Train vs. car...

After flying to Tokyo, we are visiting Nikko, Hakone, Takayama for the festival, Kyoto, then back to Tokyo. I thought about train to Nikko, then get a car and drive the rest, dropping the car in Kyoto and taking the bullet train back to Tokyo. A car seems the faster and more efficient way to do this than train or bus. Does this sound ok, or am I missing things? Thank you for any help.

Hi!

It might be faster, but it might not be cheaper. Have you looked into what the drop-off fees for a car rented in Nikko and dropped off in Kyoto might be? I expect they are over 10,000 yen but probably less than 39,000 yen. You'd also need to look at what sort of ETC passes are available for your trip because otherwise tolls will really add up.

Good luck!

Plus you�fll need to pay for parking in most of the locations and get hotels with a parking lot (or pay somewhere).

Generally I would say that car makes sense if you want to visit small places in between. There a car is really an advantage. For the itinerary you have unless you are not telling us about those small villages in between that you want to visit I would use trains.

Costwise it will obviously also depend how big your party is.

Enjoy your trip to Japan!

I not sure it would be that much faster aswell.

At least I can say that a car all the way to Kyoto, even just from Hakone, is not faster, more efficient or cheaper.

It would only make sense if you're traveling with a lot of luggage or those who have trouble walking such as toddlers, the elderly or the challenged, although it may be more scenic depending on what you want to see. Or if you're traveling with perhaps more than 3 people, gasoline and Express Way fees will be a bit more worth while than the train fee, only if you don't have to pay for your rent-a-car. Another thing is that cars will be handy if you want to drive all around the vast Nikko National Park instead of just the main sites.

But Japan is all about trains. They are efficient, fast and affordable. The Shinkansen from Odawara (which is the transit point from Hakone) is scenic enough providing you the view of the Pacific and Mt. Fuji. I've been forced to travel by car from Tokyo area to Nagoya, which is half-way to Kyoto, multiple times, but I would avoid it if I can.

You should also keep in mind that you are driving on the left-hand side of the road following Japanese traffic rules according to Japanese signs, which again is okay in the countryside of a National Park, but not as much on the Express Ways and from there to your hotels on a city road.

Not that driving is impossible, but I'm just trying to answer your question, "A car seems the faster and more efficient way to do this than train or bus. Does this sound ok, or am I missing things?"

When are you traveling because defiantly there are periods you can not even have a shinkansen ticket anymore due the holidays in Japan (golden week is one)

Travel time with car is long, please consider if you really want to do that, because high way in Japan is around 80km/h and some parts 60km/h

Nikko to Hakone - I'd pick the train - a car would be painful slow. About the only piece I would consider driving (also slow) would be Hakone to Takayama for some of the more scenic routes as the trains for the festival would be full, but even then, the train from Odawara to Nagoya to Takayama isn't an especially slow option.

When you're from a 'driving' country, like Australia or the US, it seems sensible to do these longer distances by car. Here in Australia it would be drive or fly.

We've travelled pretty extensively around Japan, and used hire cars only twice-once in Hokkaido, in a loop out of Sapporo, through Asahikawa, Biei, Furano, Noboribetsu, Otaru and back; and once from Matsue to Yamaguchi via Tsuwano and Hagi. On both occasions it was because in the trade-off between time and money, we chose time. In both those areas trains are much less frequent, and slower, than in the areas you will be visiting. In both cases, because of the infrequency of public transport, a car was a better option in the time we had.

And in all the towns we parked the car and either walked or took the tourist bus, because the queues for car parking were long.

I think the only places we stayed with free parking were either very posh ryokans or places which were not accessible by train.

Speed limits are low in Japan-many roads in Australia where you could easily travel at 80 or 100, you are limited to 60kph.

As others have said, unless you either have a big group to defray the cost, travellers who can't/won't use trains, or you want to go off the beaten track, you're better off not driving.

Enjoy your trip!

When travelling in Japan - extra long distances are cheapest by bus or discount plane tickets for major locations. The comments on slow driving speeds is correct. Plus the tollways can really add up when there is quite a bit of distance to travel.

As such - my rule is the following.

(1) Catch public transport around major cities
(2) Hire a car in less populated areas such as rural Honshu, or Kyushu, Hokkaido or Shikoku.

Just to add, even if trains are fully booked, you are still free to stand, queue for the non-reserved section, or hope for someone sitting in the non-reserved section to get off on the way. Meanwhile, when trains are packed for holidays, so is traffic on the roads, and this would include the main roads in resorts. Again, I'm not denying driving, but these are things you need to keep in mind when traveling long-distance in Japan.