3 weeks Osaka, Kyoto, Tokyo - best rail pass

Hello guys,

I will stay in Japan 12 October to 2 November. I arrive in Osaka and will fly back to Munich from Tokyo/Haneda.

Last year I've been to Japan the first time. Last year we focused on Kyushu. We rented a car and drove around the entire island. Well, not entirely enough. There are things we couldn't see. Have to come back to Kyushu sooner or later.
I loved the green nature, the onsens, the noise of the cicadas, the geography with it's thousands of small hills. When we stopped by the "Arimura Lava Observatory" and walked along its paths, Sakurajima suddenly spit a huge ash cloud into the air and I felt like the luckiest person on earth. 2018 was generally a very good year to observe an eruption as far as I remember the eruption counter on the reception desk in the hotel ;)
Long story short, I fell in love with Japan like I never did with another country. That's why I have to return just one year later ;)

I would love to go by car again but this time I am alone and it's not the most economic way for single travelers.
First of all, the Kyushu part of the last year was a little bit rushed. I am generally not a fan of tight itineraries, especially itineraries that count minutes. You know, itineraries like "first go place A, spend 30min there, then take the train 20min to place B and spend 45 minutes there ...."
I prefer slow pace because I can come back anytime again. To me traveling is not a check list that needs to be completed at any price, to me it's just about having a good time, enjoying the daily life, people, culture, food, nature.

Since there is no car as last time, I want to keep hostel changes as low as possible. I want to avoid dragging my suitcase around every 2nd day.

My plan so far looks like this. Three main areas Osaka, Kyoto, Tokyo.

12 Oct arrival late afternoon
13 Oct Osaka
14 Oct Activating JR Setouchi Area Pass
making a day trip to Himeji (including nada no kenka matsuri. maybe shifting activation of the pass on 15 Oct because 2nd day of the matsuri is better?)
15 Oct heading to Naoshima and/or Shodoushima (renting a bike on the islands) and stay overnight in Takamatsu. I keep my suitcase in the hostel in Osaka (chose a cheap one) and only take a small backpack with me with stuff for 2-3 days.
16 Oct From Takamatsu to Imabari. Rent a bicycle in Imabari and ride to Onomichi. Then Shinkansen to Hiroshima
17 Oct Hiroshima
18 Oct last day of JR Setouchi Area Pass
Miyajima and Iwakuni (thinking about renting a bicycle in Hiroshima and ride down to Miyajima and Iwakuni by bike. But could be too much for one day) Didn't find bike rentals near Miyajima and Iwakuni so far.
Then taking a Shinkansen back to Osaka late at night.
19 Oct Osaka
20 Oct Osaka
21 Oct Early train to Osaka (by regular train ticket)
22-26 Oct Kyoto (including Jidai Matsuri and Kuruma Matsuri)
27 Oct Early train to Tokyo (maybe stopping in Nagoya or Fuji on the way)
28 Oct - 2 Nov Tokyo
3 Nov 0:30 am departure back to Munich

I think the Osaka part looks good. Hope the weather is going to be good since I want to rent a bicycle several times.

Unclear points:

1. Initially I was about to do it the uncomplicated way and order the 21 day Japan Rail Pass but then started to calculate if it would be cheaper to go with local Rail Passes and single tickets.
So I found the JR Setouchi Area Pass which is just perfect for the time I stay in Osaka. It's 17 000 Yen
Then Osaka - Kyoto 560 Yen regular ticket
Another small local Pass for Kyoto. Maybe Kintetsu Rail Pass 3600 Yen
Kyoto to Tokyo with a regular Shinkansen ticket (according to HyperDia 13 000 Yen). Or maybe a night bus from Kyoto to Tokyo? It's about 6000 Yen.

Makes about 34 000 Yen (28 000 with night bus) compared to 60 000 Yen for the JR Pass. Or did I forget something? Looks way better, more money to spend on crazily delicious Japanese food ;)
Only big downside of this solution. I won't have a cute Japan Rail Pass booklet as a souvenir. Just looking at this booklet from 2018 makes me smile :)

Are night buses recommended? People argue it's one night less to pay for. Since I only stay in hostels, it doesn't really matter. But can you actually sleep in such a bus? Would pretty stupid take the overnight bus to Tokyo and then feel totally dizzy and sleepy all day because I couldn't sleep.

