Is the JR Rail Pass Worth it?

Hi people,

Thanks in advance for your help. I was wondering if the 7 day JR Rail pass would be worth buying for the following itinerary:

15th July - Yokohama to Kyoto
17th July - Kyoto to Nara (Day Trip)
18th July - Kyoto to Osaka
20th July - Osaka to Kobe (Day Trip)
21st July - Osaka to Tokyo

Not to mention that I will also be using the pass (if applicable) for local travels within the above cities.

Do you know http://www.hyperdia.com/ ?
You can search for your schedule and it gives you also some prices. I did this for my intended travel to see if the JR Rail Pass was better (it was).

Rule of thumb is that Tokyo -Kyoto return justifies a 7 day JR Pass.
Use www.hyperdia.com and think in Yen: add up all your trips, and if they are less than 28,300Y then the pass is worth it.
Not to mention that I will also be using the pass (if applicable) for local travels within the above cities.
The JR Pass will not be of any use in your itinerary except for the loop line in Osaka
Have fun!

deffo worth it the tokyo return nearly pays for it's self, then going to kobe you can use the shinkansen, nara can be done by JR too and osaka to kyoto can be done by shinkansen as well

From rough calculations in my head, you may be able to get away with cheaper if making use of the Kodama Purratto economy plan to cover your long distance travel between kanto and kansai. Using local trains between osaka and kobe, kyoto to nara is reasonably cheap. Also, I am not sure how useful a jr pass will be for local transport, with only Osaka having a good route which is served by the jr pass.

However, as already mentioned, having the jr pass would allow you to use the shinkansen between Osaka and Kobe, which will save you time.

Not to mention the shinkansen between Kanto and Kansai! Why would anyone (besides people who specifically asking for budget options, which the OP did not) want to catch slower trains?

The kodama is also a shinkansen, though not as fast as hikari due to having more stops. It may be slightly slower, but it may save quite a bit on cash.

The op never asked for tthe fastest route either...So looking at the question whether the pass will pay off - from a money standpoint it may not. Just stating the facts...

Thanks everyone, for your input. Its very much appreciated. :D

Hi, sorry for unrelated question. My visa now is college student. My mom and sister will be in japan this July. I plan to use JR pass but from its website, jrpass is available for "temporary visitor" thus I can't buy that pass, right ?

No. You can not.