonna spend the night and the day after, until afternoon. Then we will travel to...

2)...Shirakawa go. I am doubting that the journey will be too long from Nikko? Maybe we should stop at Takayama?

3)Kamikochi.

4)Matzumoto.

5)Kyoto for 3 days.

6)Nara for 1 day.

7)Koyasan for 1 day.

8)Osaka for 1 day.

9)Okkaido for 6 days.

10)Tokyo for 5 days.

Does it sounds too complicated in terms of travelling from one destination to another by JPR?
One more doubt, would make more sense to swap either Kamikochi or Matzuomoto with IWAMI GINZAN SILVER MINE – SHIMANE?

Thanks a lot!

avatar
Daniel-san
18835 posts
almost 10 years ago
Expert

Hi there,

That looks like an interesting itinerary with a lot of interesting places mixed in. What I am a bit worried about is that most places are all over the place, so plan carefully before starting your visit to Japan.

Visiting Nikko, you can head to Nikko right away upon arrival, however keep it mind that it still takes about 3 hours of train travel to get there. After Nikko is would change the order of your itinerary to minimize train travel. Consider using the following route Nikko - Matsumoto - Kamikochi - Takayama - Kyoto - Nara - Koya - Osaka - Hokkaido? - Tokyo. This would give you a much better route in terms of travel time. Visiting Shirakawago right away from Nikko is nearly impossible given the travel time.

For the rest it does look like a great plan, just be sure to plan beforehand.

Hope this helps!
Daniel

mgsara
mgsara
4 posts
almost 10 years ago

Thanks a lot Daniel!
It helps a lot!
Last thing, I have booked the first 2 hotels, at Nikko and Matsumoto (one night each hotel). Next stop would be Kamikocochi. Would be better to go for a day trip from Matsumoto or Takayama, or to spend the night there and then enjoy the day after?

Many thanks
Sara

avatar
Daniel-san
18835 posts
almost 10 years ago
Expert

Hi Sara,

Yes it would be better to either stay in Matsumoto or Takayama, adding Shirakawago would be a bit too much I feel.

For travel to Kamikochi, a day trip from Matsumoto is best, as it is nearby and you get most of the day to explore Kamikochi this way.

mgsara
mgsara
4 posts
almost 10 years ago

Hi Daniel,

I have almost booked everything for mt 20 days trip, I just need to plan my 6 days in Hokkaido where we gonna fly to by Jetstar airlines...
Before booking any hotels, I would like to know whether it woul be easy or not to move around in Hokkaido.
Our trip would most likely look like that:

-Arrival at New Chitose Airport -Heading off to Toya ( Toyako onsen, shikozuko, morappu) -Biei and/or Furano -Daisetsunam national park

Any suggestion?

Thanks a lot
Sara

avatar
Daniel-san
18835 posts
almost 10 years ago
Expert

Hi Sara,

Travelling around in Hokkaido using the JR is very easy. Trains are fast and convenient. All the places that you wish to visit are well within reach of Sapporo and I don't see any problems :)

Does that answer your question?
Daniel

mgsara
mgsara
4 posts
over 9 years ago

Hi Daniel,

thank you for your reply. Yes, this answer our question, it will be just probably a bit hard to reach the Daisetsunam by jrp?
We were also worried that we won't be able to move around Tokyo solely by JRP. Could you please tell us if may be possible to travel around tokyo with the japan rail pass?

Thank you so much.
Sara

avatar
Daniel-san
18835 posts
over 9 years ago
Expert

Hi Sara,

The JR Pass covers lots of Tokyo.

Here is a map with all lines covered
www.jreast.co.jp/e/info/map_a4ol.pdf


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