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Tokyo - Hakone/Fuji - Kyoto - Takayama - Tokyo, 16 days

Bemo
Bemo
over 11 years ago
2 responses

Hi

Family of 4 (5 and 7 year olds) going to Japan in October for 16 days, can't wait! I'm thinking of 14 day JR Pass as opposed to 21 but would appreciate your help (and thoughts on itinerary in general!):

Day 1 - Narita to Tokyo
Day 3 - Tokyo to Hakone/Fuji
Day 4 - Hakone to Tokyo To Kyoto
Day 11 - Kyoto to Takayama
Day 14 - Takayama to Tokyo
Day 16 - Tokyo to Narita

From Kyoto we will visit Hiroshima as well as likely another destination.
We will pay the fare from Narita to the hotel in Tokyo because I want a simple journey with no changes! We would also buy Suica cards to get us around Tokyo and activate our pass for when we travel to Hakone. This will allow us touse our pass for the return journey on the final day to Narita.
We will buy a pass for our younger boy as it's worth it to us for him to have a seat.

Is our plan sound?! Also, is the Mt Fuji Welcome Card still avialable, do you know?

Thanks for your help

avatar
mari
1950 posts
over 11 years ago
Expert

Hi there,

Cost analysis

To get a handle on whether a 14 day pass (¥45,100) will be economical for you lets get a handle on your base JR costs:

  1. Tokyo > Odawara: ¥3840, (35mins, 83km)
  2. Odawara > Kyoto: ¥11950, (160mins, 429km)
  3. Kyoto > Takayama: ¥9980, (193mins, 314km)
  4. Takayama > Tokyo: ¥14600, (273mins, 532km)
  5. Tokyo > Narita airport terminal 1: ¥3140, (58mins, 79km)

TOTAL: ¥43510 for 5 legs

As you can see, the total cost of JR travel you have listed is ¥1590 cheaper as tickets than as a 14 day rail pass. I suspect that you will be able to make up this ¥1500 through a variety of travel as you're in Japan, so I still recommend you choose the 14 day over separate tickets to retain travel flexibility (eg, day trips to Hiroshima or Nikko). This will depend on how final your plans are however.

Further thoughts

Looks like you have the right idea using the NEX/Suica or taxi from Narita and then looking at a 14 day pass - I think that would make the most sense.

Your 5 year old will still be able to use seats but will have to give up his seat if another passenger has reserved it ( the trick here is to always sit in non-reserved seating if you can, then your boy (and you) can travel in peace :) ). I think that provided you don't mind using non-reserved (identical to reserved actually, and often quieter paradoxically), then you should not purchase a rail pass for your youngest and put the savings towards something else.

Unfortunately, it does appear that the Mt Fuji welcome card has gone out of service.

Hope this helps!

Bemo
Bemo
2 posts
over 11 years ago

Thank you very much Mari!

So we can go direct from Odawara to Kyoto without going back to Tokyo, on Shinkansen?. I did not realise this!

Also, we will go to Hiroshima for sure plus another trip from Kyoto. So I think we will save some good money.

Thank you again

avatar
mari
1950 posts
over 11 years ago
Expert

Hi Bemo,

Yes, Odawara is on the Tokaido shinkansen line, so by getting there you're already part way to Kyoto. Great to hear about your Hiroshima trip, in that case I can happily recommend the 14 day pass for your trip.

Hope you have a great time!


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