Hi
My family, 2 kids, 1 and 3, my wife and myself, is going to be in Japan for 4 weeks. It’s our first time in Japan and we want to see and experience a reasonable amount of the country and its people without asking for too much from our kids in regards to traveling and living out of a suitcase. So…
This is our plan so far:
23.10. arrive in Okinawa
4.11. Fly to Tokio
7.11. travel to Kyoto
14.11. travel back to Tokyo
21.11. Leave for home
Of course we’ll be doing stuff in between but I’m seeking help regarding the travels from Tokyo to Kyoto and back. So, the plan shown above should be enough detail.
It seems like we’ve chosen a bad time span for our stay in Kyoto. Including the travel days it is 8 days.
What do you recommend? Should we buy regular train tickets once we’re in Japan or should we opt for the 14 days Rail pass? The 7 days Rail pass seems to be no option…
HI Sandybanks
Probably the 14d pass would work it seems, although there’s not quite enough detail in terms of how much of the country you want to explore.
Purchasing tickets in Japan without the JR pass is super expensive (like 130 USD one way from tokyo to kyoto)
Happy to help out with further planning
cheers
Q
If you are just doing a round trip from Kyoto to Tokyo the 14 day pass wouldn’t pay off. The 7 day pass would barely be worth it for a single round trip, so just buy regular tickets. If you plan to go to other cities, Osaka, Kobe, Hiroshima etc that’s a different story. Last year I did Tokyo>Kyoto>Hiroshima>Osaka>Tokyo and the 14 day pass just about paid off.
A plus of the JR pass is free seat reservations though, if I recall correctly you have to pay extra to reserve seats with regular tickets so factor that in to your calculations.
I’m not sure on the prices for children that young on the shinkansen though so make sure you check that before you get the credit card out
