Itinerary Ideas/Help

[Chewbette]

The best way to calculate if a JRP is worth, and for how many days is to use hyperdia website in english, and add up all the fares of the travels you will be doing. It's fastidious and a bit boring but "mandatory". Or I didn't know the calculator you found... You have to watch out also that all the journeys are made in the 7 days or 14 consecutive days interval.
I did 2 times 5 weeks in Japan, the first time I bought 1x21days national JRP and 1x 7days, not looking enough into the regional passes.. The other time I bought a 7 day regional pass (Sanyo San'in JRP) and a 21 days national JRP, so it was cheaper. When we go back this November, we will "only" be doing 11 full days in Tokyo and around, so no need for JRP, we will only buy the Hakone one.

 

[Haley R]

The best way to calculate if a JRP is worth, and for how many days is to use hyperdia website in english, and add up all the fares of the travels you will be doing. It's fastidious and a bit boring but "mandatory". Or I didn't know the calculator you found... You have to watch out also that all the journeys are made in the 7 days or 14 consecutive days interval.
I did 2 times 5 weeks in Japan, the first time I bought 1x21days national JRP and 1x 7days, not looking enough into the regional passes.. The other time I bought a 7 day regional pass (Sanyo San'in JRP) and a 21 days national JRP, so it was cheaper. When we go back this November, we will "only" be doing 11 full days in Tokyo and around, so no need for JRP, we will only buy the Hakone one.

So maybe we should just get a regional one for Tokyo and a 7-day pass for Kyoto? I have no idea what to do

 

[Haley R]

We started looking at a hotel room for Hakone. We would only need a room for one night and are booking through the Chase portal so only have a couple of options. Right now our plan is to leave Tokyo early in the morning, go through Odwara to Gora, and hike in the Gora park. We would then stay that night and wake up to go to Kyoto the next day. Here are the two hotels we can choose from and the room types we can choose from:

1. Hakone Sengokuhara Prince Hotel (seems to be about a 15 minute commute from the end of our hiking trail)

• No views of Mt. Fuji or a lake, this one has a golf course instead
• Can only book a Superior Room = 11,373 points

2. The Prince Hakone Lake Ashinoko (seems to be about a 40-50 minute commute from the end of our hiking trail)

• Views of the lake and Mt. Fuji
• Double Room = 14,848 points (not sure what the view would be of)
• Twin Room, Garden View = 19,796 points
• Superior Twin Room, Partial Lake View = 20,362 points
• Twin Room, Lake View = 22,624 points
• Twin Room, Mountain View = 25,453 points

Obviously, we have a lot of options. It would make the MOST sense to go with the first one because it costs less and is closer to our hike, but the views at the other hotel are so pretty. What do you guys think?

 

[MKTokyo]

We started looking at a hotel room for Hakone. We would only need a room for one night and are booking through the Chase portal so only have a couple of options. Right now our plan is to leave Tokyo early in the morning, go through Odwara to Gora, and hike in the Gora park. We would then stay that night and wake up to go to Kyoto the next day. Here are the two hotels we can choose from and the room types we can choose from:

1. Hakone Sengokuhara Prince Hotel (seems to be about a 15 minute commute from the end of our hiking trail)

• No views of Mt. Fuji or a lake, this one has a golf course instead
• Can only book a Superior Room = 11,373 points

2. The Prince Hakone Lake Ashinoko (seems to be about a 40-50 minute commute from the end of our hiking trail)

• Views of the lake and Mt. Fuji
• Double Room = 14,848 points (not sure what the view would be of)
• Twin Room, Garden View = 19,796 points
• Superior Twin Room, Partial Lake View = 20,362 points
• Twin Room, Lake View = 22,624 points
• Twin Room, Mountain View = 25,453 points

Obviously, we have a lot of options. It would make the MOST sense to go with the first one because it costs less and is closer to our hike, but the views at the other hotel are so pretty. What do you guys think?

I am always the person that will pay for convenience/a nice view/a better experience, so please accept that I am biased However, though the most expensive room says it has a view of Mt. Fuji, weather conditions sometimes make it impossible to see. You are coming in June, when clouds are likely to obscure the view more often than not. It would be terrible if you used 25K points & then had no view at all, or a very hazy one.

A lake or garden view would be really nice, IMO. But, the other hotel overlooks a golf course, which is certainly not going to be ugly. If you can put the points to work elsewhere, by all means, save them.

 

[Haley R]

I am always the person that will pay for convenience/a nice view/a better experience, so please accept that I am biased However, though the most expensive room says it has a view of Mt. Fuji, weather conditions sometimes make it impossible to see. You are coming in June, when clouds are likely to obscure the view more often than not. It would be terrible if you used 25K points & then had no view at all, or a very hazy one.

A lake or garden view would be really nice, IMO. But, the other hotel overlooks a golf course, which is certainly not going to be ugly. If you can put the points to work elsewhere, by all means, save them.

I think you’re right and Dh and I talked about it. We decided we are going to go with the golf course resort. Thanks!

