two weeks japan in november
Replies: 7 - Last Post: Sep 19, 2012 11:55 PM Last Post By: michshlomo
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two weeks japan in november
hi everyone,my husband and i will land in tokyo on october 30. i've spent the last week reading this amazing forum and my guidebook, and gathered lots of questions...
we are a couple in their late twenties, have traveled a lot before, mainly in asia. we love big cities, love to explore cultures mainly through walking a lot and eating:)
we'd like to see some of the countryside, but are not the hiking type. we usually travel fast but would like to stay longer in a city doing day trips instead of moving a lot from one place to another.
japan will be the first stop out of a six months trip, so our budget is low, but we still would like to enjoy what japan has to offer, hoping to reduce costs by planning ahead. we assume we'll spend about 2-3 weeks in japan, but are flexible and might change our minds while there.
this is a rough itinirary, we don't want to book hostels in advance since we're not sure how long we'll spend in each place. however, we might have to reserve in advance a ferry ticket to s. korea, so might need to have a date for leaving.
so here's our itinerary:
30/10- 5/11: tokyo+day trips to Nikko/Kamakura
I saw some of you recomended buying the NEX+Suica pass if you land in Narita airport. sounds good, from what i read the Suica will last for a few days, how long do you think it would be good for ? what should we use after, just regular single tickets?
5/11: Tokyo-Takayama by bus, spend the night in Takayama
6/11: Takayama- Kanazawa by bus.
not sure whether or not to spend the night in Kanazawa. assuming yes, then:
7/11: Kanazawa-Kyoto
I'd love to hear your opinion on whether or not we should purchase the JR pass. if i was to have it, i would activate a 7 day pass on this day (7/11).
7-11/11: Kyoto+day trip to Nara.
I know the JR won't help me inside Kyoto, what is the best way to move around Kyoto then, single tickets or daily ones?
11/11: Kyoto- Hiroshima, using JR pass
11-12/11: Hiroshima+Miyajima, not sure wether we should spend the night in Hiroshima or Miyajima, or perhaps allow one more day to see both?
13/11: Hiroshima-Fukuoka, using JR pass
14/11: Taking the 'beetle' from Fukuoka to Busan.
we're having some troubles with the 'beetle's' website, it starts in english but as you go it turns to japanese aagain, any advise?
more importent- we wish to not reserve the tickets for the ferry in advance, and buy it when we arrive to Fukuoka, but afraid that arriving to japan with no exit ticket will cause problems with the visa. if we do purchase a ticket in advance, do any of you know if we can change the date?
we're not sure if the JR pass is worthwhile, also we might choose to stay longer in some of the places along the road to Fukuoka, and then the 7 day pass in not enough and we're screwed, what do you think?
i know it's very long... thank you for reading and your answers will be very much apreciated,
we're open for suggestions, if you think we're too fast/slow, please feel free to say.
thanks again,
michal
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You can see the time tables + costs of the trains on hyperdia.com. I believe that the 1 week JR pass is more expansive than buying individual tickets for the Kanazawa-Kyoto-Hiroshima-Fukuoka traject but please check for yourself. You can also take faster shinkansen trains without the pass and you have more flexibility so you can stay longer in Kyoto if you want.Edited by: wateenmooiedag
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Kanazawa-Kyoto-Hiroshima-Hakata/Fukuoka: 6500+10,500 +8500 = 25,500 yen if bought individually. Together with the short extra trips and local JR transport I'd expect that you'd about equal the cost of the railpass (28,000 yen). So it is really up to you. Railpass would have the advantage that you could do spontaneous side trip at no cost. No railpass would have the advantage that you'd have a larger choice of shinkansen (including Nozomi).And I usually recommend to take (early) evening trains between cities in order to maximize daylight sightseeing time. Sunset and sunrise are rather early in Japan.
not sure whether or not to spend the night in Kanazawa.
