7-day Japan Rail Pass worth our travel?

Hi guys!

I've been doing some research, and we all know that the JR Pass doesn't come cheap but I would love to hear your comment whether or not we should still buy the 7-day JR WIDE Pass with our itinerary.. and of course if you have other suggestions, please feel free to let us know.

Dec 7,2019 - Dec 23, 2019

Day 1-7 TOKYO
Day 7-9 KYOTO (We plan on using the 7 day pass starting from TOKYO to KYOTO)
Day 9-12 OSAKA // KOBE
Day 12-13 HAKONE
Day 14-15 TOKYO

Thanks so much in advanced!

7-day JR WIDE Pass

I assume you mean the Japan Rail Pass as indicated in the title, because a 7-day JR WIDE Pass does not exist.

For your itinerary, regular tickets are going to cost about the same as a 7-day rail pass. In cas you do some additional side trips by JR to somewhere, e.g. Himeji, then the pass starts to get cheaper than regular tickets. It is a close call.

Tokyo to Kyoto and Osaka to Odawara is about 4000 yeb short of the cost of a 7 day pass.

You'll need a lot more travel to make it pay off. Eg shinkansen to Himeji or Hiroshima.

Hello Ania!

Checking your itinerary, and seeing that you're going to Kobe and Hakone, the Japan Rail Pass may work for you. But you have to know that this pass is only worthy if you have in mind traveling on long-distance trips.

Another example: If you only took an airport transport each way and did not leave Tokyo (and used the metro and bus each day), this would cost around \13.730, which is less than the 7-day JR Pass (\29.110). A 7-day pass costs \29.110, which is \4.158,57 per day. If you calculate that your traveling costs would be cheaper if you bought individual tickets for each journey, then it is not worth buying a JR Pass.

Looking online for more perks about it, I found this source: https://www.jrailpass.com/faq/when-is-the-japan-rail-pass-worth-it. Maybe it can help you to decide if it's what you need for your trip.

Enjoy the Land of the Rising Sun!

Hi Ania,

Unless there is a lot you're not sharing in your itinerary you should not even consider a 14 day pass and there is no reason to even bring it up.

There is no way for a 7 day pass to cover your transfer to or from Narita so that is not germane to the topic at hand.

There are pluses to not having a rail pass and paying out of pocket. There are more shinkansen (5 per hour vs. 3 (2 Hikari and 1 Kodama.)) you can take without a pass and the Nozomi are faster. A pass will not help you in Hakone at all.

Good luck!

I'd suggest you modify/expand your plans, and then the 7-day JR Pass would start to look quite attractive. Unless you have a long list of places you want to see in Osaka, since you are already seeing Tokyo there is far less need to spend daytime hours there. The temples/shines of Kyoto vastly outshine Osaka's, and Osaka "Castle" isn't a castle - it isn't even a reconstruction - it's a museum with a castle facade.
Instead, I suggest you go see Nara for at least a half day - skipping it would be a tragedy.
https://goo.gl/LfvWnL

Going to see Himeji, especially for Himeji Castle and the Kokoen Garden, is also very worthwhile. You could spend half a day in Himeji and the rest in Kobe.
https://goo.gl/65ZtRi

You might consider making Hakone a side trip from Tokyo, and using a japanican ticket to go down to Kansai and back.
https://www.japanican.com/en/special/tours/shinkansen/index.aspx
You could then use a Kansai Area Pass for Himeji.
https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2361_03.html
BTW to clarify, you can't use the JR Pass to get all the way to Hakone, but there is the Hakone Free Pass, which you can use from either Shinjuku or from Odawara or Mishima. It may or may not work for you; it depends on where you go.
https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2358_008.html