travel with 2 kids

Hi there,

If you will indeed use the limousine bus on your first day to Tokyo, using the JR Pass on th 4th day becomes a great idea.

Here is an itinerary, I made it as to minimize travel on a single day.

Day 4.) Tokyo --> Kyoto
Day 5.) Kyoto
Day 6.) Travel to Hiroshima
Day 7.) Hiroshima + Late noon train to Osaka
Day 8.) Osaka
Day 9.) Osaka + back to Tokyo or stay in Narita if your flight leaves early on day 10.
Day 10.) To Narita Airport and back home.

You should have enough time in every city to get a feel of the atmosphere and visit the major attractions. Travel times between Kyoto and Tokyo are about 140 Minutes and Between Osaka and Hiroshima about 100 minutes, leaving enough time to combine it with sightseeing on the same day.

Hope this helps,
-Daniel

Thank you for your advise.

All the transportation like shinkansen to kyoto...to hiroshima...to osaka it's cover by JR Pass ? That's mean, I only need to buy local ticket when we're in tokyo, osaka, kyoto, hiroshima ?

Regards,
Fransisca

Hi again,

Yes all Hikari Express Shinkansen are covered and will get you to all those places without extra cost!
So the only transportation cost may arise from Local Travel, in Osaka you can also use the JR-Pass on all JR-Local lines.

Best regards,
Daniel

wow :) thanks a lot Daniel. And i still need help about when we're in osaka > universal studio, hiroshima > ? , kyoto > ?
we'll travelling with my sons both of them like cars,train,theme park,buying toys :) do have any suggestion to do ?

Thank you

Have you thought of Dineyland and the Disney Sea parks in Tokyo? Also Odayba is a great place to take your kids in Tokyo.

For Osaka, Universal city is a great visit, Den Den town is great for electronics gadgets and toys.
Also check out osaka-info this website has a lot of information listed for all kinds of things.

For Hiroshima,
The peace museum is always my first recommendation, also if your kids love cars the Mazda museum is a good option.

For Kyoto:
Kyoto is mainly town for tradition and temples. Still most things are very impressive so this alone may keep your kids busy. For shopping I would recommend a walk trough Kawara Machi that boasts a wide range of small shops that sell everything. There are also video game arcades and local sweets available.

Hope this helps :)
-Daniel

I was reading up a bit more on Kyoto with kinds and found this post. I really agree with is, especially Fushimi Inari Shrine and Arashiyama are great!

yipiieee...i'm very happy about this information. We'll make a detail itinerary for the trip. Yes we'll go to disney sea and disneyland maybe we need 2 days to explore that parks so we just planning to stay at the hotel inside the resort park.

thank you

hi there...
here is the itinerary , please give me some advise...

31 July ) arr @narita, in the morning > go to hotel by limousine bus. Explore tokyo
1 Aug ) disneyland
2 Aug ) disney sea
3 Aug ) Mt Fuji
4 Aug ) Tokyo > Kyoto, fushimi inari, Kinkakuji
5 Aug ) Kyoto
6 Aug ) Kyoto > Hiroshima, mazda museum + peace museum
7 Aug ) Hiroshima , Miyajima
8 Aug ) Hiroshima > Osaka, Universal Studio
9 Aug ) Osaka > Tokyo
10 Aug ) To Narita Airport by NEX and back home

We'll buy 7 days JR Pass, and activated when we're going to kyoto.
Kindly advise which one is better if We go directly to kyoto from Narita after we arrive ? From my country to Japan take 8 hours on flight.

Thank you

Hi again,

You are making nice progress with your itinerary!
I think the way you planned it is pretty good, since you will be arriving from a long flight it is nice to be able to relax somewhat in Tokyo.

About the Mazda museum, you will need a reservation for it and can be made here there is only an English tour at 10.00 in the morning (free) so it may be better to visit it on the 7th.

For the rest you are pretty much set!
-Daniel

Hii....

So I must change the schedule on 6 Aug< is it possible to go to miyajima if we arrive at 11.28 am in hiroshima ? We will go to Hotel first to put our luggage.