2. Still no idea for a good side trip (day trips or 1-2 nights) around Kyoto. Maybe Ise? Nara? Nagoya? Kintetsu Rail Pass looks good for this.

3. Regarding the validity of the passes. Let's assume I will take the last train back from Hiroshima to Osaka on 18 Oct. JR Setouchi Area Pass expires at midnight. Let's assume there is a Shinkansen at 11 pm. The trip takes 90 minutes so I will arrive in Osaka the next day. Could I use this train? What's the determining factor. Is it fine as long as departure time is within the validity period or does the arrival also need to be within the validity period?

4. Are there good one day trips from Tokyo? I don't think I want to day a side trip with overnight stay when I am in Tokyo. Takao san is the only place "outside" Japan I've planned so far for Tokyo.

I think you have planned your Setouchi pass option well. And single ticket to Tokyo makes sense.

Q3. IF you are traveling on a pass past midnight, it is valid until you next exit a station.

Day trips from Tokyo? 1000s... Yokohama, Kamakura, Enoshima, Hakone, Kawaguchiko, Chubu, Nikko etc etc.

For a slow traveler as me your itinerary sounds quite rushed. Not terribly rushed but as you say that you found your previous trip too rushed I didn�ft get a feeling that this one here would be more laid back.


16 Oct From Takamatsu to Imabari. Rent a bicycle in Imabari and ride to Onomichi. Then Shinkansen to Hiroshima
Unless you are a world class cyclist and don�ft want to see anything on the islands this day isn�ft doable.
I would stay the night before already in Imabari. And then start the ride in morning ( once the bike rental places open. ) enjoy the entire day (it gets dark very early in Japan!) and then you can make it to Hiroshima by night.

Day trips from Kyoto and Tokyo, just read up a bit more on this webpage. There are loads.

Enjoy planning your trip to Japan!

A couple things....
1. With the Kintetsu Pass, you can't take the Ltd express trains anymore, so it is quite long. You can get your money's worth, but time matters as well. You could take a Nozomi train and get there in about 35 minutes from Kyoto. Cost is 5070 yen for an unreserved seat, which is not too exorbitant. Actually though, there are a lot better places to consider over Nagoya. As for the overnight bus, since you flew to Japan before, ask yourself how comfortable you were on the way over, if you flew economy. The bus seat is going to be only a bit better. Personally I am frugal, but most people and me included don't sleep well on some bus seat all night, and maybe even arrive with a stiff neck etc. Not the way to visit a new country. But it is up to you. Maybe you're one of the lucky few who can sleep like a log on planes in cattle class.
I'd say though that riding a bike all the way to Miyajima & Iwakuni is overdoing it. Not to mention eats up a lot of sightseeing time.
https://goo.gl/fAz4ax
https://youtu.be/0COOZXi66mM

2. If you haven't seen Nara, I highly recommend it.
https://goo.gl/LfvWnL
Okayama is another idea.
https://goo.gl/JQF2bY

3. For bullet trains, I have never seen any running past 11:30 PM, ordinarily. I suggest you look at a site like Hyperdia.com to check rail fares, schedules, and routes. For other trains on your last day, if riding when it expires at midnight, you can keep riding until the train stops or you get off and exit the station.

4. Plenty of day trip options. In addition to those mentioned, there is Karuizawa, Kusatsu, Izu, the Boso Peninsula, and more. You could even go up to Sendai, but costs go up depending on you paying cash, using a Tokyo Wide Pass, or splurging on the JR East Tohoku Area Pass....
https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2357.html

Thank you so far.

1. Night bus is off the list. I would probably arrive in Tokyo in a rather bad condition >.<

2. I have already noticed going to Nagoya is not the best using the Kintetsu Pass. I actually thought about visiting the Toyota Museum for example. But Nara or other places seem to be a better choice. Have to check this again.

