User:Bigpeteb/Sandbox/Japan's Golden Route

The Golden Route of Japan is a nickname for the rough itinerary followed by many first-time visitors to the country, which generally takes them to Tokyo, Kyoto, and Osaka with day trips to one or two other cities of note and usually includes a brief detour to a fancy hot springs inn.

Understand
The Japan Rail Pass is an excellent deal for tourists, offering unlimited travel on the national rail network including all but the very fastest bullet trains, making it easy to branch out and see multiple cities at almost no additional cost. The 14-day pass is ideal for the Golden Route. It's possible to make the 7-day pass work with some planning, by staying in Tokyo (where the JR Pass isn't very useful for getting around town) for several days, then squeezing all your major trips to other cities into 7 days.

Prepare
Japan's efficient and punctual train system makes travel from one city to the next easy to plan almost to the minute. A plan that works well for most visitors is to have a "home base" in a major city from which you'll explore for several days, then pick up and move to your next base. Trips between bases with all your luggage would be scheduled in advance, as would any overnight stops at hot springs or ryokan inns, while day trips can be left to your whimsy once you're there.

To that end, you should use a train search engine such as HyperDia to explore and plan possible trips between your "home base" stops. (Jorudan and Google Maps can do similar searches, but do not have as many options for exploring alternative routes or filtering results.) Just be sure to uncheck or exclude Nozomi and Mizuho trains. For a trip from Tokyo to Osaka or Kyoto, there will be many options, but getting to or from at an inn in a rural area will likely take the better part of a day, and it's those kinds of trips that will dictate your schedule.

The JR Pass can be purchased in Japan, but it's slightly cheaper if purchased in advance, which you must do from a travel agency. You will receive a voucher, which must be exchanged at major JR stations for the actual pass.

Get in
Most travelers will fly into Tokyo via Japan's two busiest airports: Haneda and Narita. All things being equal, Haneda is better since Narita is 30-90 minutes from Tokyo, a trip not usually relished when jet-lagged after a long flight.

If flying into Narita, there are several ways to get to Tokyo. If you'll have enough days on your JR Pass to start it immediately, you should do so and take the Narita Express, which is free with the JR Pass. Otherwise, the Keisei Skyliner is the fastest and reasonably priced at ¥2,470, while the Keisei Access Express is a great value at ¥1,240

Tokyo
Travelers from the Americas and Europe often arrive around midday, which puts you in Tokyo more or less in time for dinner. However active you feel, don't expect to do much your first day. Explore the area around your lodging, find someplace for supper, and have a quiet evening. You'll fall asleep before you know it.

The jet lag will hit overnight, and you'll have trouble staying asleep until morning. This isn't aided by Japan not using daylight saving time, so in summer the sun rises as early as 4:30am. Since you'll be awake anyway, you might as well take advantage of it and get some morning sushi, fresh off the boat. The Toyosu Market holds fish auctions starting at 05:00 (before public transit starts, so you'll need to take a taxi and get out of bed early). There are a number of sushi shops that open as early as 05:00 in the Toyosu Market and in the old Tsujiki Fish Market, but you will have to wait in line for a few of the most popular ones. If you go to Tsukiji, you'll be right next to Ginza, the high-fashion district home to many upscale department stores and art galleries. From there, it's a short jump to Chiyoda, the center of Tokyo containing the Imperial Palace and National Diet as well as the electronics mecca of Akihabara, but the rest of Tokyo isn't far away and you should follow your heart's desire at this point.

In Tokyo, the subway is generally the better way to get around. JR's usefulness is limited to the Yamanote Line which loops around the city, and the Chuo-Sobu Line that bisects it. Thus, you probably won't get much use from your JR Pass while you're in Tokyo, and it be more cost-effective to plan your trip around a shorter JR Pass that you'll start when you're ready to leave Tokyo.

Hot springs and ryokan
After 3-7 days of Tokyo, you'll be over the worst of the jet lag, but your feet will probably be ready for a break. This is the perfect time to make a stop at a fancy hot spring inn on your way to your next major city.

Ryokan are traditional Japanese inns, and they are a destination unto themselves. You'll spend your evening soaking in the hot spring baths, eating an elaborate kaiseki meal, and perhaps exploring the gardens, having drinks in your room, or making use of the karaoke rooms or other entertainment.

You could make a longer trip of it by staying two or more nights at a hotel or inn in a resort town, where you can spend the day walking through the village in a yukata robe and geta wooden sandals checking out the small-town sights and quaint shops. Regardless of how many days you stay, you must plan your ride to and from the ryokan in advance, as they usually keep a fairly strict schedule. You'll be expected to arrive by 17:00; many ryokan offer a free shuttle from the nearest train station. In the morning you'll have dinner and a final bath before checking out at 10:00. These trips are where HyperDia and other train search engines shine; tell it you need to arrive by 17:00 (or whenever the inn's shuttle departs the station) and it will show only routes meeting that requirement. Most ryokan are in small towns in the country, which means transferring trains at least once, and travel times as long as 5 hours from Tokyo for the furthest-flung ones.

Finding ryokan takes some research, as there are many to choose from. Good areas to look for a Golden Route trip include:
 * Hakone, conveniently situated between Tokyo and Osaka
 * The Japanese Alps, including the prefectures of Gunma and Tochigi in Kanto, and Gifu, Nagano, and Yamanashi (prefecture) in Chubu
 * Wakayama

Kyoto and Osaka
Many visitors will find that it's better to stay in Osaka and see Kyoto by day trips. Most of Kyoto's attractions are touristy historical sites, while Osaka has a more active night life.

Go next
If you're looking for a longer trip, you can add another major city that most people don't get to on their Golden Route trip. There are several good options:
 * Fukuoka is an excellent base for exploring Kyushu
 * New Shinkansen routes have made the Hokuriku area of Chubu much more accessible. This is good news, as there are many fantastic destinations such as Kanazawa which have largely been known only to Japanese tourists until recently. Follow the Shinkansen through Fukui (prefecture), Ishikawa, and Toyama (prefecture).
 * Shikoku is more difficult to access, but may be interesting to those with a passion for the outdoors, whether you like cycling, hiking, or river rafting.
 * The Tohoku region is perhaps the least-visited by foreigners, making it attractive for those looking to get off the common tourist paths. Its location north of Tokyo means you'll probably have to backtrack at some point, resulting in losing most of one day to travel, although you could make Sendai, Fukushima, or Yamagata your first stop and go there directly from the airport.
 * It's even more difficult to add Hokkaido into a Golden Route trip. While the island itself can be reached by train in 4 hours from Tokyo, getting further inland to Sapporo stretches this to 8 hours; going by plane, it's only a 2-hour flight. Exploring the sparse region is similarly time-consuming, so it may be better to leave it for a future trip.