Suica IC Pass Vs Rail Pass?

I was looking at the pass section of the site and I'm kind of confused about the passes.

I'm planning a trip and I'm pretty sure we're (me and the gf) are going to go to Nikko. I'm considering Kyoto as well, but I'm confused about which pass I would need to buy.

We're going to be there for about 14 days total, arriving on November 5th and leaving on the 19th. I checked the pass calculator and it said that buying a Japan Rail Pass wasn't worth my money.

So, I was looking at the IC passes, and the Tohoku Pass specifically because it would carry us to and from Nikko and wherever else.

I see that this pass won't take us to Kyoto, but the JR West pass will. So..would I just need to buy them both or is there a cheaper option I'm missing? As in just one card I can buy that would be more beneficial for me to purchase for our travel?

Thank you!

Hi!

IC Cards are not a pass. They're just a card you can load money onto for paying for tickets. They come in handy when you are taking a local trains or subways and don't want to look up exactly how much it will cost you to get from your starting location to your destination. They're more a convenience vs. an actual pass.

For Nikko, it would depend on how long you plan to spend there what makes sense. Getting a JR East Tohoku Pass would be awful expensive for visiting just Nikko, as it is 19,000 yen I believe. If you're planning a round trip to Sendai or Morioka that is another story.

Passes for visiting just Nikko would be:
https://www.jreast.co.jp/e/tokyowidepass/ (but only if you are doing enough travel in the 3 day period to cover the 10,000 yen fee and are keeping your travel to 3 days)

or http://www.tobu.co.jp/foreign/en/pass/all.html

The Tobu pass is particularly useful if you plan to stay in Nikko for a while and visit Lake Chuzenji. When I visited Nikko, I used a Tobu pass as it was the most economical and not that much slower than using JR. Tobu is a private train line.

There are no JR West Passes that cover Tokyo to Kyoto. JR West Passes are meant to cover the West of Japan. They are great if you want to go from say Shin-Osaka to Hiroshima. They do include conventional (local and limited express trains) from Osaka to Kyoto but not the shinkansen, let alone the shinkansen from Kyoto to Tokyo.

Assuming you need a round trip from Tokyo to Kyoto and you are spending less then 7 days in Kyoto you might be better off with one of the Japan I can special discounted Nozomi ticket packages:
https://www.japanican.com/en/special/tours/shinkansen/index.aspx

If you're just going from Tokyo to Kyoto and then flying home from Osaka you're better off just paying out of pocket for your ticket.

If you're on a budget, people have been known to fly between Tokyo and Osaka. Many of my friends who live in Japan do that as it is often cheaper than the train and about as fast. There is a discounted Kodama ticket which is going to run you 4 .5 hours or so for the trip, and of course there are Highway Buses.

Good luck!

Also, if you can fit in a round trip to Nikko and a round trip to Kyoto within a 7 day period, a 1 week JR Pass would be worth it.

If you're flying in Narita Keisi (a private line) offers various specials and JR East offers this round trip special to stay competitve: https://www.jreast.co.jp/e/pass/nex_round.html

If you're using Haneda, it's probably easier to just pay out of pocket.

but the JR West pass will.
No, because that is between regions.

The 3-day Tokyo Wide Pass gives savings going to Nikko, but is not the cheapest option.
Going from Tokyo to Kyoto is between regions (companies), so regional passes do not work.

For detailed answers/advice, post your daily schedule, then we can advise options. For a Tokyo/Kyoto round trip there are other discount options if you are concerned about the overall cost.

Thank you both!

I plan on just day-tripping it up to Nikko, so that pass wouldn't be worth to me.

So I guess what's going to be best is just loading up an IC and using that for one way trips, no?

What I've found seems to indicate that you can use IC cards to get around pretty much anywhere. But I'll probably fly or bus to Kyoto, as that seems to be the cheaper option.

Hi there,

On the one hand, the Suica card is offered by JR East and it services JR trains in the areas of Tokyo, Sendai, and Niigata. This includes transport by train, subway, monorail, and bus, but no bullet trains, long-distance trains or airport transfers.

On the other hand, you can use it as an electronic wallet in food stores, restaurants, taxis, station ticket offices and automatic vending machines where the SUICA logo appears.