3. Regarding my Imabari - Onomichi bicycle trip. Mentioning sun set was a good hint, thank you. Haven't kept this in mind. ;) It's going to be 17:30 in mid October.
The distance to cover by bike is about 100 km when I don't take the most direct way (direct way is 60km). Makes 5h assuming an average speed of 20 km/h. Plan was to take the 6 am train in Takamatsu and rent the bike at about 8:30 am. Which makes 9 hours to sunset and leaves 4 hours for drinking/eating/walking/exploring. Keeping in mind that the 100 km includes 40 km of "exploring", too.

The reasons why I chose Takamatsu are, I didn't know when I will arrive in Takamatsu and I thought the Takamatsu - Imabari train ride is more beautiful in daylight. If I take the train in evening I don't see anything of the landscape because it's dark already.

It this really to unrealistic? If I would stay directly in Imabari, I could only leave 30 min earlier because the bicycle rental shops open at 8 am, so even 9 am. So the benefit of staying in Imabari isn't too relevant, isn't it?

4. What about the entronment ceremony of the new Emperor on 22 Oct. Would it be worth a day trip from Kyoto (totally ignoring the travel costs) or isn't it too special to see?

5. Is it worth going to the 5th station of Fuji san. I want to hike Fuji in the future but not on this trip.

6.

I don't know what exact route for the bicycle you are thinking, but I hope you see the scenery along the way and not just go from Point A to Point B. The Kosanji Temple for example on Ikuchijima is one of the wildest in Japan - so much that some call it a "Buddhist Disneyland".
https://youtu.be/97Q5EjEOXI8

For the enthronement ceremony, only you can decide if it is worth it - I sure wouldn't want to go. Wade through an ocean of people, and the imperial things are just the most stodgy and boring. As for the 5th station of Mt. Fuji, I've done it twice and it is a total waste of time and energy. There is no scenery since you are standing on the mountain itself. Mt Fuji is nice in the background on a clear day, and that's about it, aside from climbing it. Both the Fuji 5 Lakes and Hakone have some very good places to see though.

Let's assume I will take the last train back from Hiroshima to Osaka on 18 Oct. JR Setouchi Area Pass expires at midnight. Let's assume there is a Shinkansen at 11 pm. The trip takes 90 minutes so I will arrive in Osaka the next day.

That is not possible; Shinkansen do not run between midnight and 6am (unless a Shinkansen that was scheduled to arrive before midnight is delayed).

Hey I was thinking about this since my last reply. Other than the Naoshima and/or Shodoushima ferries. You are not using much of the features of the Setouchi pass. eg Okayama trams, Matsuyama-Hiroshima ferry, buses along the bike trail.

So if you put you Osaka/Kyoto days first, then active a 7 day nationwide pass and do the five days you have listed as normal, will need to pay for ferries as extras. Then the pass will cover you to Tokyo aswell. Plus one more day for a longish side trip to elsewhere near Tokyo. 7d passes are 29,XXX yen (plus you pay ferries as extras).

You original plan was 17000 yen pass plus 13000 yen shinkansen to Tokyo.

Just food for thought. May help also if you decide to add a day in Shikoku so you are not rushing the bike trail day.

@ken

Thanks. I haven't looked for the exact route. Only checked the approximate distances.
Do you know if there are non asphalted roads between Imabari/Onomichi worth to check out because they lead to great spots/scenery?
Here in South Bavaria we have a lot of non asphalted roads which are meant for farmers or especially made for hikers and cyclists in and close to the Alps.
If there were such roads on that trip it wouldn't make sense to rent a racing bicycle. You know what I mean? ;)


@hakata14

Thank you. You are right. Indeed, your itinerary is the perfect one. But there is one but.
I doesn't work out if I want to stick to all 3 festivals I want to see (14.10 Himeji, 22.10 Kuruma, 26. Jidai)
And I have booked the Osaka hostel already(no free cancellation) . Not sure if I could ask the owner if changing the date was possible. But I could try.
If the Japan Rail Pass hadn't had a validity of 7 consecutive days, it would have worked anyway.

