I need suggestion to fully utilise my JR Pass

Hi Gary!

I made an itinerary to help you out here! I mainly based it on travel times to gives you as much time possible to explore Japan!

Day one - Arrival
See a little of Osaka, relax from flight, enjoy a Japanese cuisine.

Day two - Travel to Kyoto
Explore Kyoto and sightseeing.

Day three - Kyoto
More sightseeing in Kyoto, perhaps visit Fushimi Inari.

Day four - Travel to Hiroshima - Activate JR Pass.
Hiroshima sightseeing, I would recommend a visit to both the peace museum and memorial park, stay the night in Hiroshima.

Day five - Travel to Tokyo with a stop at Himeji
Early bullet train to Himeji, enjoy the castle and perhaps more sightseeing, after couple of hours back to station and Bullet train to Tokyo. Stay night in Tokyo

Day six and seven
Tokyo, Tokyo and more Tokyo! Visit Asakusa, Ginza, Shibuya. My other recommendations would be Akihabara (Electric Town), Harajuku and Tokyo Tower.

Day eight - Yokohama (and maybe a little Tokyo).
Take a local line or Shinkansen from Tokyo to Yokohama for a good day of sightseeing in Yokohama, be sure to visit China Town here! Evening return to Tokyo for a last night there.

Day 9 - Return to Osaka/Kobe
Your last day in Japan, you can either spend your last night in Osaka or go to Kobe to finish the tour. Both places are on the Shinkansen and not far from each other. I would say go Kobe and make the most of your trip and JR Pass. In Kobe you can visit some of the local attractions like the Sake breweries or enjoy a beautiful view of Kansai from the nearby mountain called Mt Rokko.

Day 10 - Return to Kansai Airport and flight home.
Take an train either from Osaka / Kobe and travel to Kansai airport to catch your flight back home.

This pretty much is how I would do it, let me know what you think!
-Daniel

Thanks a lot,

After discuss with my fren and refer to your suggestion. Below is my plan.

Day 1 (14sep):reach Osaka at 11pm. Actually can't do anything. Stay in Osaka. Is there any train from airport to city tat time?

Day 2 (15sep):not sure should I play around Osaka or go Kyoto.

Day3 (16sep): I already book hotel at tokyo (activate JR pass)

My question for the first three days. Should I explore Osaka? Or go Kyoto straight. Stay in Osaka or Kyoto better for second night?

Day4 to Day7 (20sep) in tokyo (will go Yokohama in one of the day)

Day8(21 sep) , I will wake up in tokyo. I not sure should I go himeji then Nara then Osaka is possible

Day9(22sep), Osaka to Hiroshima to miyajima then Hiroshima to Osaka.

Day10(23sep), explore Osaka or Kobe, my flight is 9pm

Hi Again!

Lading at Osaka Airport after 11 p.m. may be a problem, there's not almost no transport available to Osaka at that hour, expect for really expansive taxi's. One thing you could look into is the Kate Bus Service, which has a late night bus going from the Airport into Osaka. Otherwise I would recommend booking a hotel close to the Airport for the first day.

Osaka vs Kyoto really is a question of personal preference, if you wish to city the city life go for Osaka if you want more culture and history go for Kyoto. I would suggest going to Kyoto as you are going to Tokyo as well, which is more than enough metropolis for many (besides you will see Osaka later too).

On day 8, I don't think that it is feasible to travel from Tokyo - Himeji and visit Nara. Stick to one, both are very nice but it is better to go to Himeji because everything in Nara closes relatively early.

aaaand if you have the change, do visit Kobe!
-Daniel

Hey, thanks again. I will stay in a hotel called amagasaki central in the 1st night. There is no bus service for tat time from Kate bus. There is no subway or railway to reach there? How much is the taxi fare ? Dun tell me is more than 3,000 yen ?

Hi there!

I looked up the hotel for you and don't have good news. The hotel is over 50km away from Kansai Airport, this means that a taxi fare could easily ramp up over 20,000Yen at night. A better option is to take the Kate bus service into Osaka and see if a taxi from there is an option. Alternatively look for a hotel close to the airport, you can find rooms starting at ~4,000 yen / night/

Sorry to bring you bad news!
Daniel

Thanks. I already book somewhere near airport. Thanks for ur advice!! I checked the website, himeji castle is under renovation now. So, may be I can't see the grand castle as the one in website. So, I plan to depart from Kyoto to Nara instead. From Kyoto station to Nara station. Is covered by jr pass right? And from Nara station itself, what kind of transport I can take to the todaiji temple and Nara park. Kyoto to Nara will be less than hour? Right? When I search online, most of them are taking about take express from Kyoto to Nara. No one really touch the way using jr pass

Hi Again!

Yes going from Kyoto - Nara is covered by the JRPass. You can use a direct train from Kyoto - Nara, here's the route in Hyperdia. As you can see this one will exactly take one hour. From Nara station you can reach everywhere on foot, since Nara is not very big. Alternatively buses ride around the city and will take you directly from the station there. It's all easy to find but there's a very helpful tourist office at Nara station, which provides free maps and will be more that willing to show you the right way.

Here's a very nice map of Nara which you can use to get a feel of distances and the city it self.

Enjoy!
Daniel