Travelling in Osaka, Kobe, Nara and Kyoto

I'm going to be in Osaka and Kyoto mainly, and finally heading up to Tokyo on my last 2 days. Do I need to buy the JR Rail or is it more economical to travel by the normal rail systems?

Can you provide more information on your whole itinerary? Which airport do you arrive at? Which airport do you leave from?

In general the 7-day JR Pass is equivalent to a Shinkansen ride from Kyoto to Tokyo and back to Kyoto. There are other cheaper options including overnight buses etc.
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2363.html

In general the JR pass is not very useful within Kyoto, but it can be somewhat useful travelling from Kyoto to surrounding areas including Kobe, Nara, Osaka, Hikone, Hiroshima etc.

Note that in general the JR pass does not pay off on short trips (Nara, Kobe, Osaka).

Enjoy your trip!

We had a 14 day JR pass, and as the previous person indicates, we found it fairly useless in Kyoto due to the number of non-JR (private) railway lines, such as Hankyu, that service the area. It was useful though when we did a day trip to Nara.

GC3: planning to stay in Osaka and doing day trips out to Kobe and Nara, then move on to Kyoto for next few days. heading on to Tokyo for the next 2 days after that. this is the rough itinery.

The point is whether you will return back to Osaka Kansai Airport or leave out from Haneda or Narita Airport near Tokyo.

If you don't return to Osaka, doing as Japanese passengers do(No JR Pass) is cheaper.