Another thing to keep in mind. Ferry to and off Shodoshima is about 2000 Yen and not included in the JRP. 2000 Yen is also the price for Tokyo to mount Mitake and back. Tokyo-Yokohama roundtrip is only 1000. So it needs to be a bigger side trip in Tokyo to make the JRP significantly more economic. Benefit of the JPR. One ticket, easier to handle.
But if I want to stay just one night outside Tokyo (which is likely if it's going to big a longer trip to get the most out of the JRP) it doesn't work out as well. I would have to pay the ticket back to Tokyo.

As an observation, you have a lot of time in/around Osaka/Kyoto in the middle of the trip with limited travel, so the longer passes do not provide as much value. For example, the 14-day pass would cover 14th to 27th and your arrival in Tokyo, but is still more than the initial five day pass and the single ticket to Tokyo.
Day trips from Tokyo can be cheap (Kamakura, Yokohama etc) or expensive (Nagano, Nikko, Sendai etc). If you are wanting to be frugal, the longer/more expensive ones would be off your list.

Thank you again for your criticisms.

I changed a few things.

1. I will activate Setouchi Pass one day later to be able to go to Himeji on 15.10 because second day of the festival is supposed to be the main event.
2. I now stay in Omishima for one night doing the Shimanami Kaidou route in two days. Hope there won't be heavy taifun like rain ;)
Staying one night on Omishima would leave me only one day in Hiroshima.
Since Hiroshima, Miyajima and Iwakuni more or less belong together and require at least 2 full days I decided to skip Hiroshima entirely and save it for a future trip.
Instead I will stay in Okayama or Kurashiki for 1 night
3. No Kintetsu Railpass. Main reason for this pass would have been a trip to Ise. But Limited Express is not covered by Kintetsu Pass and Ise (Ise Area) needs more than 1 day. I will save Mie and Wakayama Prefecture for a future trip

12.10 Arrival Osaka in the evening
13.10 Osaka
14.10 Osaka
15.10 Himeji (Nada no Kenka matsuri)
16.10 From Osaka to Naoshima/Shodoushima to Takamatsu
17.10 From Takamatsu to Imabari to Omishima (bicycle)
18.10 From Omishima to Onomichi (bicycle) to Okayama/Kurashiki
19.10 Okayama/Kurashiki - back to Osaka with the last train in the evening
20.10 Osaka
21.10 Osaka to Kyoto
22.10 Kyoto (Kuruma festival)
23.10 Kyoto
24.10 Kyoto
25.10 Kyoto
26.10 Kyoto (Jidai festival)

Possible side trips from Kyoto in order of preference. Nara, Asuka-Sakurai (Yamanobe-no-michi), Miyama, Hikone. I will use 2-3 days for side trips.

27.10 Kyoto to Tokyo
28.10 Tokyo
29.10 Tokyo
30.10 Tokyo
31.10 Tokyo
01.11 Tokyo
02.11 Tokyo

Possible side trips from Tokyo. Mount Takao or Mitake, Yokohama and Nikko. I will use 2-3 days for side trips.

Considering the Kyoto and Tokyo side trips, it's a matter of personal preference. Maybe Nara is so great that I will spontaneously do a second day trip to Nara. Who knows?!

All I have to do know is picking the exact sights I am going to visit.

But I am kind of relieved that the basic route is settled now. Leaves me 5 weeks to figure out the sights itself ;)

Just a drop in to say if you are going to Nara, you might consider dropping in to Uji on the way to see Byōdō-in Temple, old, very famous and lovely.

I'm also a fan of Hikone Castle, on Lake Biwa, which is a handy day trip from Osaka/Kyoto.

Have a wonderful time in Japan!

Hey, thank you. I already have Uji on my list.
Due to its closeness to Kyoto I've treated it as a part of Kyoto ;)

I just wanted to give a short feed back. I don't know if it's useful to anybody or not.

