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japan for 3 weeks itinerary help please!

dobedo
dobedo
over 10 years ago
3 responses

Hello i have flights booked to Japan, Narita airport for mid may till early june i have 22 full days to spend in japan and am very excited, i have come up with a vey rough itinery and would like some input and advice please. will be purchasing the 14 day JR pass as well,

first few nights in Tokyo - would like to see the main districts, fish market, etc then do side trips to kamakura, and some more (will go in to detail at the end as this is the part im not sure about!)

Then head onto Takyama and spend 2 nights there and possibly a side trip to kamicochi?)

From Takyama onto Kanazawa for 3 nights

Then train onto Kyoto for 2 or 3 nights with side trip to Nara would also love to see the monkey park and bamboo groves,

From Kyoto to Mount Koya stay overnight

From Mount Koya get to Osaka and stay overnight there

Then from osaka take a train to hiroshima and then go onto Miyajima stay there for 2 nights

Then take the train back to tokyo.

Regarding the side trips from tokyo I would love to stay in Nikko as well as Hakkone, was thinking on my last day in tokyo i could head to hakkone and stay there a night then head on straight to Takyama? or would it be better to spend the first 4 days in Tokyo spending time looking at the districts there and a day trip to Kamakura then activate the JR Pass and continue with the rest of the itinery then spend the last 4 days of my trip when im back in Tokyo spending 2 nights each in Hakkone and Nikko?

how long should i stay in Takyama and Kanazawa and Mijayama? should i stay longer/shorter times and where?

Also please just leave ay feedback regarding this itinery as it is my first time in Japan and so not really sure if this is ok? should i stay longer/less in certain places?

Anyway please help lol

avatar
Daniel-san
18835 posts
over 10 years ago
Expert

Hi there!

So far it's a great plan! Takayama, Kanazawa and Miyajima are absolutely a must to visit. I would stay 2 nights in Takayama, 2 in Kanazawa and at Miyajima island, or visit Miyajima as a day trip from Hiroshima city. You can also make a day trip to Kamikochi from Takayama. Kami means god in Japanese and the area is godly beautiful but does take a considerable amount of time and money to visit from Takayama, keep this in mind when planning ahead.

Once you return to Tokyo try to cover the day trips you wish to make to other cities with the JR Pass, especially Nikko can be a little pricey without the JR Pass. Hakone is a different story, you can buy a Hakone Free Pass which you can use to supplement your JR Pass and use for travel from Shinjuku, Tokyo to Hakone and also for local travel in the Hakone Area.

As for JR Pass usage, the JR Pass is best used for longer distance travel. It also covers local travel in Tokyo but this is not very expansive in any event, so it is best to use the JR Pass outside of Japan.

I hope this helps, let me know if you have any more questions :)
Daniel

dobedo
dobedo
3 posts
over 10 years ago

Hello many thanks for youre reply i have changed my itinery quite alot now if you could take a look at it and advise whether i should get the 7 day pass or the14th? as will be spending more time in places where i cannot use the JR pass as easily, i would like to spend in total 8 nights in tokyo but am flexible on when i should do this i am thinking 4 nights at the beginning and 4 at the end of my trip could you please let me know which is more cost effective regarding the JR pass and my revised itinary?

TOKYO 4 nights 12th- 16th
FROM TOKYO TO MATSUMOTO IN MATSUMOTO 16th - 17th-

FROM MATSUMOTO - KAMICOCHI 17th - 18th

KAMIKOCHI - HIRAYU 18th- 19th

HIRAYU TO TAKYAMA 19th to 20th

TAKYAMA - SHIRAKAWAGO

SHIRAKAWAO - KANAZAWA

KANAZAWA - KYOTO 23rd - 28th

KYOTO 5 nights SIDE TRIP TO NARA

KYOTO- MOUNT KOYA 1 night

MOUNT KOYA- HIROSHIMA

HIROSHIMA- MIYAJIMA 1 night

BACK TO TOKYO 4 NIGHTS

dobedo
dobedo
3 posts
over 10 years ago

so yes just to clarify if you could please let me know how i can best use a JR pass on this itinery as i will be spending alot of time in kyoto and have just found out that the cost would be around £38 from kanazawa so it may be a bit of a waste to buy it before then as i would have used up 5 days of the pass! i cannot use it for the places before i arrive there also but i will need it for the rest of my journey , anyway please help! thank you so much

avatar
Daniel-san
18835 posts
over 10 years ago
Expert

Hi Again,

That is quite a change! Looking at the times between travel, most of the time you spend a good amount of time in each area, which in turn makes it hard to utilize the JR Pass. For most of your travel I would recommend buying separate tickets for most of your planned travel.

A 7 Day JR Pass may come in handy when you visit Hiroshima, the price for a normal one way ticket Osaka - Hiroshima is ¥ 9,950 and Hiroshima ¥ 18,350, this comes down to ¥ 28,300 which is exactly the price of a 7 day JR Pass. You can use the pass for travel to Miyajima for instance or locally in Tokyo, so I think that it would pay off.

For the rest it all looks like a very nice trip!
-Daniel


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