Therese

Hmm, you're right about the dates of your JR pass. If you're only going as far as Shinagawa you could delay activating your JR pass until the next day and instead get a N'Ex + Suica package for the N'Ex part of the journey. You'd then have a Suica card (already loaded with some cash) to use for short journeys in Tokyo, and I'm thinking that it also works in the Kyoto area (where the card is called Icoca). Suica is a tap in/tap out system and it makes it very easy to travel. If you get to your destination and the card doesn't have enough value remaining you just add some, either at the service window (there's one at almost every exit) or at a machine. Very easy, and you can get a refund if you've overloaded the card.

Here's some info:

http://www.jreast.co.jp/e/suica-nex/

Note that the round trip version won't work for you because your trip is longer than two weeks.

Boberg

Aah you already had me convinced to travel the night direct to Kanazawa! Another obstacle??

Boberg

Therese, So I guess I'll need to divide up Tokyo at the beginning and end then!! Do you recommend staying in two differet areas then? Sounds like a waste of doing say overnight to Nikko after getting back to Tokyo at the end then? More confusion - sorry. Barb

Therese

If you travel all the way to Kanazawa the day of your arrival then you haven't wasted that first night at Shinagawa. So that does give you another night to tuck in there somewhere I think.

Therese

Oops, simultaneous posting...

No, I would still head to Kanazawa at the beginning, and then do Nikko at the end. Nikko isn't really on the way to anywhere else, so it's easily reached from Tokyo. You'd have a couple days in Tokyo, check out of your hotel early and then travel to Nikko, drop your bags at your hotel there, tour, eat/sleep, and then get up in the AM for your trip to the airport. You'll pass through Tokyo on the way (and it will actually be more convenient to take the Keisei train to the airport), but won't stop there.

hawaiiantraveler

Okay I read most of this.......

If you head to Kanazawa on the first day (which will be a hell of a long commute day for me especially after a long plane ride) you would have to head to Tokyo station to connect to Kanazawa. And Tokyo Station is a bear if youv'e never been before especially when connecting from the N'Ex on the basement level to the shinkansen on the top level of Tokyo Station. For a first timer its a hara kiri situation,lol

You cannot connect through Shinegawa unless going there and connecting back through Tokyo station unless you are heading to Kyoto or Nagoya first after Shinagawa. The shinkansen heads <b>north</b> out of Tokyo station to Kanazawa if I'm not mistaken not south. It then veers west into the mountains and towards Eichoyuzawa. Isn't part of the line from Eicho to Kanazawa on a private line at different times of the day? Don't recall, sorry.

I would head to Nikko from Kyoto and end up in Tokyo for your last day or days.

It sounds like your almost settled so I don't want to confuse.

Aloha!

hawaiiantraveler

The above I mentioned happens only when going through Eigo oyuzawa. If headed for Kanazawa from Shinegawa you might as well start in Kyoto imho

Aloha!

Therese

The two possible routes between Tokyo and Kanazawa form a circle: if Kanazawa'a at the top of the circle than the Shinegawa-Maibara route is the left half of the circle and the Echigoyuzawa route is the right half. They take about the same amount of time.

I'd suggested Kanazawa as a first stop instead of Kyoto as it would solve the tight-lodging-in-Kyoto-on-the-weekend issue and also offer the opportunity to see the mountains by bus on the way to Takayama. The day of arrival is lost to traveling no matter what, so I reason that I might as well het as far down the road as I can, but not everybody is up for that.

Therese

Route at this point...

Kanazawa

Takayama

Kyoto

Hiroshima/Miyajima

Kurashiki

(Himeji---day visit en route, not overnight)

Tokyo

Nikko

Switching Tokyo and Nikko would mean coming all the way from Kurashiki, truly a slog, though stopping at Himeji would break up the day a bit. A late arrival in Nikko wouldn't be ideal either.

Boberg

I so appreciate all the information BUT I must admit NOW I'M TOTALLY CONFUSED regarding this first part of the itinerary. Barb

Therese

Barb, is the route I posted at 11:02 the one you're working with at this point? Hawaiiantraveller's first post tonight considers only the northward route to Kanazawa, not the one I'm suggesting that has you connecting at the much less scary (as opposed to Tokyo station) Shinegawa station. In his second post he corrects himself.

I'm thinking that he also missed your plans to head towards Hiroshima/Miyajima when he suggested going from Kyoto to Nikko. And of he didn't then I'm also confused.

Therese

And meant to say as well that when I'd initially suggested three nights in Kanazawa that was assuming that you'd made the trek all the way from Narita that first night. If you spend your first night at Shinegawa then you'd only need two nights in Kanazawa (but get an early start from Shinegawa).

KimJapan

How about flying to Komatsu the first day from narita? There is a morning flight and an evening flight, and you are then 45 minutes or so from Kanazawa. Buses meet every flight. It's how we get home every time we go to the states and is quite painless.

Therese

The flight's a reasonable option, and would mean that you could delay activating you JR Pass untill the day that you leave Takayama, boberg. KimJapan, can she do this on a Yokoso fare?

Therese

Who operates the evening flight, KimJapan, and about what time does it depart. Hyperdia's returning flights that require transferring to Haneda, as they're more common, and a tranfer would eat up time and energy.

hawaiiantraveler

ANA operates the flight I see so the OP would have to be flying on a Star Alliance carrier to qualify for a discounted ticket.

http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2364.html

Transferring to Haneda is a piece of cake. Personally, I would take the limo bus but the train is perfectly ok too.

http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2430.html

Aloha!

hawaiiantraveler

oh the plane leaves Haneda at 19:35 and arrives at Komatsu 20:40

Therese

KimJapan specifically mentions an evening Narita departure, so we'll see if she's got more info.

Between the transfer to Haneda, the flight (which involves checking in and security and almost certainly checking of bags and then retrieval of bags), and then the bus ride to Kanazawa, I am hard-pressed to view that option as an improvement over the train.

No need to worry about all this discussion, boberg---the various options are mostly to do with travel styles and preferences, and there's no wrong answer here. We're just trying to make sure you've got enough information, even if it can seem overwhelming.

hawaiiantraveler

Checking on Kayak in Oct from Narita there is the morning flight Kim mentions and one that leaves from NRT at 19:30 and arrives Komatsu 20:45 so OP would not have to change airports.....much better. Cost without yokoso fare discount is now $252.00 on kayak.

Aloha!

Therese

HT, do you know if they'd interline boberg's luggage? Or does she have to retrieve and go through customs the way we do here in the U.S. in any case? I never check luggage, so not an issue for me.