JR pass

Hi,
Is it worth a JR pass travelling only Tokio Kyoto- Osaka -Tokyo?
I wiil travel as follow:
Tokyo 30 March -3 April
Kyoto 3 April-7 April
Osaka 7April-9April
Tokio 9 April -10 April
10 April Haneda anc back home.
Thank you

As you can see with the quick calculator on
http://www.japan-guide.com/railpass/
you'd still fall a little short. If you take a day trip for example from Osaka to Himeji, or from Tokyo to someplace like Nikko, Izu, Karuizawa, Kusatsu, etc., you would more than break even. If you don't want to do that, then instead of the JR Pass get the japanican ticket.
http://www.japanican.com/en/tour/detail/VJOPENTK1/
or
http://www.japanican.com/en/tour/detail/VJOPENTO1/
It's a lot cheaper than the JR Pass and you can ride the Nozomi bullet train with it. Fares between the Kansai cities are not covered, but it still works out cheaper than the JR Pass.

Is it worth a JR pass travelling only Tokio Kyoto- Osaka -Tokyo?

I think not.

A 7-day (Ordinary-Class) Japan Rail Pass
is supposed not to save greatly, even if it does, your JR cost.

The total amount of the JR regular fees
(for you just to travel among these stations on Days 3 to 9)
is estimated at 28480 yen.

The 7-day JRP is sold at 29110 yen,
which is paid probably in your currency,
and you pay additionally some amount
to get your Exchange Order,
for example, as a handling fee to a travel agency.

Where will you stay?
What stations are close to your accommodations?

Which sites in Kyoto and in Tokyo do you plan to visit?

A few areas of Kyoto City are accessible from Kyoto Station
both with Japan Rail Pass
and with Kyoto City Bus & Kyoto Bus One-Day Pass.
This 1-day bus pass pays off
for three or more bus rides within the flat-fare zone.

[Estimation of JR regular cost]

2 x 8750 yen as basic fares:
from Tokyo via Kyoto, Shin-Osaka to Osaka and back.

5590 yen a s Shinkansen Hikari surcharge
for your ride on 3 April with your seat reserved:
from Tokyo | Shinagawa to Kyoto.
: The price is set higher by 200 yen on particular busy days,
which includes 3 April.

5390 yen a s Shinkansen Hikari surcharge
for your ride on 9 April with your seat reserved:
from Shin-Osaka to Shinagawa | Tokyo.

Total: 28480 yen.

For your information:

(1) You can travel after Osaka further to Nara and back
at a cost lower by 220 yen,
due to a a long-distance round-trip discount on the basic fares.

(2) You can pay 310 yen more per ride
to take a Shinkansen Nozomi train,
which a Japan Rail Pass traveler is not allowed,
to Kyoto | from Shin-Osaka.

(3) You might hope to use Shinkansen from Kyoto to Shin-Osaka
in order to avoid a weekday morning commuters' rush.
For you to go without seat reservation,
the Shinkansen surcharge for this section
is especially set at a low price, which is 860 yen.
When your seat is reserved,
the surcharge jumps to over 2000 yen.

Lets keep it simple huh. Please give more info. The question is not answerable properly with a better itinerary. Otherwise people are using keystrokes wasting time on a answer.

Tokyo Kyoto Osaka Tokyo. Will you travel anywhere else? Daytrips etc?

Hi,
Thank you for the answers!
Plese note that I am 64 years old, female, and I travel in Japan for cherry blossoms...If I will purchase a JR pass, It will be validate on the day when I will travel to Kyoto .
Regarding the hotels, I will stay as follow:
Tokyo: Sunroute Ginza
Kyoto : Inn Gion the second
Osaka: La raison Osaka.
Even though I'd travel also in Nara, I consider that the JR pass is not the best solution..
Thank you again for your help!

@hakata14:

The original poster asks clearly whether a JRP is worthwhile to go only Tokyo -- Kyoto -- Osaka -- Tokyo.

