Koyasan World Heritage vs JR West Kansai Pass

Hello,

My plan is to go from Osaka -> Koyasan -> Nara -> Kyoto. I plan to do this within a week so the JR West Kansai Pass seems like a good option. Can anyone say if it makes sense to get it?

I read on this website that you may not need a Koyasan World Heritage Ticket if you have a JR West pass but it is not clear to me.

Can anyone offer some advice?

I'm travelling during golden week so I expect it to be crowded and I don't mind spending extra to get reserved seats. Ideally, I'd like to have reserved seats on most - all routes. I don't know how this affects the type of pass I need to get.

Thanks!

I dont think either pass is cost effective.

The JR one doesn't include the cable car or buses at Koyasan. So you would need to add those costs.

And the Koyasan pass wont cover half your train trips. So you need to add those costs also.

Probably best to just pay as you go.

Thanks for your response!

Do you know if it'll be easy to "Pay as you go" during Golden week?

I'm worried about being stuck standing during a 2-3hr train ride if I don't reserve seats in advance. For example from Koyasan to Nara or Kyoto to Tokyo.

Do you know if it'll be easy to "Pay as you go" during Golden week?

I strongly recommend you to buy IC cards such as ICOCA or SUICA. As far as I know these are Japanese version of Oyster card.

I'm worried about being stuck standing during a 2-3hr train ride if I don't reserve seats in advance. For example from Koyasan to Nara or Kyoto to Tokyo.

First you might better search your route on Google Maps. For example, from Koyasan to Nara, the route is rather complicated: Take bus somewhere in the Koyasan area to the Cable car station, take cable car to Gokurakubashi, then Nankai Koya line (not JR) to Shin-Imamiya and then take JR line to Nara (JR).

You can buy reserved seat ticket from Gokurakubashi to Shin-Imamiya (Nankai line) online.

https://www.club-nankai.jp/sta/web/OnetimeTop.do

Though this is not easy to use, but you don't need to become a member, just buy the reserved seat e-ticket if you have the credit card. If you have some device (like mobile phone) to show your e-ticket, you don't need to go to the ticket booth or even you don't need to print the ticket.

You can't reserve seat for the bus, cable car, or the JR train from Shin-Imamiya to Nara. All the sections are covered by the IC cards.

If you wanna reserve seats in advance. Go for it. This is still pay as you go.

You probably only need to for Osaka to Koyasan. The others are just commuters.

"IF" you are gonna return to Shin-Imamiya after Koyasan for a transfer to Nara, then the Koyasan Heritage pass will work, as you will use the return service back in Osaka. Then just IC card for you Nara leg of your journey.

@ Frog
Thanks for the link! There's a section in English which was clear and concise.

@ H
Oh I didn't know reserving in advance is still PAYG. I thought PAYG meant pay at the station.

I plan to return to Shin-Imamiya after Koyasan so yes, thank's for letting me know.

I really appreciate all of this advice.