For our visit to Japan this time round, we only spend 1 day 1 night in Tokyo as we have visited this city last time. We decided to focus more days on other parts of Japan:
- Mount Fuji
- Kyoto
- Takayama and Shirakawa
- Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route
Our focus for this trip is of course - CHERRY BLOSSOM!
Since we are travelling to so many parts of Japan, we bought the 7 days Japan railpass and make full use of it. We were in Japan for a total of 11 days. Hence, the challenge for us on the planning is to try to visit as many places as possible and travel with trains covered by the railpass within 7 days.
You might be wondering why didn't we buy a 11 days railpass, because there is no such pass. The Japan railpass comes in 7, 14 and 21 days. We definitely wouldn't want to spend the extra money and waste the remaining 3 days.
For transport between Narita Airport and Tokyo, the Japan railpass actually covers the Narita Express. However, we cannot be using our Japan railpass for the Narita Express because we only have the 7 days pass but we were in Japan for 11 days, so our plan is to start our Japan railpass only on the third or fourth day of our trip.
We came across a Narita Express round trip ticket for 4000 yen, that's about 30% discount as compared to buying each way's ticket separately. Visit the Narita Express website for more details on this round trip discount ticket.
Do note that it is recommended to reserve seats for those trains that are covered under the railpass. Seats can be reserved at the JR ticket office. We actually reserved seats for most of the trains that we will be taking for the next few days at the first JR ticket office.
Do also note that the there are certain types of bullet trains that is not covered under the JR railpass, need to check out the train name when planning too.
So with the passes and tickets in hand, our itinerary was planned as such:
Day 1: Arrival at Narita Airport, Narita Express to Tokyo. 1 Night in Tokyo.
Day 2: Tokyo to Mount Fuji, transfer to Odakyu Electric Railway at Shinjuku station and alight at Odawara (not covered by JR railpass). Buy Fuji Hakone Pass at Odawara station. Overnight Mount Fuji.
Day 3: Explore Mount Fuji with Fuji Hakone Pass and overnight Mount Fuji.
Day 4: Start using JR railpass. Took Shinkansen Hikari from Odawara to Kyoto. Overnight Kyoto.
Day 5 and 6: Explore Kyoto and Overnight Kyoto
Day 7: Took Shinkansen Hikari from Kyoto to Nagoya. Overnight Nagoya.
Day 8: Took Limited Express Wide View Hida from Nagoya to Takayama (covered by JR railpass). Overnight Takayama.
Day 9: Day tour to Shirakawa and Gokayama. Took Limited Express Wide View Hida from Takayama to Toyama. Overnight Toyama.
Day 10: Tateyama Alpine Route (From Dentetsu Toyama to JR Nagano), take Shinkansen from Nagano to Tokyo (covered by JR railpass) - last day of JR railpass. Overnight Tokyo.
Day 11: Took Narita Express to Airport and return home.
- Mount Fuji
- Kyoto
- Takayama and Shirakawa
- Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route
Our focus for this trip is of course - CHERRY BLOSSOM!
Since we are travelling to so many parts of Japan, we bought the 7 days Japan railpass and make full use of it. We were in Japan for a total of 11 days. Hence, the challenge for us on the planning is to try to visit as many places as possible and travel with trains covered by the railpass within 7 days.
You might be wondering why didn't we buy a 11 days railpass, because there is no such pass. The Japan railpass comes in 7, 14 and 21 days. We definitely wouldn't want to spend the extra money and waste the remaining 3 days.
For transport between Narita Airport and Tokyo, the Japan railpass actually covers the Narita Express. However, we cannot be using our Japan railpass for the Narita Express because we only have the 7 days pass but we were in Japan for 11 days, so our plan is to start our Japan railpass only on the third or fourth day of our trip.
We came across a Narita Express round trip ticket for 4000 yen, that's about 30% discount as compared to buying each way's ticket separately. Visit the Narita Express website for more details on this round trip discount ticket.
Do note that it is recommended to reserve seats for those trains that are covered under the railpass. Seats can be reserved at the JR ticket office. We actually reserved seats for most of the trains that we will be taking for the next few days at the first JR ticket office.
Do also note that the there are certain types of bullet trains that is not covered under the JR railpass, need to check out the train name when planning too.
So with the passes and tickets in hand, our itinerary was planned as such:
Day 1: Arrival at Narita Airport, Narita Express to Tokyo. 1 Night in Tokyo.
Day 2: Tokyo to Mount Fuji, transfer to Odakyu Electric Railway at Shinjuku station and alight at Odawara (not covered by JR railpass). Buy Fuji Hakone Pass at Odawara station. Overnight Mount Fuji.
Day 3: Explore Mount Fuji with Fuji Hakone Pass and overnight Mount Fuji.
Day 4: Start using JR railpass. Took Shinkansen Hikari from Odawara to Kyoto. Overnight Kyoto.
Day 5 and 6: Explore Kyoto and Overnight Kyoto
Day 7: Took Shinkansen Hikari from Kyoto to Nagoya. Overnight Nagoya.
Day 8: Took Limited Express Wide View Hida from Nagoya to Takayama (covered by JR railpass). Overnight Takayama.
Day 9: Day tour to Shirakawa and Gokayama. Took Limited Express Wide View Hida from Takayama to Toyama. Overnight Toyama.
Day 10: Tateyama Alpine Route (From Dentetsu Toyama to JR Nagano), take Shinkansen from Nagano to Tokyo (covered by JR railpass) - last day of JR railpass. Overnight Tokyo.
Day 11: Took Narita Express to Airport and return home.
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