Inquiry on the JR West Rail Pass

my husband and me will be arriving at Kansai Intl Airport at 7:05 PM on April 3. is it advisable for us to get the JR West Rail Pass so we can take the "Haruka" express train to Kyoto? will a 1-day pass be still applicable for us if we intend to proceed to Nara the next day? what is the validity of this?

also, we intend to visit Hiroshima on our 3rd day.... this will just be a day trip as we will come back to kyoto once we see the Peace Museum, etc.. will this be worth the trip?

we would appreciate your suggestion on this.

Many thanks.

my husband and me will be arriving at Kansai Intl Airport at 7:05 PM on April 3. is it advisable for us to get the JR West Rail Pass so we can take the "Haruka" express train to Kyoto?

Yes, the JR West One Day Pass 2000 yen is cheaper than a single ticket on the Haruka.

You can usually pre-purchase the pass in your country if you wish, as you are only allowed to purchase one each inside Japan.

will a 1-day pass be still applicable for us if we intend to proceed to Nara the next day? what is the validity of this?

No the JR West One Day Pass is only valid on the one calendar day, ie it will expire at 11:59pm on April 3. You cannot use it in the morning of April 4.

However, the fare from Kyoto to Nara is only 500 yen or less one way so a pass will not usually pay off.
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e4107.html

also, we intend to visit Hiroshima on our 3rd day.... this will just be a day trip as we will come back to kyoto once we see the Peace Museum, etc.. will this be worth the trip?

Yes, I think Hiroshima is a nice day trip. Depending on what you wish to see you may even be able to include a short trip to Miyajima. The Peace Park, A-Dome and Museum would be the usual destinations.

Note that it is not cheap to day trip to Hiroshima.

If you can explain the rest of your itinerary there may be some other passes which provide an economical solution to your travels. Even a 7-day JR Pass will come close to paying off by the time you do a trip from Kansai to Kyoto and back plus the round trip to Hiroshima.

Enjoy your trip!

The passes are valid from the 1st train of the day to the last train of the day, not 24 hours. If you use JR West Kansai Area pass on Apr 3 to travel from KIX to Kyoto, it's not effective on Apr4 anymore.

You can see the validity area here.
http://www.westjr.co.jp/english/travel-information/pass/

train fare example
KIX to Kyoto : 2980yen(Haruka Airport Exp.)
Kyoto to Shin-Osaka : 540yen
Shin-Osaka to Hiroshima : 10350yen(Shinkansen)
Kyoto to Nara : 690yen

I think a daytrip from Kyoto/Osaka to Hiroshima using JR Pass is worth it, from the viewpoint of both experience and money.

Thank you K and GC3 for your very helpful answers to my queries.

GC3, we'll only be in Kyoto for practically 4 days since we'll be arriving in kansai past 7pm on april 03 then fly back home on sunday, april 08.

upon our arrival in Kansai, we intend to take the JR Airport Limited Express 'Haruka' to Kyoto. As per your advise, we will get the JR West Rail Pass for 1 day for Y2,000.00. The following day, we plan to leave for Nara after breakfast thru the Kintetsu Line and come back to Kyoto in the afternoon.

The day after, we will just be in Kyoto to check-out the places we've missed during our trip there last December 2011: Kyoto Imperial Palace, Kiyomizu Temple, Roanji, Nishiki Food Market, Kyoto Handicraft Center, etc. We also intend to chek-out the cherry blossom spots there - Philosopher's Path pr the Maruyama Park? what can you suggest please?

April 6, we plan to go to Hiroshima for the day.
April 7, we might just check out Osaka if it's worth it or just laze in Kyoto.

What do you suggest? This trip is really more of a relaxing one for me and my husband and we just want to enjoy Kyoto.

what can you say about the Ohara Asaichi Morning Marketplace? Is it worth to go there? we're thinking of moving our trip back home on Monday, so we can experience Ohara on Sunday.

Please advise. Thank you very much for the help