So me and my partner are thinking of renting a car from Nagoya for two weeks and returning to Tokyo. Have no plans of driving in either city's aside from picking up and dropping off the car.. We plan to go to Takayama, Shirakawa, Matsumoto, Nagano, fuji area and then return the car to Tokyo. We understand that public transport is good but we want freedom to explore surrounding areas of everywhere we go. It will cost about 2.5x the amount of public transport but in terms of the freedom it will give us do you think it's worth it? Also not having to lug or luggage about is a bonus as we have been backpacking Asia for 8 months at this stage and this our last trip before returning home to New Zealand.
Any advice would be appreciated.
Thank you 🙏
by Ill_Asparagus_8683
23 comments
Just rent if you want to rent a car. Don’t rent, if you don’t want to. Each destination can also be reached via public transport.
Maybe look through the area to see if there are smaller towns without public transport in between you’d like to visit? Use cases dictate worth.
One of our local tour guides in Kyoto highly recommended renting a car the next time we return to Japan. He said you get to see so many cool, smaller towns, that won’t be swamped by tourists. He said the highway system is really efficient and easy to navigate. He also recommended camping, because no matter where you go, there’s always a convience store nearby lol.
Absolutely worth it… As good as public transport is in Japan, getting between smaller cities and towns can be slow and time consuming. There’s so many beautiful spots to stop, and places that you might only want to spend an hour or two at between all these places that would otherwise take a whole day of travel if sticking to public transport. I’d highly recommend a trip down from Hakone through Izu from the Fuji area too if you get the chance before heading to Tokyo. You’ll see far more with a car than sticking to trains and buses. Just make sure you have/take your IDP, because a licence isn’t enough for any rental agency in Japan.
I did that with my family two times. Once nearly in the same exact area and the other time in Notto region
Small villages, beautiful empty temples, cheaper onsen, waterfalls,…
And nearly no tourists (including no japanese)
I was worth it !
We did this exact same route last year with a rental car and it was probably the highlight of our trip. We took the train from Nagoya to Takayama and picked up the car there. Then hit all of the spots you mentioned before returning the car in Kawaguchiko (we booked the bus back to Tokyo).
It was amazing being able to travel on your own schedule. No worrying about taking the early bus to Shirakawa-go, driving through the mountains surrounded by fall foliage, stopping to hike to a waterfall, etc. I highly recommend it and it was worth the extra expense.
A couple of things to keep in mind, if you’re driving closer to the end of fall the mountains might start getting snow. Tolls ended up costing an additional ¥8500 in the end as well.
Abso fucking lutely. Doubled the case if you’re into hiking and can get an international drivers permit
Sure
Yes, in the area around Mt. Fuji. Explore Shizuoka prefecture, Hakone, and the Izu peninsula. Get the toll pass – the tolls on the highway are very expensive, and the toll gates are not particularly user friendly for non-Japanese.
However, it will take a little time to get used to driving on the left. The controls on the steering wheel stalk are also reversed, so I found myself signaling for a left turn by turning on my wipers. Have fun!
Did it in Hokkaido last year. With three persons it was cheaper than trains and buses + taxi
Why can you not just do most of the moving between cities by train/bus and rent a car for a day whey you want to explore something specific ?
In the cost, did you only count the rental or also included gas, toll road, parking and fee to return car in a different city ?
I visited a wonderful guesthouse called Cocco in Onyudani north of Kyoto. It was amazing but it took us 3 hours to get there because we used public transit. Additionally, while we could hike a bit from our spot, we really couldn’t take advantage of nearby places and see more of the area without a car. While public transit made for a wonderful adventure with its own blessings, I would have loved to have had a car! Especially you Kiwis are already driving on the left (I’m American so the switch is daunting), having a car to explore would be totally worth it!!
Also, I can definitely recommend Cocco and that little valley, it was wonderful food, beautiful sights, and got to meet fantastic people. 🙂 I know you might not have the chance if you’re going to Nagota, but wan8to plug a place I loved!
