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Self drive Kyoto - Takayama - Hakone -
12-28-2009, 02:26 AM
Advice please:
We are an Australian family of 4 travelling Osaka - Kyoto - Takayama - Hakone - Tokyo over 14 days in January. I've been looking into train and bus fares for the Kyoto - Takayama - Hakone legs of our journey and I'm starting to think we should just hire a car to do these long journeys given we have to pay 4 fares. I also looked into bus which is definitely a lot cheaper but also takes a lot longer and I'm worried about our children not doing well on the bus. What do you think about hiring a car to self-drive Kyoto to Takayama (2 nights stay in Tak) and then drive Takayama to Hakone (drop off car in Hakone)? I have found a company that will hire us a medium sized car for a ver good price, (ToCoo), ( a lot lower than combined train fares), even including the fee for dropping the car off in Hakone. We have driven in Thailand, the UK and Malaysia before but I'm not sure how the experience in Japan would compare. Would traffic congestion on the highways be a problem? I know there are tolls too, how much should I roughly allow for the cost of these? Also how much would you allow for fuel costs to do this drive? I'm also not sure what the road from Nagoya to Takayama would be like. Does it ever close due to snow? If so, how often does this happen? If it happens, does the train still operate? Any advice and info you can offer is greatly appreciated, many thanks :-) 
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12-31-2009, 04:02 PM
Quote:
The drive between Osaka, Kyoto, Nagoya, Hakone and Tokyo is long, but straight forward, the drive to Takayama will be a bit of a hassle... also, Japanese roads and highway can get rather confusing, even my uncle (Native Japanese) got lost between the Airport and Tokyo TWICE when he picked me up at the airport.
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12-31-2009, 07:34 PM
Quote:
The bullet train is about 2 1/2 hours.
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01-01-2010, 01:07 AM
Yes, the road tolls are stupidly expensive here, and taking the smaller roads to avoid paying for them can add a lot of time to your trip. But almost every small road I travel on offers something interesting to see or do. If you've driven in Malaysia, then driving in Japan will be a cakewalk.
If you are going to drive, plan out your trip using Google Maps or such on your computer, and print out a map book covering the route you intend to take.
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01-01-2010, 01:22 AM
I've driven a lot around and through Japan and as Sangetsu says, those little roads can be VERY interesting and really add to your Japan experience.
The highways whilst expensive, one get's the feeling of being "closed in" and "watched" by the cameras. Aussies highways are free and open to nature. Stop on the side for a leak, and you face the tal eucalypts possibly glimpsing a snake or koala. Cheers - Oz
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01-01-2010, 04:53 AM
If you decide to drive, try a so-called K-Car. They are smaller cars with small engines but are sometimes cheaper than the normal cars. You cannot go as fast but the max-limit is 80km/h on the highway anyways. And there are K-car Vans wich should be enough for 2 adults and 2 kids. Ah, the highway-toll is also a bit cheaper with this kind of car.
I found driving in Japan not to difficult but i generally stayed out of any huge city-centers. I have been driving in Kobe and Hiroshima and that worked out quite well. If your car doesnt have a navigation than get an Roadatlas (they are available in English) and you should be fine. I think anything outside the Tokyo-Area and maybe Osaka should be ok to drive. Signs are generally in English as well! I always drove on smaller roads because of the high fees on highways and because i had time and its a good way to see a different Japan. Especially the roadstops are interesting, they are called "michi no eki" and there is an english map available wich shows all of them. nippon-rentacar has some information on renting of k-car (yellow plate) cars Rental Rates have fun
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01-01-2010, 06:14 AM
Unless you are very good with mountain roads covered with ice and snow - Do NOT make the Nagoya - Takayama trip by car. I`ve done it, in autumn, and even then the roads were icy in the mountains. Even if you ARE familiar with Japanese roads, small mountain roads, and ice... I wouldn`t suggest it because others driving often are not so you`ll end up inching along as they drive below 20km/h. Really, I think the idea of driving around Japan to be a great one, but January is NOT the time to do it. Even if you stay out of the mountains, last night the entire Nagoya expressway was closed down due to snow and ice. It`s far far worse in the mountains - yes, the roads do close often.
The expressway should be open in all but the worst, however - as others have pointed out - the expressway in Japan is anything but free. The cost of renting a car alone may be cheap, but adding in gas and expressway costs... Plus the sheer amount of time it takes to drive places when you`re not familiar with the roads... Would you really be saving? ETA; I also highly advise against going with a kei - (called K-car above). I cannot even begin to count the number of little keis that seem to slip and slide off the road or get stuck in snow. Kei vans slip and flip on roads a normal car would have no trouble with. If you`ll be ONLY in a big city, putting around, a kei is fine. Any real driving...? Umm, you couldn`t PAY me enough to drive one.
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01-02-2010, 03:05 AM
ah sorry i forgot that it is January, nyorin is right, forget the K-car in the snow!
I drove in late spring and there it was perfect, but with snow and ice? I think i wouldt drive.....
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01-04-2010, 09:13 AM
Thanks everyone.
After much consideration of all your points, we're getting the train but not the Nozomi, to save on some costs. With tolls, gas and a one way drop off fee the car did still work out cheaper than the train but not by enough to make it worthwhile risking the driving in the snow etc. I love a self-drive holiday but I think in this case it's better not to. Thank you so much  7 more sleeps! 
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