Each SUICA is charged with 2.000 yen, including the 500 yen deposit that you can retrieve at JR East stations in Tokyo. You can check more details here: https://www.jrailpass.com/blog/using-japanese-ic-cards#SUICA

About the Japan Rail Pass, it's worth it if you have in mind doing some long-distance trips. For example, on day trips. This pass offers you unlimited access to all Japan Rail National trains, JR bus services, ferry services, and airport transfers. If you make just one long-distance trip you can already save money. It's quite easy to use and it saves the hassle of constantly needing to buy tickets every time you use a train or any other form of public transport. You can also make seat reservations using your pass. But as I said before, you can take the maximum profit of it if you're going to travel quite a lot around Japan. I recommend you to have a look at this handy guide to solve all your doubts about it: https://www.jrailpass.com/blog/how-to-use-japan-rail-pass

Hope this information helps you!

You can find it in AppleStore by Suica.
By this way, you can use your smartphone as the suica.

You can find it in AppleStore by Suica.
By this way, you can use your smartphone as the suica.

No; Suica App does not solely enable you to have train rides with Suica.

To use the Suica system for transportation or shopping at physical shops,
your iPhone needs IC device and related module
which are activated for communications by FeliCa,
the technology adopted for Japanese IC cards.

Concretely it seems your iPhone has to be any of the following.
: iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus which were sold in Japan.
: iPhone 8 or later model.

https://www.jrailpass.com/blog/using-japanese-ic-cards#SUICA
https://www.jrailpass.com/blog/how-to-use-japan-rail-pass

Note that the website of these links is never a JR official website.
JR companies have nothing to with descriptions on this website.

Dear Jack
: Your source(s) can be too old or not reliable enough. Please try to confirm the recent situations, based on sources where it is clear that someone is responsible for the accuracy of the descriptions.

If you make just one long-distance trip you can already save money.

Whether you can save money or not with Japan Rail Pass
depends on the length of your actual traveling distance and period.

In some cases,
you can travel with JR regular tickets for more days at a lower cost.

Your total expense on your Japan Rail Pass includes
a handling fee paid to an agency
and also a transportation fee to get to (and back from) the sales office or a delivery fee.

It's quite easy to use and it saves the hassle of constantly needing to buy tickets every time you use a train or any other form of public transport.
You can also make seat reservations using your pass.

Your ticketless ride and your seat reservation are incompatible.

Every time you take a JR train with your seat reserved,
you need to hold a seat designation ticket (in addition to your Japan Rail Pass).

This pass offers you unlimited access to all Japan Rail National trains, JR bus services, ferry services, and airport transfers.

In Japan, national trains no longer exist.
It was more than 30 years ago, in April 1987,
that Japanese National Railways [JNR] was privatized and divided into the JR companies,
mainly the six regional passenger railway companies and one nationwide freight railway company.

Japan Rail Pass is not valid on JR highway bus services.
JR local bus lines are within the validity.

Not plural but only one JR ferry service is covered by Japan Rail Pass,
which is operated by JR West Miyajima Ferry.

Some major airports cannot be accessed with Japan Rail Pass.

- JAPAN RAIL PASS website: About JAPAN RAIL PASS
http://www.japanrailpass.net/en/about_jrp.html
- Japan Guide website: Japan Rail Pass
https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2361.html

the Suica card is offered by JR East and it services JR trains in the areas of Tokyo, Sendai, and Niigata.
This includes transport by train, subway, monorail, and bus, but no bullet trains, long-distance trains or airport transfers.

Subway or monorail lines are not JR lines.

Suica cards can be used for JR and non-JR transportation modes
in several areas scattered across the country,
not only in the three validity areas of Suica
but also in some validity areas of other-brand IC cards.

Your session of train rides with your IC transportation card
has to be completed inside one validity area.

Suica and PASMO
form one combined validity area of JR and non-JR railways
in so-called Greater Tokyo,
so do ICOCA and PiTaPa
in so-called Greater Osaka.

The term "bullet train(s)" is almost never used by JR companies for passenger announcements.
"Shinkansen" is preferred,
which is a general term for JR super-express train services, trains, lines and their operation systems.

For cases where you can take Shinkansen trains exceptionally with your IC transportation card,
check the "Shinkansen" section of the Japan Guide article featuring IC cards.