Kansai Airport - Kyoto - Tokyo - Hokkaido - Osaka

Hi there,

The first thing I would do is to write down what you do in Hokkaido, all the routes are quite specific going to Osaka, Kyoto etc but Hokkaido is really big. Once you have that down, look at the travel times to the places you go to. This because travel to Hokkaido takes a good amount of time, either by rail or air.

A 7 day JR Pass would be very cost efficient doing the trip from 4/1/2019 - 10/1/2019.

Hope this helps,
Daniel

Thanks for your reply, Daniel

We have change our itenerary as below:
Pls advise if the below date from 4/1/2019 to 10/1/2019 are accessible by JR pass and is our trip routing time deficient as well?

Flights arrive Kansai Airport 30/12/2018 on 22:30
Flights leave from Kansai Airport 13/1/2019 on 16:40

plan as below:
30/12/2018 - 2/1/2019 Osaka town, Nara
2/1/2019 - 4/1/2019 Kyoto
4/1/2019 - 6/1/2019 Takayama, Kanazawa and Shirakawago
6/1/2019 - 10/1/2019 Tokyo
10/1/2019 - 13/1/2019 Osaka town for final shopping

Do you have any suggestion on the routing arrangement from the above schedule?

Thank you very much!

Hi again,

I must say, this looks much more manageable. As it stands now, I would do Takayama - Shirakawa-go - Kanazawa in that order. You can take a bus from Takayama - Shirakawa-go, spend some time there or even a night and then take a bus from Shirakawa-go to Kanazawa, from where you can get on the Shinkansen to Tokyo. It works perfectly this way.

While the bus would not be included in the JR Pass, you would still great savings with a 7 day JR Pass by using it from 4/1 to 10/1.

Hope this helps,
Daniel

Hope this helps,
Daniel

Hi Daniel

We are a group of 6 adults with little luggage.
Do you think it’s workable if we rent a car from Takayama to shirakawago, then to Kanazawa? Is this route cover by JR pass too? We will then return car at Kanazawa and continue our journey to Tokyo.

Thanks for your kind advise and guide all the way.

Hi again,

Yes, you could also use a Car - which would likely be more cost efficient when shared among 6. There are also other visits close to Shirakawa-go like Goka-yama and other small villages that can only be reached by car. So it's a win there too.

Of course the car would not be covered by the JR Pass but all your rail travel would be covered by the JR Pass.

Hi Daniel

Thanks you very much!
As you mentioned earlier, Takayama to shirakawago and shirakawago to Kanazawa by bus. Is this route not cover by JR or can we opt to take JR rather than bus. We have some problem with taking bus because of health problem. We wish all of the route are cover by train. If that is a must of taking bus. We may opt to rent a car for the specific journey.

Pls advise and Thanks in advance.

Hi again,

Sorry if this was not clear before. There is no train between Takayama - Shirakawa-go and Shirakawa-go - Kanazawa. There is an express bus run by the Nohi Bus company but this is a private company and thus not included in the JR Pass. If you want to visit Shirakawa-go, then you would always need to pay extra, either for the bus or a car. If you do not want to pay extra, then you could skip Shirakawa-go and take the train directly from Takayama - Kanazawa.

Hope this clears things up!
Daniel

Hi Daniel

Yes. We would like to definitely visit shirakawago. That’s the main reason for our visitation.

What do you suggest if we opt to rent a car. Is the routing need to be amend or stick back to the original plan?

Kyoto to Takayama by JR pass
Takayama to shirakawago by car
Shirakawago to Kanazawa by car
Kanazawa tk Tokyo by Jr pass

Do correct me if I’m wrong for the above.
On the other hand, need your kind advise on the estimation cost for each adult if we compare bus ticket and car expenses.

Thank you very much!

Hi again,

You can keep the route as suggested Takayama - Shirakawa-go - Kanazawa, it works both by bus or car.

About pricing you can find the bus fares here:
https://www.nouhibus.co.jp/highwaybus/kanazawa_en/

I do not know how much a car would cost.

Hope this helps,
Daniel