Kansai area pass vs icoca card

Hi, I am travelling to Japan (osaka and kyoto) with my family for the first time but not sure which one is best for our transportation. Is it Kansai area pass or Icoca card. Below is our itinerary:

Day 1 - arrival in Kansai airport. Planning to take the airport limousine bus to our hotel in shinsaibashi

Day 2 - Universal studios

Day 3 - Kyoto

Day 4 - Osaka Castle, kids plaza osaka and osaka aquarium

Day 5 - Explore dotonbori and other area near hotel.

Day 6 - early morning flight (flight at 7am) - will take airport limousine bus to Kansai airport

Looking forward for someone's advice on this. Thank you.

While I may not be able to answer the question in regard to the Kansai Area Pass, let me tell you that your question needs revision. The pass is a pass that will allow you access to railway lines while the ICOCA card is just a method of paying for rail fares. You cannot compare the two when it comes to which one would be better. It's apples and oranges.

The Icoca card is just a prepaid card for loading money to pay train and bus fares. You load, say 5000 Yen on the card, and then each time you ride, it deducts money from your balance

The Area pass is an actual pass that you prepay and then can ride the covered routes without paying additional fare as much as you'd like until it expires.

For a short stay and without leaving the area, you may find that individual bus/train fares are cheaper. With some planning, you could probably get everywhere you are going for 200-600 JPY per ride. So you'd likely need to take a dozen rides or so before the Area Pass starts to pay off. I think the area pass make more sense if you will be heading out of the city a few times, like to Nara or Himeji, etc. For convenience, you can use the ICOCA to pay the individual routes, or you can just use cash at the machine each time, it's up to you.

One option you might look into for your 2 days exploring Osaka is the "Amazing pass". It gives free entry to a lot of Osaka sightseeing spots (including Osaka Castle) as well as covers transit around Osaka. It's only 3300 JPY for 2-days. http://www.osaka-info.jp/en/plan/practical_information/travel_passes/o...

All short trips. Kansai thru pass not required.

you can buy tickets by cash, too.

As others have said, I am not sure that you need a pass at all, but the Icoca card in useful. It does not save you money, but it is convenient. the first day is somewhat typical of why you probably do not need a pass.

One the first full day, you are planning to go to Universal Studios, and will probably spend the whole day there. Your transportation is just back and forth from your hotel in the Minami (Namba) area. The closest station that you mentioned is Shinsaibashi Station, and you will need to go to UniversalCity Station. If you plug these two stations into Hyperdia, you will get a 23 minute or so commute that requires a private line, and then two different JR trains. You will have to purchase two tickets, one for the private line part, and another for the JR portion. The cost is 420 each way, for a total cost of 840 yen for the day. If you poke around and look at the choices, you are going to have a hard time beating this cost with any day pass, and it also be harder to find a pass covering both legs of the journey.

If you are willing to walk a little bit, you could make this an all-JR trip by walking to JR-Namba station. This would still require two transfers, but it will not involve switching from the private line to the JR line. The cost of this is 180 yen each way, for a total cost of 360 yen for the day.

There is also the unexpected way that does not involve a train, which is when you oversleep from jet lag, and figure out that you came down for breakfast at 11 AM. You might want to just get a Taxi and not worry about jumping on three trains.

Anyway, the best use of the passes is when you plan to go to many different places, such as the day that you go to Osaka Aquarium, Osaka Castle, Osaka kids plaza. You will be jumping on and off to get from one plase to another, and this is when a pass could pay off.

Good Luck with your planning.