Regards,
Fransisca

Hi Fransisca,

That is no problem! The travel time from Hiroshima to Miyajima-guchi is about 25 minutes(from where you take the ferry to Miyajima itself), so you have more than enough time to visit. Most places there are open until 5-5.30 so you can always take a train earlier from Kyoto if you want to be sure.

Best Regards,
Daniel

okay , thank you so much for your advise

Regards,

Hiii again...

Sorry, I need information about LTD. EXP SUNRISE IZUMO from osaka to Tokyo / yokohama ? is it covered by JR Pass ?

thank you

Hi there,

And welcome back :D
You can use the JR-Pass on the so called ''Nobi Nobi'' seats without having to pay extra, other kinds of accommodation do require extra payment.

I would refer to this page for all the information.

Best regards,
Daniel

Hi Daniel,

I already read the page that you told me, but it seems hard to get the nobi nobi seats. Is it 9 August on the peak season in Japan ? I'm planning to go to Narita directly from Osaka without stay one night in Tokyo. So the kids will have new experience sleep in the train :) What is your suggestion about that ? Is it too risky ?

Thank you

Hi Fransisca,

The LTD. EXP SUNRISE IZUMO is a very popular train and is hard to book even during periods of relative low travel. I would try to do so the moment you exchange your rail pass! Possibly on the 31st. Be sure to have a Plan B ready though it case they are not available, other compartments may be easier but an extra fee will apply.

Best regards,
Daniel

Hi...

Okay Daniel , thank you for your kindness to helping us. We will go to Nagoya train park, the kids are very interesting when they saw the website.

Regards

Hi Daniel,

which one better go to kyoto first after tokyo or go to osaka first and visit kyoto on the way back to tokyo ?

Thank you

Hi again,

Tokyo and Osaka are alike in that they both are big and busy cities so taking a break from that and see some Culture between in Kyoto is very nice. Time wise it does not make much of a difference. By Shinkansen it is only a couple minutes longer to Osaka if you come from Tokyo.

Also if you plan on doing some shopping, Osaka is a great place for that, so you may want to save it for last.
-Daniel

Hiii....

I just read about the alpine route...it seems interesting. Could i just do the Snow Corridor and not the dam, cable car and others and return to Ogizawa ? Maybe we'll go by JR Nagano shinkansen from tokyo ?

thank you

Hi there,

Most of those attractions are in the middle of the course so it may require some serious planning. I would recommanding reading this blog to get a feel of the distances involved. The map they have is very useful.

The journey from Tokyo to Ogizawa is slightly over 3 hours.

Hope this helps,
Daniel

Hi Daniel....

Hope everything fine. I need your suggestion about going to Mt Fuji, everybody said that it will be very crowded in summer season. How about if go to 5th station Fujinomiya ?I search that there is shinkasen go to shin fuji station and go by bus to 5th station Fujinomiya. But I can't find shin fuji station in hyperdia, only Fuji station. Is it the same station ?
Or still go to kawaguchiko ?

Thank you

Hi Again!

Things have been good here, thank you! Already looking forward to vising Japan?

I think both places will be fine to visit, of course it will be crowded during summer but you can avoid some of that by going mid week (and avoiding the weekend). I think Fujinomiya is a little more quiet because most people visit the Kawaguchi-ko area.

Fuji and Shin-fuji are 2 completely different station. For Shin-fuji use SHIN-FUJI(SHIZUOKA) in Hyperdia and you will be able to find the right one.

Let me know if I can assist with anything.
Daniel

Thank you Daniel, just a little bit curious and need some advice. If we only have 1 day to see Mt Fuji, better we go to hakone or 5th station kawaguchiko area ?

Hi Again!

I would visit Hakone if the choice is between Hakone and Kawaguchiko 5th station. This because the 5th station really is a station place for climbing Fuji and it takes over 3 hours from Tokyo to get there.

