2 weeks with 2 different rail passes

Four of us are flying in and out of KIX for two weeks at the end of April 2019 (yes, unfortunately during Golden Week!) Our plan is:

Day 1 arrive KIX, stay Osaka
Day 2 Osaka
Day 3 Day trip to Nara, stay Osaka
Day 4 Travel to Bunny Island, stay the night
Day 5 Travel to Kyoto, stay the night
Day 6-9 Kyoto
Day 10 Travel to Lake Kawaguchi, stay the night
Day 11 Travel to Tokyo, stay the night
Day 12-14 Tokyo
Day 15 Train to KIX for evening flight

It seems worthwhile to get the JR West Kansai Hiroshima Pass for Days 1-5. It would certainly pay off, but my only worry is not being able to reserve seats to and from Bunny Island during Golden Week. Do you think it would be a problem not having reserved seats for travel from Osaka to Bunny Island and Bunny Island to Kyoto? The journeys would probably include a Nozomi from Shin Osaka to Fukuyama and from Fukuyama to Kyoto.

Then we would use a JR Pass on Days 10-15 to travel to Tokyo via Lake Kawaguchi and back to Kansai Airport. The train tickets look like costing only slightly more than a 7 day pass so it would be worthwhile.

Does this look like a good plan?

Pay the extra 2000ish yen for a 14 day pass if worried about booking seats.

So the price difference between a 14 day JR pass and a 7 day JR Pass plus a Kansai Hiroshima Pass is 3,780 yen, or around AUD50.

Are there advantages to using the Kansai Hiroshima Pass for our itinerary, like access to Nozomi trains, that would make it worthwhile as well as the price difference? Is the reserved seats issue not something to worry about for our trip?

If the cost difference is that much. The go with your original plan.

Use non-reserved seats - if the train is full, stand. normally seats become available on very full trains as people get on/off. "Golden Week" is not as busy as some fear-mongers make out.

Just came to the realization that if you are going to bunny island, you need to transfer at Mihara Station. The Nozomi does not stop there. So you'd need to take another service type.

Also the Kure line from Mihara Station along the coastline is still closed, so I guess they have replacement buses running. Be sure to cheack the details closer to your trip date.

Thanks, Hakata14. The Nozomi will take us from Shin-Osaka to Fukuyama, then there's a Kodama to Mihara. And thanks for the warning about the Kure line, I had read that somewhere, and we'll check for updates.

Having a closer look at transport options, it seems a 7 day JRP for Days 10-15 would not be the cheapest or most convenient way to go. This is when we travel from Kyoto to Fuji Five Lakes to Asakusa and then back to Kansai Airport.
From Lake Kawaguchi to our hotel in Asakusa, it would be cheaper and quicker to catch an express bus to either Tokyo or Akihabara Station, with a short train connection to Asakusa, than go the whole way by train.
Then from Asakusa to Kansai Airport on our last day, it would be cheaper to fly with ANA, and at least an hour quicker than by train.
My questions are:
1. Would you agree that it would be best to use the Kawaguchi bus and flight to Kansai instead of the 7 day rail pass?
2. We will be travelling from Lake Kawaguchi on Tues 7 May, just after the Golden Week holidays. There seem to be quite frequent buses to Tokyo Station. Would it be necessary to book ahead?
3. Our flight home leaves Kansai at 8.40pm. Would the ANA flight that gets in at 4.35pm be sufficient to allow for delays/cancellations or should we aim to get there earlier?

Also, we are staying in Mihara after visiting Bunny Island. Are there enough ferries to take all the daytrippers off the island in the afternoon? Or if we caught the Rabbit Line fast ferry back to Mihara, is it possible to buy a ticket on Bunny Island, or reserve online?

Any advice?

Hi there,

I like your plane idea too. Not only is it cheaper, the Haruka trip to Kansai Airport takes about 70 minutes in itself from Shin-Osaka and that is after a 2.5 trip on the Shinkansen. Since you are heading to an airport that day anyways, might as well get on at Narita. You won't need to lug your luggage onto a shinkansen, then onto the Haruka, then to the airport. Google flights shows flights from NRT to KIX ranging from AUD50 to AUD120.

Hope this helps!