You had better refrain from emphasizing that a question is troublesome to respondents or that the poster should do a self-research rather than asking here; this is not the first or second time for you to make such a comment.

If you don't want to do that, then instead of the JR Pass get the japanican ticket.
http://www.japanican.com/en/tour/detail/VJOPENTK1/
or
http://www.japanican.com/en/tour/detail/VJOPENTO1/

It seems these two links don't work, at least currently.

JTB Sunrise Tours now handles via JAPANiCAN.com a tour package
of a discount Shinkansen e-voucher for a round trip from Tokyo to Kyoto
and a Kyoto 1-day subway & bus pass.
https://www.japanican.com/en/tour/detail/PAS1J02031MKC/?typecd=TOU&dep...
: The e-voucher is for you to go without seat reservation.
: You travel from and back to Tokyo within 7 days,
which fits your now-planned itinerary.
: This package does not cover your JR train rides beyond Kyoto Station.

Weather permitting,
you might hope to take a domestic flight
from Haneda [HND] to Itami [ITM] at a discount fare.

- ANA Experience JAPAN Fare
https://www.ana.co.jp/en/us/promotions/share/experience_jp/

The expected cheery blossom season in 2018 is getting earlier,
but you may have a chance in Kansai to see blossoms of late-blooming cherries.
https://www.japan-guide.com/sakura/

- Japan Meteorological Agency: One-week Forecasts:
Tokyo Metropolis: http://www.jma.go.jp/en/week/319.html
Kyoto Prefecture: http://www.jma.go.jp/en/week/333.html
Osaka Prefecture: http://www.jma.go.jp/en/week/331.html

Hmm..looks like the japanican links changed. Try these:
https://www.japanican.com/en/tour/detail/PAS1J02031MKC/
or
https://www.japanican.com/en/tour/detail/PAS1J02131MKC/

Tkank you a lot!

I travel in Japan for cherry blossoms.

I am afraid your itinerary might be too late for the cherry blossoms in each area.

According to JNTO site, the full bloom in Tokyo will be 27Mar though you might be able to see flower petals fallen on water in Meguro river and Chidorigafuchi.

https://www.jnto.go.jp/sakura/eng/city.php?CI=10

In Kyoto it will be 29Mar.

https://www.jnto.go.jp/sakura/eng/city.php?CI=29

It is still prediction but this year the winter is cold and early spring is warm so the cherry tend to bloom early.

If you have JR pass you might better consider to catch late blooming cherries like in Kanazawa (full bloom in 3Apr).

https://www.jnto.go.jp/sakura/eng/city.php?CI=21

Kanazawa is 2.5 hours by Shinkansen from Tokyo and then you can catch Limited Express Thunderbird (not Shinkansen but your JR pass covers it) to Kyoto and Osaka (2.5 hrs).

Thank you so much for advices!

Even if the JR Pass is slightly more expensive, keep it mind it's very convenient as well. You can skip the queues at the automatic ticket gates, you don't need to buy any tickets, and you can make seat reservations for free. And it's a nice memoire.

Plus, you're sort of "free" to go anywhere anytime for daytripping.

Even if the JR Pass is slightly more expensive, keep it mind it's very convenient as well. You can skip the queues at the automatic ticket gates, you don't need to buy any tickets, and you can make seat reservations for free.
Putting some balance to the above statement:
- You need to arrange the exchange voucher in advance, and then do the exchange. At busy offices that takes time and up to 90 minutes for those joining the long queues at narita Airport.
- To do a reservation also takes time, you cannot do them in advance for most trains (JR East has some excepetions), and then you are in ticket office queues. Some trains require reservations.
- The automatic ticket gates don't have queues (unless you're really unlucky), but getting stuck at a manned gate can be tedious.