2 days for Tokyo to Kanazawa, seeing Takayama and Shirakawago along the way is possible if you like to travel fast, but I'd definitely spend the night in Kanazawa to slow down a bit.
what is the best way to move around Kyoto then, single tickets or daily ones?
dayticket for the bus (500 yen) pays off after three rides or more. On the other hand if you only visit one area per day (e.g. Higashiyama/Ghion) and walk a lot (which is a good idea anyway), you can often get away with two or fewer bus rides (depending on location of your accommodation). In that case you don't need the bus ticket. Subway is not convenient for most sights, but you might want to take some trains for some routes (e.g. Kyoto station to Arashiyama) for speed.
+ Hiroshima+Miyajima, not sure wether we should spend the night in Hiroshima or Miyajima, or perhaps allow one more day to see both?+
IMO, with 1.5 days you can see the best of Hiroshima and Miyajima at a relaxed pace.
we're having some troubles with the 'beetle's' website, it starts in english but as you go it turns to japanese aagain, any advise?
Indeed that seems to be the case. They have planned a site maintenance for Septembeer 20, so perhaps it will improve after that date. Haven't found an email address, but perhaps you could send them a fax in simple English. Or alternatively try an online translator (such as google translate) on the site or IMO better rikaichan (plugin for firefox).
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we wish to not reserve the tickets for the ferry in advance, and buy it when we arrive to Fukuoka, but afraid that arriving to japan with no exit ticket will cause problems with the visa.As you probably read, such questions appear regularly on thorntree and the consensus seems to be that it is better to have an onward ticket before arriving to Japan. The main issue seems to be in fact with the airlines and not with Japanese immigration, so you could try to explain them that you are planning to exit by ferry to Korea and ask if that's ok with them. I'd get a written statement if they say it is ok, not to be refused boarding at check-in.
we're not sure if the JR pass is worthwhile, also we might choose to stay longer in some of the places along the road to Fukuoka, and then the 7 day pass in not enough and we're screwed, what do you think?
As mentioned above, with your current plan the railpass won't save you much if any yen.
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wow, thank you so much for the useful information!i realise i probably shouldn't buy the JR pass then.
i'll take your advise about contacting the airline asking for a document confirming they won't cause me any hassle.
few more things- from what i've read so far, i understood that the NEX+Suica card pays off financially, cause it's cheaper to get to tokyo from narita with it, is it true?
what about discount cards for transportation inside tokyo? i read a bit about it, seems complicated, does it really reduce costs?
i looked at hiperdia, just wanted to confirm i realize how this works: the total price includes seat fee, even if you don't reserve a seat? so if i take a local train, not express, it's cheaper because it doesn't have this extra seat fee?
thanks,
michal
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+NEX+Suica card pays off financially, cause it's cheaper to get to tokyo from narita with it, is it true?+It gives you effectively a 50% discount on the NEX (1500 yen instead of 3000 yen) which is one of the most comfortable ways to get to Tokyo. So if your accommodation is anywhere near the stations served by the NEX that's certainly a good deal
If you want the least expensive way to get to Tokyo you can save a little (200 yen or so) by taking Keisei Ltd. Express (e.g. 1000 yen to Nippori station plus ca. 250 yen to get to wherever you are going in central Tokyo). This can also be a good idea if your hotel is located somewhere in northeast central Tokyo (Asakusa/Ueno) as the NEX is less convenient for these locations.
what about discount cards for transportation inside tokyo? i read a bit about it, seems complicated, does it really reduce costs?
If you are organized enough to combine nearby attractions in one day, none of the discount tickets will pay off as you'd spend at most 750 yen per day or so on transport. If you are less organized and think that you will travel back and forth all over Tokyo some of the daytickets might pay off, but the problem is that some of the cheaper day tickets will limit you to one type of network (e.g. metro only) which makes moving around more complicated. So all in all I don't recommend discount tickets for Tokyo transport. Better to get a prepaid card (Suica or Pasmo) for convenience.
i looked at hiperdia, just wanted to confirm i realize how this works...
The ticket price you pay is listed under "total". For some trains (shinkansen and many but not all Ltd Express) this total consists of a "fare" plus "seat fee". So yes, if you travel on local or express trains only you will usually not pay this seat fee. However on some routes there are only trains with "seat fees" or local trains would take forever so that you might want to pay the supplement for the faster train anyway.
