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Kyoto to Tokyo on Dec 31

ElsaAcosta
ElsaAcosta
over 9 years ago
23 responses

Hello,
I can’t find a hotel on December 31st, so we might just travel during that night from Kyoto to Tokyo in a regular train (first class –not necessarily bullet train). Will the trains operate on the night of Dec31st and early am of Jan 1st?
The train tickets that I found for dec 31 are very expensive. Would it be better then to have the 7-day pass considering that I'm traveling from Hiroshima to Osaka and Tokyo (Dec 29 to 31)?

Thank you!
Elsa

avatar
Daniel-san
18830 posts
over 9 years ago
Expert

Hello Elsa,

Trains in Japan stop operating around midnight and resume service the follow morning around 6 a.m., this s not different around new year. So taking the train overnight won't be possible.

I did look around for you for Hotels and found a could over at bookings.com, it's not ideal but I would recommend looking at such an option.

The 7 day JR Pass is a little below the price of a one way ticket Hiroshima - Osaka and Osaka - Tokyo, so for now I would advise normal ticket, however a 7 day JR Pass would quickly become worth it if you covered a little extra travel with it.

Hope this helps,
Daniel

ElsaAcosta
ElsaAcosta
23 posts
over 9 years ago

Daniel,

Thank you. Your information is very helpful! Sorry, but I have more questions regarding my Dec 31st night stay. Please help…

  1. I found a hotel in booking.com in Omihachiman (30 miles from Kyoto). I searched different sites, and the only available rooms in Kyoto are smoking or just singles (we are a party of four). Or would Nagoya be better for sightseeing or if we decide to go back to Kyoto?

  2. I’m looking for a hotel in Nagoya close to a train station. What’s the train station in Nagoya to disembark from the Kyoto-Nagoya trip?

  3. Would the ordinary train from Kyoto to Tokyo (7 hrs) FIRST class be covered by the 7-day JR Pass?
    This is in case we decide NOT to stay close to Kyoto, and sleep in the train for about 7 hours from 11 pm to 6am when we get to Tokyo.

Thank you, very much!
Elsa

avatar
Daniel-san
18830 posts
over 9 years ago
Expert

Hi Elksa,

Nagoya is about 30min from Kyoto by Shinkansen and would not add too much inconvenience. So you could certainly stay in Nagoya and make day trips to Kyoto from there. Nagoya itself is a very business minded city and there is not much sightseeing to be done.

2.)The main station for Nagoya is Nagoya station. We also have a Blog Post about Nagoya station.

3.) Yes Ordinary trains can be used by the JR Pass, however local trains don't have 1st class seats and involve many transfers to get to Tokyo. Just to be sure, which ordinary train/line are you referring to?

Hope this helps,
Daniel


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