Pass Strategy: 9-Day Trip in 5 Kansai Areas

Hey!

What pass strategy do you recommend for the following (complex) 10-day itinerary traveling to the following 5 areas: Osaka, Kyoto, Koya-san, Wakayama (Kumano Kudo), and Nara?

1/21: Osaka > Kyoto
1/22 - 1/24: Kyoto
1/24: Kyoto > Koya-san
1/25: Koya-san > Wakayama (Kumano Kudo)
1/25 - 1/28: Wakayama (Kumano Kudo)
1/29: Wakayama (Kumano Kudo) > Nara > Osaka, or Wakayama (Kumano Kudo) > Osaka
Thank you so much for all of your help! :slight_smile:

Hi!

I shall be making some assumptions, if these are wrong, please let me know.

Assuming you are arriving in KIX, I would go straight to Kyoto and do my Kyoto days first, then I would overnight in Osaka since it is easier to get from Osaka to Koya-san since you need to go to Osaka to get to Koya-san from Kyoto.

For the latter part of your trip, if you end in Wakayama City, you don't want to go by train to Nara. I once went from Wakayama City to Hashimoto. Instead of backtracking like I should have done, I continued onwards to try to get to Kyoto. This was before the days of cell phones and Hyperdia. The trip was very long with lots of sitting around stations, the trains are mostly local and not timed well. The Kuroshio from Wakayama City back to Osaka and Kyoto is much more pleasant. If you are leaving from KIX after the 29th I wouldn't even go back to Osaka though. I'd stay in Wakayama City and leave from there since it is either an easy train trip or you can take a frequent airport limo bus. I use to take the bus from KIX to Wakayama City all the time to meet my friend who lived in Kainan.

I like Tanabe. You will probably be spending some time there since it is the transfer point to buses along the Kumano Kudo as well as the starting point for one of the big walking trails.

BTW be prepared some of it could be cold and/or snowy. I saw some snow piles when I visited Koya-san in late November.

Good luck!

First off, when I was thinking about a trip that included going from Koyasan to the Kumano area a few years back, I found out that the busses from Koyasan to Tanabe do not run in the winter. You will need to check this, but I think this is because of snow.

That said, the JR 5 day Kansai Wide Area pass will help get you down to Shingu or KiiKatsurra from either Kyoto or Osaka. The one way fare from Shin-Osaka to Shingu is 7350 yen, which means the round trip is more than the cost of the pass. You then need to take busses in to the Kumano area.

I would place the JR pass at the beginning, or ending of your trip, because it will get you to the airport. I would also look into somewhere to visit in the extended area of the wide pass, such as Kobe, Himeji, Kinosaki Onsen, to name a few.

There is also the Ise-Kumano-Wakayama pass, which includes busses from Shingu and KiiKatsurra into the Kumano area. It is also a five day pass.

The JR pass will not help with Koyasan, and Kyoto for the most part. A bus day pass works well in Kyoto, and getting to Koyasan involves private trains.

You might think about either a Koyasan World Heritage Pass, or, a Kansai Thru pass. Just like the choice above, you will need to do some research, to figure out what�fs best for you.

The rest can be done with an IC (pay-as-you-go) card, or by just paying for a ticket.

If I was planning this, I would probably just stay my first night in the Namba Area of Osaka, and get the direct Nankai airport train to Namba. I would then go to Koyasan next, and use a Nankai World Heritage pass, to get there and back. To get from Namba to Kyoto, I�fd probably go to Nara by using Kintetsu trains.

I have already mentioned two private train lines, Nankai and Kintetsu. If you check the Kansai Thru pass it�fs actually good on more that a dozen different private lines in the area. The thing is, if you are going from Namba to Nara, or, Nara to Kyoto, the cost is about 500-600 yen. If you plan to stop and stay the night, getting a Thru pass will not pay off. An IC card will end up costing less.

It�fs confusing, and you need to put in some time looking at your options. There is no magical pass.

I hope this helps as a starting point.