Itinerary with questions

27-Dec Day 1 Arrive at 5 pm. Go to Kyoto.
28-Dec Day 2 Hiroshima and Himeji castle
29-Dec Day 3 Kyoto Day 1
30-Dec Day 4 Kyoto Day 2
31-Dec Day 5 Kyoto Day 3
1-Jan Day 6 Kyoto Day 3.5. Morning in Kyoto then go to tokyo
2-Jan Day 7 Tokyo Day 1
3-Jan Day 8 Tokyo Day 2
4-Jan Day 9 Tokyo Day 3
5-Jan Day 10 Tokyo Day 4
6-Jan Day 11 Mt. Fuji and mountains day trip
7-Jan Day 12 Extra Day trip or stay in Tokyo
8-Jan Day 13 Go to Takayama. Check-in and enjoy onsens.
9-Jan Day 14 Check out Shirakawa-go and Takayama
10-Jan Day 15 Come back from Takayama. Flight at 5 pm from Tokyo

A couple questions:

1. If I leave Takayama early on January 10th, will I have enough time to get back to for my flight at 5 pm in Tokyo?

2. If I land in Tokyo at 5 pm on December 27th, will I be able to get to Kyoto that same night?

3. Is the Hiroshima and Himeji castle day trip possible because of the peak train season?

4. Will peak train season still be on from January 6th to January 10?

5. As recommended, I am now traveling to Tokyo on January 1st. I'm hoping to travel back in the afternoon with reserved seats to enjoy new years morning in Kyoto and enjoy the Shinkansen scenery back to Tokyo. Would that be a possibility?

6. Based on my travel plans, would you recommend the JR pass? If not pass would you recommend?

1. From what I can see Takayama to Tokyo is a 5 hour train ride, the earliest one leaves at 11:00 am and arrive at 4:00-4:15 ish, I wouldn't risk cutting it that close to your flight.
2. I won't say it's impossible if you but it's also a 3 hr train ride after what I assume is also a long flight for you. From what I can tell it looks like the Tokyo to Kyoto Shinkansen runs hourly, also it will differ in time if you are using the railpass because it uses the slightly slower Hikari Shinksen (maybe 30min difference)
http://www.shinkansen.co.jp/jikoku_hyo/en/sanyou/sdh_tokyo.html
6. I would recommend the JR Rail Pass considering your itinerary. It should pay off, not drastically, but it makes travel a lot more convenient and hassle free. Also please try the Japan Official Travel app if you're using the JR Pass, it made things so much easier for my trip at least, it prioritizes JR rails so you get the most out of your pass.

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Actually please forgive me, I believe I am incorrect about that first question, I would try using the JR Shinkansen Timetable site, not google maps lol.

1. From what I can see Takayama to Tokyo is a 5 hour train ride, the earliest one leaves at 11:00 am and arrive at 4:00-4:15 ish, I wouldn't risk cutting it that close to your flight.
2. I won't say it's impossible if you but it's also a 3 hr train ride after what I assume is also a long flight for you. From what I can tell it looks like the Tokyo to Kyoto Shinkansen runs hourly, also it will differ in time if you are using the railpass because it uses the slightly slower Hikari Shinksen (maybe 30min difference)
http://www.shinkansen.co.jp/jikoku_hyo/en/sanyou/sdh_tokyo.html
6. I would recommend the JR Rail Pass considering your itinerary. It should pay off, not drastically, but it makes travel a lot more convenient and hassle free. Also please try the Japan Official Travel app if you're using the JR Pass, it made things so much easier for my trip at least, it prioritizes JR rails so you get the most out of your pass.

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1. I recommend going to Tokyo from Jan 9th to 10th, that way you won't rush to get to the airport and you'll be on time if you base is at Tokyo.

2. I think it's possible, it's a long ride from Tokyo but still feasible. Check the website Hyperdia for time tables. But may I ask something? Have you bought your tickets? If not, you could do a multi-city flights, ex. arrival at Kansai Airport and departure at Narita Airport.

3. I won't say peak or not peak on trains. But do you realize that Hiroshima is quite far from Kyoto? Doing a day trip would be quite exausting, and if you are planning on visiting Himeji on the way, I don't believe you'll have time for Hiroshima on the same day. But you could sleep in Hiroshima from Dec 28th to 29th, see things you didn't see the day before in the morning and then go off to Kyoto at noon.