Yes, the JR pass is great, but make sure it pays off and works for you. Don't add unnecessary trips just to make it "pay-off", only count what you would normally be doing.
I cannot use the national pass, but if I could it would certainly save me a lot every year because my long distance travel is more expensive than my guests. I have 2,300km to do in the next two weeks. Single tickets Y69k, careful planning Y58k, rail pass Y47k.

Thank you !
Now I must decide what is better for me: an E voucher from Japanican.com or a JR Pass...
Of course a Jr Pass seems to be more comfortable even if I will travel only Tokyo Kyoto Osaka and back to Tokyo ..no more another trips because I want to relax and enjoy for these places..
Have a nice Wwk end!

Hi JapanCustomTours, let's put some nuance on yours as well shall we :)

You need to arrange the exchange voucher in advance, and then do the exchange. At busy offices that takes time and up to 90 minutes for those joining the long queues at narita Airport.
The first bit is easy at somthing like japan-rail-pass.com. The 90 minutes queue is an exaggeration at best, I seldom had to line up for more than 30 minutes. If you don't need the JRP on your very first day yet, you can also go to another ticket office where they accept JRP exchanges (there are lots).

To do a reservation also takes time, you cannot do them in advance for most trains (JR East has some excepetions), and then you are in ticket office queues. Some trains require reservations.
You *can* make reservations in advance, but you *can't* from overseas ;)
So for example after having exchanged your JRP you tell the staff member "oh and I also need these reservations", showing the person a list that you had prepared earlier to speed things along. Maybe they'll do that for you, I dunno (never had to on my previous 10 visits), I will actually try this next month :X
You can also go to any smaller ticket office. Afaik, you can make a reservation for any reservable JR train from any manned ticket office, iirc up to three months in advance, so you will easily keep that within the usage period of your JRP. Trains requiring reservations are very rare for JRP holders (I think pretty much only the Tohoku shinkansen?), but the trick is just to plan ahead on hyperdia.com and keep an eye on the seatings dropdowns.

The automatic ticket gates don't have queues (unless you're really unlucky), but getting stuck at a manned gate can be tedious.
Since we're talking busy times here, ticket gates really do tend to clog. Especially when traffic goes both ways. Getting stuck at a manned gate isn't so bad really, just hold up your JRP for them to see and slowly walk along the queue. (unless of course, you got a regional pass that requires a stamp - in that case, do get that stamp)

iirc up to three months in advance

One month.

Trains requiring reservations are very rare for JRP holders

Trains requiring reservations are quite common, especially among the touristy "joyful" trains. Also, whether reservation is required has nothing to do with whether you have a JRP, so saying they are rare "for JRP holder" makes no sense.

Also, whether reservation is required has nothing to do with whether you have a JRP, so saying they are rare "for JRP holder" makes no sense.
You don't explain yourself, but I will. It makes all the sense in the world. Thinking about it, in my 10 trips of 3,5 weeks each, I have come across three reservation-only trains: the Hayabusa (Tohoku) shinkansen, Komachi (Akita) shinkansen, and the Narita Express. That's it.
Oh and one limited express somewhere in eatern Hokkaido that had half a car of nonreservable seats. So that half-counts.

So the N'EX is quite a common train to use. Once, or maybe twice, over the course of your entire holiday. So not actually that common. The two shinkansen are less oftenly used by foreign visitors than the Tokaido and Sanyo shinkansen, both of which do not require reservations and offer plenty nonreservable seats.

Reservation requirement is "rare for JRP holders" because the very common Nozomi have very few unreservable seats so I'd say they semi-require reservations, but aren't covered by the JRP. Same goes for green cars (unless you got the green JRP). The "joyful" trains, as you put it, are rare and infrequent, so they are inherently rare for JRP holders as well. Some of them aren't even covered by the JRP at all, like (but not only) "Liner" trains, and for the sleeper express it only covers the seat fare. And those are rare too, so rare for JRP holders as well.

Japanican. com is the best solution for me!
Thank you for your comments!
Zenovia