I’ve never driven in another country or on the other side of the road (American) but if I did, I would start with rural Japan. The videos I’ve seen of driving around those areas makes me want to be brave and try.
I got to Japan every summer to visit my in laws. I think this year was my 25th time going… every year it makes me sad that the average tourist does not get to experience the amazingness of the Japanese highway rest stop. They are freaking amazing. Food courts with probably half a dozen restaurants… amazing regionals foods and goods for sale… it makes road tripping through Japan so much fun. Don’t get me wrong, public transport has its niceties too… this year we road tripped to Kyoto and back and the drive was maybe 7 hours compared to 2.5 via train, but it’s a fun part of Japanese culture to experience for sure.
I rented a car in Nikko for two days and it was absolutely worth it. It freed up my schedule significantly and allowed a lot of freedom of movement. I’m not sure how my plan would’ve even worked with local buses.
My route was:
Day 1: Nikko Toyota Rent a car -> Akechidaira ropeway -> Senjogahara marsh -> Yudaki falls -> Yumoto onsen.
Day 2: onsen -> Ryuzu falls -> Mt. Hangetsu -> embassy villas -> Kegon falls -> lakeside hotel.
Day 3: back to Nikko via Irohazaka. Very lovely in early morning mid-October. It was a long and constantly curving mountain road with beautiful weather and some fall foliage already set in.
I’ve visited the country several times and this was my first time renting a car. I’ve never felt it necessary otherwise, but it’s a great option to keep in pocket. Bigger cities and more well known places usually have transportation handled well, but for smaller and out of the way places, go for it.
I’d like to tour Izu peninsula with a car one day in the future. The east coast has a good train line running through it, but south and west gets iffy in terms of public transportation.
As someone who’s been to Japan a few times and have traveled using public transport, driving was a fun alternative! There are road stop stations that serve local delicacies every so often. I recommend getting an ETC and just settling the tolls at the end. There are so many places that’s hard to access with public transport. I drove around Kyushu last December and there were so many places that would have been hard to visit using public transport. Not gonna lie though, there were a couple of places where google maps led me astray. But that’s mostly my bad for blindly following without checking out the whole route
We are in Japan for three months. Paying 120,000yen/mo for a 7 seat minivan. Unlimited miles and full insurance included. Totally worth it.
I agree with the consensus that it is worth it to rent a car. Make sure that you have your international drivers license. You can pick one up at AAA if you are American. Make a reservation before your departure so you know that they rent to foreigners.
You may want to get the car in Takayama or some other smaller town. There’s little worse than getting in an impossible traffic jam going into Tokyo. I remember being in one where it was taking an hour to go a kilometer.
It can be a lot of fun! And some of the routes between those towns will take much longer by public transit.
My only advice would be to consider renting and returning your car outside the major cities. Instead of renting in Nagoya and returning in Tokyo, maybe rent in Gifu (outside Nagoya) and return in Kofu (outside greater Tokyo). Navigating the heavier traffic of cities can be stressful where being out in the countryside is pretty easy!
I don’t suggest any particular routes or destinations, but do recommend to drop in some Michi-no-Eki (Roadhouses) in the areas you visit. There are hundreds all over the country, they are good spots not just to rest and dine, but they also offer loads of fresh and unique local produces of the area.
Yes, I had great experiences exploring Japan by car.
Holy hell I’ve never had a post that applied to me so much. Yes, yea, dear mother of God, yes – It’s incredibly worth it. I rented a car from Nissan in Nagano and put probably 1600km on it recently and it was AMAZING! Lemme know if you have any questions
I wouldn’t do it, but I find driving stressful, particularly on the “wrong” side of the road. If you have already done that or live somewhere where they drive on the left, it definitely seems like it would make some things easier. I saw small parking lots dotted around both touristy and smaller areas, so it seems possible to find parking (another aspect of driving I find stressful). I will say it’s possible to get to some pretty nice rural areas on the fast train from Nagoya to Nagano (Matsumoto, some of the Nakasendo, Azumino area, rural area outside Nagano) so I personally was happy sticking to trains.
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