6. I think the 7 day JR pass will pay off, since you'll do Tokyo-Kyoto and Kyoto-Tokyo. And if you really plan to go to Hiroshima, then it will really pay off. Not sure about the 14-day pass, you need to check the price and check the train tickets prices of your destinations at Hyperdia to see if it really pays off.

Enjoy your trip!!!

Hi!

1) It would be technically possible to make it back to Tokyo on time on January 10th, but I am not sure I would personally risk it. If you are using a rail pass, you are looking at it taking 386 minutes from Takayama to Nagoya to Tokyo to Narita Airport. That is over 6 hours on the train. Do you really want to do that before your flight back? You also MUST make the 8:00 am Hida to get to the airport at 14:26 If you miss the 8:00, the next Hida is not until 9:38 and you won't arrive in Narita until 15:23 which is really pushing it for a 17:00 flight. I think the 11:00 train people were mentioned earlier is the Hida from Takayama to Toyama, where you then catch a train from Toyama to Tokyo and then a NEX. There are more trains on the Takayama to Nagoya route. Also please remember, if anything goes wrong with the trains, which can happen you will miss your flight. If you are not using a pass and can use a Nozomi it will speed up your trip and give you more options from Nagoya but you'd probably still need to take the 8:00 am Hida.

2) Yes, it's very possible. I landed around 4ish in June, took a NEX to Tokyo, ate, and then caught a shinkansen to Shin-Osaka and then took local trains to USJ. I didn't arrive until close to 22:00 and was absolutely exhausted, but it is possible. You will be exhausted though since going by your profile you are coming from the US like I did. If you plan to sleep on the train set an alarm.

3) You can do a day trip to Hiroshima from Kyoto. You can do a day trip to Himeji from Kyoto. But you are going to have a really hard time fitting both of them into your trip. Since you will presumably have some jet lag, catching an early train from Kyoto to Hiroshima is definitely do-able. I did it in June 2017. We got to Miyajima around 10:30 am. But considering Himeji isn't going to open until 9:00, so even if you are these ready to go in at 9:00, you are still going to want to spend at least 1 hour, you then need to spend 10-20 minutes getting back to the station, then catch another train to Hiroshima, you're not going to get there until noonish at the earliest. Please do be aware if you decide to break up your day trips, Himeji Castle is closed on the 29th and 30th of December.

4) I doubt it, people have to go back to work and school. People tend to travel right before New Years and around the 3rd or 4th when offices start reopening.

5) I never traveled on New Year's Day but I would imagine fewer people are traveling long distance on New Years itself. Most people have off the 2nd and sometimes the 3rd so I would think the 3rd is the big travel day.

6) What if any pass you get depends on what travel you are doing. If you're just going to Himeji, it's a lot cheaper than going to Hiroshima. Are you planning any other day trips? There are pass calculators on this site you can use to get some idea. It's not exact because it doesn't take into account getting a longer ticket and doing stop overs, but once you are doing a long there and back (like Kyoto to Hiroshima) a pass tends to be a good idea.

Please be aware a lot of things will still be closed on January 2, possibly January 3rd as well. Please check schedules. When you arrive in Tokyo on the 1st finding meals and what is open may be very limited. Even chain places and combini close for New Years. Shrines and temples and areas around them are some of the only things open. Some shops and restaurants might be closed until the 4th. Banks and the PO were when I was in Japan in Dec '05-January '06.

Personally, if you're staying somewhere providing food, you might be better off going to Takayama before going to Tokyo, but only if your accommodation includes breakfast and dinner.

Good luck!

Horrible itinerary. It is one of the busiest times of years. And you have all that extra traveling zigzagging across the country.

I'd look at a map and start again.

IMHO you are doing too much zigzagging around.

It seems that Takayama is only on your list because of the onsen. Be aware that there are onsen much closer to Tokyo. Eg you could spend time in on onsen in Nikko area or Hakone.

Also Himeiji and Hiroshima in the same day seems to be a lot. The good thing so is that you don�ft seem to change hotel so often. So if you feel exhausted you can always change your plan and just stay closer to your resting place.

I�fd say map it out with travel time every day adding in also time from hotel to station to see how much time you have in transport vs time actually on the ground.

Enjoy your trip to Japan!