Station and Train Line Advice

Hello there,

Most station names are the same as the places you plan to visit. In Hokkaido the main stations are Sapporo and Hakodate. Though there are plenty of others.

Also worth noting is that the bullet train station for Hakone is Odawara. You can use this as reference point for travel to other cities.

As for Naoshima, use the station name Uno. This is also the harbor from where the ferry departs.

Planning your route can be done using www.hyperdia.com, it takes a bit of time to figure it out. So we have a handy guide to get your started. The JR Pass will cover travel between all the places you mention. Do note that travel to Hokkaido takes a good amount of time, almost a full day if done in one go. At the same time this is a great excuse to make a stop or two on the way. Have a look at this itinerary for some ideas.

Hope this helps,
Daniel

Thank you, that's helpful. We decided to fly to and from Sapporo to save time so now I have a question regarding if we should buy a 14 day pass vs 21 pass.

We plan to begin our trip with 5 nights in Tokyo so how useful/economical is the JRP for getting around tokyo as well as for making day trips to Kamakura, Hakone, and Nikko?

I ask because if we start our JRP after being in Tokyo for four days, it seems we would only need a 14 day pass. Of course this means that getting around Tokyo, including any day trips in those first 4 days, plus our transfer from Hirafu, Niseko to Sapporo (CTS), would need to be purchased separately.

Itinerary as follows:

5 nights Tokyo, 8/10-8/14:
Train to Takayama for two nights, 8/15-8/16
Train to Kanazawa for two nights, 8/17-8/18
Train to Kyoto for 4 nights (with additional day train trips), 8/19-8/22
Train to Uno (Naoshima) for 1 night 8/23
Train to Osaka for 1 night, 8/24
Fly to Sapporo, use train to transfer from CTS airport to Hirafu, Niseko for 4 nights, 8/25-8/28
Return flight to HND using train to transfer from Hirafu, Niseko to Sapporo airport 8/29

Forgot to add that transfer from CTS airport to Hirafu, Niseko involves using Airport express train from CTS to Otaru station then a transfer to local train to Kutchan station

Hi again!

I rechecked your itinerary and must say that for this one it would be better to buy normal tickets as you travel. By flying you take away much of the rail travel that otherwise is covered by the JR Pass and you simply don't add enough in travel costs now where a JR Pass would help you make savings. Thus making it better to buy normal tickets as you travel.