Question About 21-Day JR Rail Pass

I'm currently devising an itinerary for a 21-day trip that includes visiting Tokyo and Kyoto. The 21-day JR Rail Pass would cover this time period nicely, but I'm curious if it's worth the cost. No details have been hammered out yet, but it looks like it'll be about 10 days in Tokyo, four to seven days in Kyoto, then the remainder of the time in back Tokyo (of course, I'm open to suggestions for other areas to explore that the JR Rail Pass would cover).

Thanks!

The only way to know whether the pass makes sense is to figure out roughly how much you would pay without it. Looking up trains fares on Hyperdia may help, but keep in mind that it only gives the full train fares, and many other options exist (highway buses, flights, discounted train tickets, etc.).

(1) Read about the different passes on offer: http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2357.html .

Remember that when you're staying in one city there's no point in paying for a rail pass for those days.

You can combine two or more different short-duration passes, and choose the days on which they start (and therefore stop), if you have a trip where e.g. you stay in one place for a long time in the middle of your trip. You may also decide to try and put all your long trips within the same 7 or 14 day period, to maximise the value of buying a pass.

(2)Read about how to use Hyperdia to check what it would cost if you just bought the tickets individually: http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2323.html . Yes, the Hyperdia cost will include the few hundred Yen additional cost of a reserved seat, but in the grans scheme of things this is irrelevant.

(3)Compare the results of (1) with those of (2).

(4) As above, remember that there are also flights, buses, slow trains instead of shinkansen, etc.

You should never buy a rail pass based on the length of your itinerary. It should always be based on the train trips you plan to make, and whether or not a rail pass is cost-effective.

Unless you plan to make several long-distance day trips while in Tokyo and Kyoto, it is highly unlikely a 21-day JR Pass will pay off. A 7-day JR Pass comes close to paying off with a return trip between Tokyo and Kyoto, so you can see that a 21-day JR Pass wouldn't!

You need to look up the costs of the trips, add them together, and them compare rail pass costs.

Thanks for the info thus far!

I learned of Hyperdia after my original posting and I've been using it to estimate costs between various destinations. Because the trip duration is three weeks, I've been considering adding Hiroshima to the itinerary. I figure there's no point in going back to Tokyo for more that one day / night if the first 10 days were spent there.

Thus, the basic outline of the itinerary looks like this:
Day 1 - Day 10: Tokyo
Day 11 - Day 16: Kyoto
Day 17 - Day 19: Hiroshima
Day 20 - Day 21: Tokyo

Given this revised itinerary and the data from Hyperdia, I think the 21-day JR Pass would be the best solution.

For starters, how about a 14-day pass to cover all the trips outside of Tokyo?

I agree with Firas and actually with my calculations (from hyperdia) the 14 day pass was a bit more expensive than three separate Nozomi fares - Tokyo to Kyoto 14,110, Kyoto to Hiroshima 11,610 and Hiroshima to Tokyo 19,280 which total 45,000 with the 14 day pass costing 46,390.

Don't understand how you figured a 21 day pass at 59,350 would work for this itinerary.....

My logic of choosing the 21-day pass over the 14-day pass is based upon my experience the last time I was in Japan. I spent 8 days in Tokyo (and a day in Kamakura) and spent somewhere between 120 and 150 USD for transportation. Factoring in the total by Maranyc, that would bring transportation costs to around the cost of the 21-day pass.

Don't get me wrong, though. I'm open to the idea of using my Suica card in Tokyo and a 14-day JR Pass elsewhere. At the moment I'm trying to weight convenience and price.

How on Earth did you spend $150 on transport in Tokyo in 8 days? I can't for the life of me figure that out, unless you went to Odaiba every day and bought a day pass for the Yurikamome. I just don't get it.

I thought it was a bit high too, but that's what it appeared to be. I didn't keep an exact record of the amount I spent on travel, but I was able to estimate the amount by subtracting my other expenditures from the total I spent.

1000 yen would be higher than the normal tourist would spend in a day if they grouped their visits by geographical area. Even the Kamakura pass is about 720 yen.

I would still get a 14-day pass for the long journeys and use it within the days on local transport, if valid. The other days, I'd just use an IC card, ICOCA would be better than SUICA so you could use it in Hiroshima. If not, then a day pass for Hiroshima isn't too expensive, though I found myself walking most of the time in the 5 years I've been there.

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll talk it over with my other travel companions and determine the best solution.

The JR Pass does not allow you to use any train. You're limited to JR trains. No matter what pass you're getting, you'll have to spend some more.

All we know is that you're going to Kyoto, Hiroshima and back to Tokyo within 2 weeks. Again, why get a 21-day pass?

The 21-day pass seemed like the best option given the number of long-distance trains and the duration we'd be in Tokyo. Based upon my past travel expenses in Tokyo and the price for the shinkansen between the various locations in our preliminary itinerary, the 21-day JR Pass seemed to be the most equitable option in terms of price and convenience.

When you started the thread, the trip to Hiroshima was not in the papers and you were "open to suggestions", indicating that you're in a very preliminary stage of planning a trip around Japan.

You really need to consider this carefully because to me your plan comes off as vague and the pass is expensive.

The plan IS vague right now and I was considering the 21-day until this thread provided me with more information regarding my various options. When starting this thread, I had planned to go through with the 21-day pass plan because it seems like the most economical and convenient solution, but I wanted some more information first. The pass now seems more like 'maybe', but only if there's enough travel to justify it. The 14-day sounds a lot better for the trip as it stands right now.

I'll know for certain which pass/es will be best when the itinerary is officially planned in a few weeks.

Wait until you have a finished itinerary before picking rail passes, otherwise you could end wasting a lot of money.

It is highly unlikely that you will make up the difference between a 14 and 21 day JR Pass using it just in Tokyo. As has been said, a JR Pass only allows you to use JR trains. While there are several in Tokyo, you won't be able to get everywhere just with JR and I doubt you will be spending that much! Again, do not buy a rail pass to fit your whole itinerary; but it to save money!