Hakone can be reached within less than an hour directly by bullet train and makes for a great day, personally however I would make a visit to Fuji 5 Lakes this can be reached from Tokyo in about 2 hours and makes for a wonderful day trip, you can walk around the lakes and enjoy some of the majestic beauty Japan has to offer. You can take the train from Tokyo via Otsuki and ride the Fujikyu line from there (1,100Yen) and on the way back take the bus directly from 5 lakes back to Tokyo (1,700Yen).

I hope this gives you some ideas,
Daniel

okay , thank you so much for your advise. So We'll go to Hakone :)
And is it correct that in Nagoya Port, there is orca ( the killer whale ) ?

Good plan!

There is an Orca at the Nagoya Aquarium from what I could find out.

Hi...thank you then, if I already made reservation for shinkasen at the airport , is it okay if we missed the train ?( in case our kids wake up late in the morning )

Hi again :)

That's usually no problem, just show your JR Pass again and tell the staff where you would like to go.

You may be asked to take a non-reserved seat however if you forget your reservations too many times, these seats go on a first to come first to serve basis, so it is good to be careful :)

It is just a little bit more than a month before you depart for Japan, hope you are looking forward to it!

In the meantime let me know if I can help with anything!
-Daniel

haii....we're done for all the hotel reservations, and we'll buy the JR Pass this week. What I know is, when we arrived in Narita we'll change the voucher with the real JR Pass and make the reservations to kyoto, hiroshima, osaka. Is it correct because what I read is I can't make any reservation before I change the voucher JR Pass ?

Haaai :D

Great to hear your bookings are done.
And yes you are correct, you can start making train reservations the moment that you are in Japan and have exchanged the voucher for actual rail pass.

Haii again,

Need advise We'll activated the JR pass on the 3rd day in tokyo. What is the best ticket we must buy ? we're planning to odaiba on the 1st day, disneyland 2nd day, disney sea 3rd day. Is it Suica or one day / two day pass ?

Thank you

Ahoy!

In that case I would recommand getting a Suica card for every person you are traveling with.

This way you will be able to travel around Tokyo with every kind of transport without haveing to buy seperate tickets everytime.

Just make sure you load enough balance on each Suica card :)

Haii Dan,

Just to share our experienced :) the trip was very amazing. Even we can't speak Japanese at all. The people is helpful to show us the way, the food is yummy. My kids enjoy all the place we're visited.
Hope we can back to Japan again :)

Thank you for your information about Mazda factory, they like it

Hi and welcome back!

It's already been 4 months since your last post here.
Thank you for sharing, I always love reading people's experiences in Japan.

If you ever need help again or want tips for Japan travel, you know where to find us :)
Daniel

haiii Daniel,

This year we're planning to go to Sapporo or hokkaido for winter
We never been learning ski before so could you please suggest us ?
If we stay 4 days , is it enough time ?
I read about Otaru, Niseko

Thank you for your attention

Hi there,

How was your last trip to Japan,

I recommend reading www.snowjapan.com for a lot of winter-sports recommendations in Japan.

Niseko is a very popular resort and one of the best in the country.

Hope this helps,
Daniel

haii

the trip was very amazing. Even we can't speak Japanese at all. The people is helpful to show us the way, the food is yummy. My kids enjoy all the place we're visited.

OK, i'll visited the website
I heard that a new train from tokyo to hokkaido ? Is is possible we take the train without booking the seat ?

Many thanks

Hi again!

The Hayabusa train between Tokyo - Hokkaido only have reserved seats. You can however get a reservation up to 5minutes before departure and the JR Pass includes free reservation.s

Hope this helps!
Daniel

Hi Daniel....

Nice to see you again
For this trip I bought Takayama Hokuriko Pass Because we're planning only to visit shirakawago from Osaka
Is it overed all the transportation in osaka area ? Like if we want to go to Rinku Premium Outlet ?

Thank you

Hi again,

You will find the exact coverage here:
http://touristpass.jp/en/takayama_hokuriku/

Local JR lines in Osaka are included.

Hi... Daniel

Thank you for the information