Originally Posted by
enya
Hello! This is my first post here as well as my first trip to Japan. Would greatly appreciate some help, as I am seriously confused after all the blogs i have read..
So I am traveling to Japan in April (4-17). I will be traveling alone and am a woman and I fly in and out of Tokyo.
This is the itinerary I have finally decided on, do you think it is okay or should i change it in any way?
Tokyo 4-7
Osaka 7-10
Kyoto 10-13
Hakone 13-15
Tokyo 15-17
Also I am planning to take the 14 day JR pass, would it be worth it for this itinerary?
Hello
enya, welcome to Flyertalk and to the Japan forum. Quite a few of us are female and pretty used to travelling around on our own.
Looking at your itinerary, and knowing that very little actual touring typically happens on arrival and departure dates, your list tells me you plan to spend:
4 days (2.5 + 1.5 days) in Tokyo
3 days in Osaka
3 days in Kyoto
&
2 days in Hakone
Without knowing what your plans are in each area, I couldn’t tell you whether it’s OK or not. From my personal point of view, it seems rather lopsided, with both Osaka and Hakone given rather more time given the sum of their sights and attractions than Kyoto and Tokyo, which are generally considered to offer far more. But you may have particular interests or goals at Osaka and Hakone that would make this the right choice for you.
As for your question about the 14 day JR Pass, no for this itinerary it wouldn’t make sense to buy it. If this is the itinerary you want to stick to it would make more sense to buy a 7 day pass to activate on the 7th and use it to get to Hakone on the 13th. From Hakone to Shinjuku station it only costs about ¥1,100 yen (or ¥2,330 if you get the faster “Romancecar”). Depending on your itinerary you might want to get the Hakone Free pass for travel within the area anyway - this page will explain your options there, a JR pass for this part of your itinerary would not be particularly useful:
https://www.odakyu.jp/english/passes/hakone/