JR Tokyo Wide Pass

Hi,

I will be in Tokyo from 26May and out late on 04Jun19 with my two teenagers. We have been in Tokyo before briefly and visited Kawagoe and Mt Fuji (though didn't get to see it since it was cloudy and raining then). We plan to be based in Tokyo throughout the trip, with day trips out, as needed

Areas definitely interested to cover:
- Day Trip to Yokohama
- Toyosu Market + Odaiba
Ashigaka Flower Park
- Last 2-3 days in Tokyo to cover what we didn't cover last time due to weather, making use of the Toei Pass,

Unconfirmed areas to cover:
- Boat Tour in Kato Ward?
- Kamakura for the bamboo grove?
- Mount Takao?
- Chiba?
- Five lakes, Kawaguchi?
- Odawara?

I didn't plan for Nikko as the kids don't really fancy too many shrines and hiking,'

Any recommendation for itinerary is welcomed:-)

Thank you!

What is you actual question? Title is Yokyo wide pass. Only question asks for itineray.

Hi!

I think the question is, should I get a Tokyo Wide Pass? Or is it something else?

If that is the question, I'm going to go with no.

I love Kamakura, but note the bamboo grove there is quite small (lovely, but small). If the kids don't care for shrines and temples, Kamakura is not a great destination.

We went to Mt Takao last year, had a great time. Walked up, pottered around at the top, then made our way to the chairlift to come down. There didn't seem to be a lot of food at the top or even on the mountain generally, so take some snacks.

We had delicious noodles at one of the many noodle restaurants at the base, then a soak in the baths before taking the train home. Fantastic day out.

Kanazawa might be a good alternative to Kyoto, you can see gardens, samurai houses, a really interesting modern art gallery and head up (or back) via Matsumoto to see mountains and the castle.

Wherever you choose, enjoy your trip!

My apologies for not being clear in my thread.
Yes, i wanted to ask whether it is worth getting the JR Tokyo Wide pass for the definite areas of interest and the potential areas of interest and i got the respond that it is not worth it.
I was considering it due to Ashigaka Flower Park.
Interested to consider Kanazawa now that it resembles Kyoto; will research on how to get there from Tokyo.
May i confirm it is still not worth to get it if we were to go to Kamakura & Kanazawa?
Any other recommended areas to cover for day trips from Tokyo?

Thanks so much for your valuable feedback.

@Who? (guest) , Thank you for sharing where you went. If you already have the information, is it possible for you to share how to travel out from Tokyo to Mount Takao, Kamakura and Kanazawa?

Thank you in advance.

Hi

Mt. Takao and Kamakura are easy to reach from Tokyo.

Kamakura is just south of Tokyo on the Yokosuka line or the Shonan Shinjuku line depending on where your starting point is. It's about 1000 yen from Tokyo one way. Once in Kamakura depending on your interests you might want to get a pass the private Enoden line. Check this website for advice, but be realistic in how much you are going to do in one day!

Takao-san guchi Station is about 1 hour from Shinjuku and costs under 400 yen one way.

The reason I didn;t recommend a Tokyo Wide Pass is because usually people don't want to go to Odawara, they want to go to Hakone. And since the Wide Pass doesn't cover the shinkansen to Odawara and you will presumably want to do something in Hakone, you might as well just take the Odakyu line from Shinjuku and get one of the Hakone Passes there. You also then don't need to worry about the Tokyo Wide 3 day validity only and could do an overnight. If you're trying to do the whole Hakone circuit it does make life easier, heck you could even do a combined 3-4 day trip of Kawaguchiko, Hakone and Kamakura. While you are only in Japan about 10 days, all of them are relatively close to Tokyo and have frequent connections.

It takes a little more than 2 hours to get from Shijuku to Ashikaga Flower Park and if you don't take a shinkansen costs under 2000 yen each way.

And yeah that is why I don't recommend the JR Wide Pass, unless you have destinations not mentioned, I find it hard to think you will be getting your 10,000 yen worth. Now a trip to Nasu-Shiobara or Karuizawa would make a Wide Pass a better deal. Luckily, wide passes can be bought in Japan, though honestly, I think there is enough to do without it in the amount of time you have.

Kanazawa like Kyoto is a shinkansen trip away and if you want to add Kanazawa, then a week long JR Pass starts making sense because unless you take a highway bus it's going to run you ~24,000 yen round trip.

Matsumoto is also not covered by the JR Wide Pass. You would need either a National or a Nagano-Niigata Pass.

I love Kanazawa and Matsumoto, but you only have 10-11 days so you need to decide how much you really want to do in terms of traveling. It's going to take you about 2.5 hours by train from Tokyo to get to Kanazawa. Matsumoto is also 2.5 hours by train from Tokyo by Limited Express.

So a lot depends on how much you want to spend and how much you want to give up in the Tokyo area. None of us can answer these questions for you because everyone has different taste.

I hope all this information is helpful at least. :)

No, don't get the Tokyo Wide Pass. At 10,000 yen you actually have to do a lot of travelling out of Tokyo to make it pay, and most trips are pretty cheap - you can go a really long way for 1,000 yen.

Thanks @rkold for your comments. Kanazawa and Matsumoto is indeed further away from Tokyo and Shinkansen is the way to go unless i want to consider overnight bus ride. These two places will definitely be on my list of places to visit for the next Japan trip (kids just love coming back to Japan!).
I will plan the trip using IC card in this case.

Thanks @JapanCustomTours for confirming that the JR Tokyo Wide Pass would not be worth it.