 

[Colleen27]

Obviously, we have a lot of options. It would make the MOST sense to go with the first one because it costs less and is closer to our hike, but the views at the other hotel are so pretty. What do you guys think?

As lovely as a view would be, it wouldn't be worth the extra travel time to me. Time is money in the most literal sense when on vacation, and I personally don't want to spend any more of that time on the commute than necessary.

 

[Haley R]

We went ahead and booked at the Sengokuhara Prince Hotel. We will only be there for one night and it's closer to the hiking trail in case we are tired after hiking.

I tried gathering a plan for our JR Pass and other train passes and this is what I came up with:
May 28-June 2 Tokyo and Hakone (use PASMO and Tokyo Metro Passes)
June 3-9 7-day JR Pass
June 9-15 We will be at Disney so won't really need a type of pass for trains

Does this look good?

I know I was hung up on the 21-day pass earlier, but it will cost about $530-$550 less to get a 7-day pass. The 72-hour Tokyo Metro card is only like $13 USD so I think we will get that and save a ton of money by only getting a 7-day rail pass.

 

[indoshakespeare]

yes, 7 day pass would be sufficient

 

[Haley R]

yes, 7 day pass would be sufficient

Thank you! We will just have to pay for Tokyo-Hakone/Gora out of pocket, but it looked like it would only cost around $40.

 

[Douglas Dubh]

Thank you! We will just have to pay for Tokyo-Hakone/Gora out of pocket, but it looked like it would only cost around $40.

Well, that and the trains from and to Narita, but those shouldn’t be too much. I think it’s a good plan.

 

[Haley R]

Well, that and the trains from and to Narita, but those shouldn’t be too much. I think it’s a good plan.

I added it all up and we will spend around $210 when we aren’t using the jr pass and I included the Disney monorail and a 72-hour metro pass into that. That’s still $300 less than the 21-day rail pass. I’m not sure how much cheaper than the 14-day pass but I’m good getting just 7 days. The next thing is figuring out how to get into Gora lol. Looks like a major pain but that’s where we are staying and hiking at.

 

[RedmonFamily]

Did you find a Maricar Experience that did not require an international drivers license? I don't have one and really want to do this when we go!

 

[Colleen27]

Did you find a Maricar Experience that did not require an international drivers license? I don't have one and really want to do this when we go!

I doubt you'll find one that doesn't since they use regular roadways. That probably means they have to comply with Japanese laws about licensing drivers.

Why not just get an international DL? There's really nothing to it, just a one-page application, two passport-type photos and a $20 fee, and you can apply at most (all?) AAA offices.

 

[wanderlust7]

Why not just get an international DL? There's really nothing to it, just a one-page application, two passport-type photos and a $20 fee, and you can apply at most (all?) AAA offices.

You can even mail it in to AAA and no membership required.

 

[Haley R]

Did you find a Maricar Experience that did not require an international drivers license? I don't have one and really want to do this when we go!

We were just planning on getting our international license I think.

I chose based on route. There is one that goes over the rainbow bridge and I thought that was pretty cool. We haven’t actually paid for anything yet so we may or may not end up doing it.

 

[Haley R]

I doubt you'll find one that doesn't since they use regular roadways. That probably means they have to comply with Japanese laws about licensing drivers.

Why not just get an international DL? There's really nothing to it, just a one-page application, two passport-type photos and a $20 fee, and you can apply at most (all?) AAA offices.

When I looked I thought it was like $100 per person to get one. Did I look in the wrong place?

 

[wanderlust7]

When I looked I thought it was like $100 per person to get one. Did I look in the wrong place?

It's very confusing when you just Google "international driver's license". But there are only 2 agencies in the US that are authorized to issue them (AAA and AATA).

https://www.aaa.com/vacation/idpf.html
http://aataidp.com/applicaton/

AAA seems easier, have read that if you go in person, they can be issued on the spot.

 

[Haley R]

It's very confusing when you just Google "international driver's license". But there are only 2 agencies in the US that are authorized to issue them (AAA and AATA).

https://www.aaa.com/vacation/idpf.html
http://aataidp.com/applicaton/

AAA seems easier, have read that if you go in person, they can be issued on the spot.

I'm not sure where I saw the $100 fee at. Looks like we have a AAA office 10 miles from us and it will only cost $20. I think we still have an additional passport picture because when we got them taken we received two each. Might as well get one since it's only $20. Even if we end up not doing MariCar we wouldn't be out a ton of money, but I think we will most likely end up doing it.

Thanks!

 

[Flossbolna]

Maricar just had a judgement against them preventing them from using Nintendo intellectual property. So, I am not sure how fun it will still be.

 

[Haley R]

Maricar just had a judgement against them preventing them from using Nintendo intellectual property. So, I am not sure how fun it will still be.

We aren't really doing it for the whole Mario theme. I just think it's super cool that you get to drive a go kart around town and over the Rainbow Bridge lol. I know there are different Maricar companies. Was the judgement against all of them or just a certain one? We are wanting to do this one: https://rmaricar.tokyo/