Travel - Osaka/Kyoto/Nara

My partner and I are travelling to Osaka next month for 7 nights and want to sight see around Osaka, Kyoto and Nara, basing ourselves in Osaka with day trips out to Kyoto and Nara and catching trains and walking around in Osaka.
Which tickets would you recommend we purchase? A JR Rail West pass, One-Day pass, Rainbow cards? I've tried to research but cannot really determine which one would be best overall.
Thanks for your help

To me, best way to see Kyoto is to cycle. Just done that last year. There is a useful day pass for unlimited bus ride in Kyoto 500y.

If you have time, pls visit this place called Lake Biwa. It is just 30min from Kyoto. The scenery is breathtaking with lakes and mountains.

http://www.bsc-int.co.jp

Hi stick
I just returned from s 6 day trip to osaka kyoto nara himjei...I did not bother buying the travel pass I just bought tickets at the stations and paid on the bus. that way I uesd JR and the other rail companies.I did not find it to be any hassle..as long as you have it written in japanese where you want to go the local people just pointed out what to do.....at the stations you simply typed in the amount and put the money into the machine.For the last few days I used the JR which was more comfortable.It was probabley a bit more expensive not buying the pass but I found it to be very conveneint, it was my first trip to Japan
any other info you want to know just ask
geoff hong kong

Hi again Stick
also check out arashiyama it is under Kyoto...it is a good day trip and the boat ride is good, my girlfriend wants to go there again..also you can get the bus back to kyoto railway station from the town centre...you can't miss the bus stop and the buses say Kyoto station in english

Thanks Geoff, I'll definitely keep that in mind. How much roughly did you spend on travel each day? Just trying to figure out my budget before we go.
I've read a lot of suggestions of having names of places in both english and japanese - would you recommend that too?