april trip

Hi there,

You can certainly do this in 14-15 days if you plan it well beforehand. It is a great trip to make and the JR Pass covers nearly all your travels.

The only place where you will need additional transport is for the last part from Koya-san. This is ¥ 440 (between Hashimoto and Gokurakubashi stations. Travel to all the other places is covered by the JR Pass.

Hope this helps,
Daniel

Thank you Daniel-san for your reply. We are very excited about this trip. Do you live in Japan? We are planning on staying in a variety of places, ie: hostels, ryokan and some private homes. We have also arranged for guides in Tokyo and Kyoto. My question is,, we would like to give each of the individuals a small token gift as a thank you - what would you suggest? Also, when i get the rail pass, will i be able to talk with you or someone and give them my itinerary and have them tell us what stations we need to be at and times the trains we need run?

I appreciate any and all help.

chris

Hi Chris,

While I do not permanently live in Japan, I am there now. I've found that the best gifts are generally something small from your own country, think of sweets, candy, cookies or something small and cute. These go over very well and don't have to cost a lot.

You can always post here in the forum and I can help you find the best route, tough generally the JR staff on the stations are really really really helpful.

Hope this helps too!
Daniel

Hi Daniel,

The following is our itinerary with addresses of where we are staying. Soooo, a couple of questions. How do i find the nearest station to where i will be staying? How do i know what station to go to when i am ready to go to the next destination? How do i know how long it will take to get from one destination to another? Is there anyway someone at JRpass can give us a list of how to go from place to place? How soon should i buy the JRpass? Are these addresses good enough to find the places or should i ask for more detail? Some hosts said they would pick us up if we come to a station near them but I have no idea what that would be? Any help you can give would be wonderful. I appreciate your input and the time you take to answer by questions.

Itinerary::
4/2/16 Arrive at Narita Ariport. Staying at Radisson Hotel Narita (thru trip advisor), 650-35 Nanae, Tomisato-Shi, Narita

4/3/16 Travel to Tokyo. Staying at Smile Hotel Sugamo ( thru booking.com), 170-0002, Toshima Ward, Toshima-ku, Sugamo 2-4-7

4/6/16 Travel to Nagano. Staying at Koishiya Ryokan (thru Airbnb), B&B, 2277, Hirao, Yamanouchi, Nagano Prefecture 381-0401

4/7/16 Travel to Takayama. Staying at private home (thru Airbnb), mura kawayo 4673-11 pension clara minami aso-gun, kumamoto prefecture 869-1404.

4/8/16 Travel to Kanazawa. Staying at Shaq Big House Hostel (thru hostelworld), 7-30 Takaoka cho, Kanazawa si ishikawa pref

4/9/16 Travel to Kyoto. Staying at Kyoto House 2 B&B (Thru Airbnb), 18-1 Takano Tadehara-cho sakyo-ku, Kyoto prefecture 606-8101

4/11/16 Travel to Nara. Staying at Guesthouse Tamura Hostel (thru hostel.com), 1 fushingazushi, nara

4/12/16 Travel to Koya-San. Staying at Koyasan Saizenin temple (thru booking.com), 648-0211, koyacho, Koyasan 154

4/13/16 Travel to Nagoya. Staying at private home (thru Airbnb), Mizuho-ku, takata-cho 2 chome-10-2 erehwon mizuho 304, Nagoya, aichi prefecture 467-0808. 2-10-2 takada mizuho nagoya

4/14/16 Travel to Tokyo. Staying at Smile Hotel Sugamo (thru booking.com), 170-0002, Toshima Ward, toshima-ku, sugamo 2-4-7