The trip started with a bad omen. 24h before departure I got a mail informing me about my flight cancellation. Taifun Hagibisu stole 3 days of my trip so I basically didn't see anything of Osaka ;) But it gave me the opportunity to check out Dubai for 3 days since my flight was booked with Emirates. Nice city but once in a lifetime is enough.

Some experiences and impressions:

I love how family friendly Japan seems.
I am German and Germany is not very family or child friendly, some even say anti-child. When I arrived in Japan I thought "Japan is supposed to have a even smaller birth rate than Germany so why does it seem that there are kids everywhere?" I have never seen so many kids. And all those mainly young mommies riding their cute bicycles equipped with two baby seats, one in the front one in the back were so refreshing to see. This created such a nice atmosphere and I started to understand what people mean by Germany is anti-child. It all makes sense now.

Japanese cities like Kyoto and Tokyo are a damn dream compared to Munich. I live near Munich and I hate Munich. One reason. Compare streets of Munich and Tokyo on Google Maps. In Munich every meter of every road is packed with parked cars on both roadsides. In Tokyo the streets are free of cars. Despite being one of the most densely populated areas in the world Tokyo feels so much more relaxing than Munich. Most of the roads are so calm, I could play soccer there as we used to do in our childhood in the small town I grew up.

Traveling alone is awesome. I am glad I didn't listen to the people saying "how can you travel alone". I met many Japanese people or tourists from mainly Asian countries that would never have happened if I traveled with a girlfriend or partner.

Kibi Plain cycling trail was awesome. I loved it. One of my favourites and I may do it a 2nd time someday. Weather was perfect. At Kōmori-zuka Ancient Tomb there was some kind of event going on. A band played music there in front of the small museum and most of the people were dressed in Kimono. There was a Soba restaurant as well which I enjoyed. The young girl who helped in the Soba restaurant was very nice and spoke some English, thus could explain me some things.

If I had known how nice the Setouchi Triennale was, I would have spent more time in Takamatsu in order to explore more of it.
I only had a few hours on Shodoshima (thanks to the Taifun I arrived in Shodoshima at noon) but I met a very kind girl from Singapore who was late, too. We spent the remaining hours of sunlight together exploring some of the art. We made it all the way to the soy sauce factory. On the way back we left the bus too early and then had to run to the Tonosho port in the dark. One of the people I met, I would never have met if a traveled with a partner.
I still regret that I spent only half a day there. I'll keep 2022 in my mind for the next Setouchi Triennale.

Shimanami Kaido was a little bit of a mess. On both days it started raining in the afternoon. First day I only made it to the observatory on Oshima and from there I basically rushed to the hostel because it started raining. The next day more or less the same. Rain most of the day. At least no rain when I was at Kosanji and Oyamazumi Shrine. So I was not completely unlucky. But I became dripping wet on the 2nd day and I remained in this condition for hours. I thought about giving up and taking the bus to Onomichi because I was freezing like crazy. I was wearing only mountain bike shorts and a t-shirt. None of the cyclists was dressed as inappropriately as me >.<
But I thought my immune system needs some work and finished the whole route by bike.

Both days in Nara also rainy. But there were so many school classes. Some of them had a task assigned by there teachers, that was asking foreigners some questions in English. About 5 groups of young students approached me asking for my name, where I was from and what Japanese food I like. I could easily impress them with the basic Japanese I learned at university when I complained about the bad weather in Japanese ;) At some point I thought it will never end. As soon as the first group approached me it seemingly caused a chain reaction. One group of students after another stopped to talk to me. Now I have 3 handcrafted sheets of paper at home those students made and gave to me for answering their questions. Is there a better souvenir? I don't think so ;) This alone made love Nara even though it was raining the entire day.

Renting a bicycle in Kyoto was a awesome experience. The best way to get around in Kyoto. Will do it again the next time.

I regret I didn't start traveling alone many years ago. You should not listen to what people say, just do it.

@TomMunich
Thanks for your feedback. Nice to hear that you could use some of our advise and that you liked it.

From your name I guess you are male. Just wanted to add for other fellow single traveler, that Japan is also ideal for single female travelers :-)