Regarding the Japan Rail Pass

Hi!

I am having trouble deciding on a JR Pass for my partner and I. Our trip starts on April 23rd till May 8th.

We are planning to travel this route:
Traveling to Tokyo>Osaka>Kyoto>Naoshima>Tokyo

On Hyperdia I calculated individual one way passes through that route and got an estimate of \40,840.
The 14 day pass itself is \47,250.

Is the difference of \6410 worth getting the pass over one way tickets? To my understanding you can use the pass in Tokyo with some trains and a few less in Kyoto and Osaka.

Thank you for all and any advice!

No way you�fll make it up that kind of deficit in the cities. We are talking 240 yen to ride the JR loop (or subway) in Tokyo and maybe 600 yen between Osaka and Kyoto.

Did you see if there�fs a 7 day window where a 7 day pass might work? How long will you be away from Tokyo to head to Kyoto, etc?

We will be in:

Tokyo 3 days
Osaka 5 days
Kyoto 5 days
Naoshima 2 days
Tokyo 1 day

I have to admit that I never used the JRP. either because I wasn�ft entitled to or because my travel pace is too slow. But if it doesn�ft pay off I would definitely not get one, as your choice of Shinkansen between Tokyo and Shin Osaka is severely limited as you can�ft take the faster and more frequent Nozomi. Also to Nara private railway might be more convenient than JR.

Personally I would go the rail pass. It gives you an amazing amount of freedom. You could easily spend the difference on the other 9 days travelling anyway. Osaka and Kyoto are close enough together that you can almost treat it as one city. With the rail pass you can pop back and forth at your leisure. Suddenly decide you want to pop down to Hiroshima after all? No problem. There and back in a day and sleep/relax on the train. The train itself is sightseeing and very relaxing. Go the rail pass!!!

7 day pass isnt long enough and 14 day pass wont pay off. No pass.

Five days in Osaka?? Time better spent somewhere else.

As to the rail pass, you might get 600 yen/day benefit in somewhere like Tokyo and and if you are leaving via Narita then it covers that final leg as well. Certainly only going as far south as Naoshima/Uno/Okayama the round trip from Tokyo is less than the 14-day pass. But you can use it for Nara (~1400 yen round trip) and if you go to Himeji/Kobe/Hiroshima then the economics of the pass start to add up. Even a day trip out of Tokyo (Nikko for example) would sway the balance a lot.

The pass does have downsides. You do get to ride the Hikari "tourist" trains and all the people struggling with monster sized suitcases, exchanging the pass takes time and you cannot reserve your seats in advance.

Hi, I had bought the 7 Day JR Hokuriku Arch Pass. Would like to check how do I travel to mount Fiji using this pass from Tokyo Shinjuku? Thanks

Can77sg, please ask your own question in your own thread, rather than hijacking another person's.

See this link: https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2361_arch.html

Travel to Fuji is not covered by the Hokuriku Arch Pass.

As Ric said, if I were you, I would go for a Japan Rail Pass. Traveling around Japan is one of the highest costs, but the JR Pass can make you save some money. This transportation ticket offers unlimited access to all Japan Rail National trains, JR bus services, ferry services, and airport transfers. For example, a 7-day JR Pass costs \29.110, which is cheaper than a return ticket from Tokyo to Kyoto on a Shinkansen bullet train. A return transfer from Narita Airport is over \2.600, and a one-day metro and bus pass in Tokyo costs around \1.590. This means that if you make just one long-distance trip, you can already save money.
Source: https://www.jrailpass.com/faq/when-is-the-japan-rail-pass-worth-it

Another thinly-disguised advertisement for the website (which is based in Spain) linked in the above post. A 7 day JR Pass is yen 29,650, not yen 29,110. Tokyo to Kyoto on a Nozomi Shinkansen (which you can�ft use with a JR Pass, which restricts you to the slower and much less frequent Hikari) is yen 14,170, so a roundtrip is cheaper than a JR Pass.

Hi OP,

Have you looked into flying from Takamatsu to Haneda? I would probably do that over a pass, since it will likely shorten your trip by quite a bit. It's 330 minutes from Takamatsu to Tokyo (and taking the ferry to Uno and traveling to Okayama is not going to save you a lot of time because there is almost always a 30-45 minute layover in Uno, so you can just as easily go to Takamatsu.) Heck, when I put Takamatsu to Tokyo in Hyperdia, I still get flying from Okayama to Haneda is going to be faster than taking the shinkansen because you can only use the less frequent Hikari (and Sakura if you want to change by Shin-Osaka or before) and can't use a Nozomi. And by the time you are paying out of pocket as a foreigner, it should be cheaper to fly using one of the discounted JAL/ANA fares than to take a Nozomi.

If it were me, unless there is a specific reason to do Osaka before Kyoto I would do:

Tokyo 3 days
Tokyo to Kyoto Kyoto 5 days and pay out of pocket for a Nozomi
Osaka 5 days
Osaka to Naoshima via a Kansai Wide Pass: https://www.westjr.co.jp/global/en/ticket/pass/kansai_wide/

I would start it during your time in Osaka in case you want to do any day trips that would be covered by said pass and end it on the 5th day with your trip to Naoshima

I would then fly from Takamatsu Airport to Haneda Airport

So you would have as travel costs: ~14,000 yen Tokyo to Kyoto
9200 yen for the Kansai Wide Pass
and 10,000 yen for the airfare for a total of 33,200, which is much less than a 2 week pass

The Kansai wide Pass would give you flexibility if you want to make some day trips from Osaka, like Himeji.

Rail Passes can be a good deal, it really depends on how much you are traveling and how you are traveling and which lines you are using. The less long distance traveling via shinkansen you are doing in a given time period the less it is worth it. I like the rail pass, but it does really hurt you on the Tokkaido line between Tokyo and Hiroshima, because the majority of those trains (I want to say 5 every hour) are Nozomi or Mizuho which can't be used with a pass. There are only 2 Hikari an hour and usually 1 Kodama. Kodamas are fine if you are going to a smaller shinkansen station or just want to spend hours sitting on a train, but they do take much longer than a Hikari. It's ~135 minutes by Nozomi between Tokyo and Kyoto, 158 minutes by Hikari and more like 225 minutes by Kodama!

Good luck!