New year trip to Japan

Hi there,

I'm a bit biased but would say that Japan is the best choice for your honeymoon!

As for rail tickets, I would stick with buying normal tickets when you visit Tokyo and Hakone, they are both rather close and travel won't set you back a lot of money.

Hope this helps,.
Daniel

Hello,

Are you giving your full itinerary? If only Tokyo and Hakone, then a JR Pass pass is of little help to you. For Hakone, you should consider getting a Hakone Free Pass. The Loop Course is a good way to see the area.

I'd say in Tokyo 3-4 days are enough unless you have some specific plans. You could take a day or 2 and see some good day trips like Nikko, Karuizawa, Kusatsu, the Hitachi Seaside Park, Takao, and so on. A Tokyo Wide Pass can save you a lot of money.

Since it's your honeymoon, I suggest you try out some love hotels - there is no shortage of them. Just make sure you bring in any food and drinks for the night to save a lot of money. One famous area in Tokyo is Love Hotel Hill in Dogenzaka, near the JR Shibuya Station. There are also several more luxurious places with lower prices listed here.

Good luck.

Thanks so much!

This actually lost some of my message. We will have the below itinerary, do you think a pass will still be worth it?

Tokyo for 4-5 nights
Hakone 1 night
Kyoto 2 nights
Hiroshima 1 night
Osaka 1 night

I was planning on activating after Tokyo to get to Hakone but as we are staying near Shinjuku the romance car seems easier. This means we would only use the pass from Hakone to Kyoto onwards.

Thanks in advance for all help and advice 😁

Hi,
In that event, a 7 day pass from Hakone would pay off. You don't write if you're returning to Tokyo or not. If not, you can make the trip on the Haruka train to KIX as your last day, then you'd still be able to make the pass valid for a day or two in Tokyo, so you can use it for some of the day trips I already listed above. You can activate your pass at either Odawara Stn or Mishima Stn - the latter puts you about 15 minutes closer to Kyoto.

Since you are already seeing Tokyo, you can largely skip Osaka during the day. After the temples of Kyoto close down around 5PM, you can zip over to Osaka for the evening. At night the city comes alive and has some great places to see, such as Dotonbori, plus the night views from the Umeda Sky Bldg, and Abeno Harukas Bldg are wonderful.
Instead, I highly recommend you make at least half a day open to see Nara either. In Nara, the Todaiji Great Buddha is an extraordinary place, as well as many other historic temples, shrines and gardens in the area.

On another evening, you can also go see Kobe.

You can also use the pass in Hiroshima on the loop bus.

Good luck.

Perfect thank you. I'll look into this further and get the pass closer to the time.

We fly out of Osaka but good to know we don't need much time there.
Thanks again!