kojtl1000

Hello,

At last, our itinerary is as good as final. Now we need to decide what type of Rail pass we need and when we need to activate it.
Our itinerary looks like this:

Friday 15 jul 11: Brussels - Tokyo
Saturday 16 jul 11: Tokyo - Kyoto (Arrive Tokyo 9am -- Travel directly to Kyoto)
Sunday 17 jul 11: Kyoto (Gion Matsuri Parade)
Monday 18 jul 11: Kyoto
Tuesday 19 jul 11: Kyoto (Daytrip Nara)
Wednesday 20 jul 11: Kyoto (Daytrip Osaka)
Thursday 21 jul 11: Kyoto (Visit Hiroshima + Miyajima)
Friday 22 jul 11: Kyoto - Nagoya (Visit Toyota Factory + Sumo game)
Saturday 23 jul 11: Nagoya - Takayama
Sunday 24 jul 11: Takayama (Visit Kamikochi)
Monday 25 jul 11: Takayama - Kanazawa (Visit Shirakawa-go)
Tuesday 26 jul 11: Kanazawa - Toyama (Kurobe Gorge?)
Wednesday 27 jul 11: Toyama - Matsumoto (Tateyama-Kurobe Alpen Route)
Thursday 28 jul 11: Matsumoto - Tokyo (Castle)
Friday 29 jul 11: Tokyo
Saturday 30 jul 11: Tokyo (Tokyo Disney Sea???)
Sunday 31 jul 11: Tokyo (Fireworks)
Monday 01 aug 11: Tokyo (Daytrip Nikko)
Tuesday 02 aug 11: Tokyo (Daytrip Hakone)
Wednesday 03 aug 11: Tokyo
Thursday 04 aug 11: Tokyo - Brussels

Can you guys tell us if we best buy a week/two weeks/three weeks JR pass and when do we activate it best? Do we buy a single ticket to go from Tokyo to Kyoto and only get the pass for 1 week traveling from Kyoto through the Alps?
PS: the daytrips on our itinerary are not fixed to a specific day. They are just the trips that we want to do. If they need to be moved in function of the JR Pass, this is possible.

Thanks a lot for your advice.

DonTopaz

A one-way ticket from Narita Airport to Kyoto will cost ¥15,830, or about €140. If the price difference between the 7- and 14-day pass is more than €140, then buy a 1-way ticket to Kyoto at the airport.

Here is one advantage of a one-way ticket from Narita: with a one-way ticket, you can use the Nozomi train (from Tokyo to Kyoto), which is about 20 minutes faster than the trains that you can use with the rail pass.

Tot ziens,

hawaiiantraveler

figure out your fares on www.hyperdia.com and then you'll know what to do

Aloha!

WillJame

Or you can fly ANA or JAL from Narita to Itami or KIX and go from either airport to Kyoto by train or bus. The airfare would be about ¥13,000, but check the flight schedules.
De rein,

Mara

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

See above site - it explains discount airfare as mentioned above by WillJame.

I'm flying from JFK to NRT to KIX and the flight portion to KIX is an extra $100 - just a regular fare not a special discount one....

mrwunrfl

I don't see a way to change the itinerary to make it work better with JR passes. You could use a 7-day pass. Might go for a 14-day pass. Here is my reasoning.

The big day is July 21. Kyoto to Hiroshima to Miyajima and back (shinkansen, local, and ferry) is about 22,500 JPY.

Kyoto- Nagoya- Takayama is about 9500 JPY. You would be on non-JR bus to Kamikochi and to Kanazawa.

That is about 32000. Kanazawa- Toyama is 1000 or 2000. Add another 1000 maybe? from the other end of the Alpine Route to Matsumoto.

So a 7-day pass would work from July 21-27.

As rizzuto said, the Narita Express and the shinkansen to Kyoto would be about 16000.

Ok, so that would be about 48000. Matsumoto- Tokyo is at least 5000 or 6000.

You certainly could use 14-day pass after all. Maybe somebody else can figure out if the travel from the 29th on is worth the 12,000 yen more to get a 21-day pass. (I doubt it, but maybe).

mrwunrfl

Oh, it is 48000 from July 15-27, then another 6000 on the 28th. That is it.

I would get a 21-day pass.