hello, we are a couple planning to visit japan for the first time to celebrate our 23rd wedding anniversary, we are on our fifties but still active and agile, we would like to solicit advice on how to plan our itenerary,we would like to enter thru tokyo, visit hakone,kyoto, nara and exit via nagoya. we have 12 days to spare,will someone pls help us in terms of advise on number of days to spend for each city,which to do first,what to see, how to access these places,how to save on transpo and any info that we may need thanks pls help us plan so we can save

I can't help you with Japan as I've never spent time there, other than going through Narita airport.

I would like to suggest that you re-post your question with Japan in the title. You will probably get more responses to your questions that way.

Carol

I'll give you a quick itinerary.....you have to do the research

Fly into NRT use the limousine bus service to get to your hotel in Tokyo. See bus transport below:

http://www.narita-airport.jp/en/index.html

Spend 4 nights in Tokyo catch a train to Hakone, spend 1 night in a Ryokan there then catch a train to Kyoto. Spend 4 nights there with a day trip to Nara.

Catch the train to Nagoya and fly home from there.

There is a lot of info about those cities on this board....do a search. When you have more specific questions come back and ask.

Aloha!

If you have 12 days not including travel I would do:
Tokyo - 4 days
Hakone - 1 day
Kyoto - 7 days (you can do Nara as a day trip and don't miss a day trip to the Miho Museum)

If the 12 days includes travel, I would skip Hakone and focus on Tokyo and Kyoto.

please kindly help on our japan itenerary, i believe first hand experience from travellers is still the most reliable info. im new to this forum, i hope someone help us thx

What exactly do you need help with? HawaiianTraveler and glorialf have both suggested itineraries... why don't you read up on the cities using the destinations section of this website and guidebooks and then return here to ask detailed, specific questions?

Just a suggestion...

rollyako,

Read my trip report on China and Japan for some clues on traveling in Japan, link below.

Do a search for other Japan trip reports by typing "Japan trip report" in the Asia search box. I'm sure some good reading will come up for you. Read some reports and come back to ask us more specific questions.

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34981470

Aloha!

thx for your your respones.is it advisable to purchase japan railpass all the way to osaka, coming from tokyo,hakone and kyoto? thanks

No, you would not need a JR Pass for the itinerary you have described.