rachelkcassar

Hi, this is my itinerary for my upcoming trip to Japan (see below). I've been mucking about on here - http://www.japan-guide.com/railpass/ - but I still can't work out whether it'll be more cost effective to get a JR pass, or to just book the quickest direct train.

I'm thinking I'll either order the 7 day pass for the 27 May - 2 June leg or order the 21 day pass from 13 May - 2 June because on 13 May we plan to do a day trip to Nikko - which would make more sense?

Is it easier to just buy the 21 day pass? Will that cover all/most of our internal transport?

10 May Melbourne - Tokyo
11 May
12 May
13 May (Nikko day trip)
14 May
15 May
16 May
17 May Tokyo - Hakone
18 May Hakone - Kanazawa
19 May
20 May Kanazawa - Kyoto
21 May
22 May
23 May
24 May
25 May (Nara day trip)
26 May
27 May Kyoto - Naoshima
28 May
29 May Naoshima - Miyajima
30 May Miyajima - Hiroshima - Osaka
31 May Osaka - Koyasan
1 June Koyasan - Osaka
2 June Osaka - airport

thursdaysd

You need to price the individual trips at hyperdia.com, putting in your actual dates and including the seat fee.

I have been to Japan twice, and did not find that the JR Pass saved me money, however on my last trip I did buy a JR West pass, which you can do in-country.

BigRuss

And we've been to Japan twice and each time the JR pass saved us a bunch.

That said, based on your current itinerary, you are unlikely to need the JR pass. The big cost on most trips is RT Tokyo-Kyoto or Osaka-Hiroshima or similar round trips consisting of 2+ hour segments. You have a couple of decent hauls (Kanazawa-Kyoto, Kyoto-Naoshima, Hiroshima-Osaka). That could easily make the 7-day pass worth it at the tail end, but you need to price the trips at hyperdia (and make sure to INCLUDE the seat fees).

The day trip to Nikko is easily done with a Tobu deal - google Tobu Spacia and the Tobu rail company will show you offers for a Nikko trip that includes admission to the shrines (most of them) and train ticket for less than the JR train will cost. This should render the 21-day pass unnecessary.

jdc26

I'm following this with interest for my month in Japan next month. After pricing out my trips on HyperDia is appears that a 21 day pass will be a huge cost savings but when to activate is my dilemma. I have a few long hauls and with the days trips I'm taking, majority uses the pass.

mrwunrfl

You don't need a 21-day pass. You can see why a 7-day JR Pass doesn't work by doing one advanced search on hyperdia to get a ballpark price:
From: Kyoto
To Kansai Airport
Pass1 Miyajima
Pass2 Uno

That is about 27,000. Might cost a bit more if you price it out separately. The JR part of the Koyasan trip is minor cost. You might get to break even with the JR Pass.

You should look into the JR West passes. They are described on japan-guide.

thursdaysd

Or here:

http://www.westjr.co.jp/global/en/ticket/pass/

The JR pass didn't work for me because I travel too slowly....

lcuy

here is a new beta JR site to calculate if a rail pass (7, 14 or 21 days) is worth it
http://www.japan-guide.com/railpass/

rachelkcassar

I did the calculations and thought it might be worthwhile buying a 14 day pass to use from 17-30 May and then purchasing the Tobu Nikko Free Pass and the Koyasan World Heritage Ticket for the first/last train trips, but in the end buying each leg individually came to 49,460 yen which is almost the same price as the 14 day JR pass.
Gah probably isn't a huge difference! Might just buy the 14 day pass for ease of use while in the cities.

BigRuss

The 14 day pass is in the high 40K range, right? If you're right, get the pass because it'll give you additional flexibility including taking JR trains throughout Kyoto.

mrwunrfl

That 14-day JR Pass plan sounds right. If your 49K total included taking JR from Tokyo to Hakone, then you could reduce that cost by about 2000 if you took the Odakyu train instead of JR.

But that still gets you to a total that is higher than the cost of the pass. And you would have not much downside from the shinkansen train restrictions.

It won't be very useful at all in the cities. Using JR in Kyoto means going out to Arashiyama or to Fushimi Inari and those fares are quite low, maybe 500 roundtrip.

And you would have to get to JR Kyoto station to use the pass. If you were near Keihan Sanjo station and wanted to go to Fushimi Inari then you'd just want to take the Keihan train directly for only 210.

mrwunrfl

From Hakone, your your JR travel would be going from Odawara to Kanazawa at a cost of between about 14,500 and 17,500 (the lesser cost is via Maibara). Then Kanazawa- Kyoto is about 7000.

For your laxt 7 days, you could use the JR Sanyo Sanin Area Pass that costs only 19,000.

That pass includes Nozomi and Mizuho shinkansen and free seat reservations!

You would pay about 1400 for Kyoto- Nara- Kyoto.

On May 27, you would take a JR rapid train from Kyoto to Shin Osaka because the pass doesn't include the Tokaido shinkansen on that part. No big deal, considering you could then take any shinkansen to Okayama.

mrwunrfl

That's about 45,000 and add 2000 for Shinjuku- Hakone Yumoto.
So, I guess the 14-day pass still works as well, maybe better.

rachel_k_cassar

For those interested, I've gone with the 21 day pass from 10 May-30 May and then I'll be buying the Koyasan World Heritage ticket for the last two days and will get an airport bus to Itami airport home.

My last question, is the JR Miyajima Ferry for MIYAJIMAGUCHI included on the JR pass? For some reason when I put it in Hyperdia it's not showing as JR pass valid when I put a tick in Japan Railway for the route Miyajima > Hiroshima.

Also, how do I get from Naoshima to Miyajima using the JR pass? The route shown via Hyperdia includes the Nomozi train from Okayama to Hiroshima - is there any way round this?

mrwunrfl

The JR ferry is covered by the JR Pass.

Yes, it does not appear unless "Private Railway" is checked as a "Corp" option. That may be because it is not a train or because it is not operated by JR. It is owned by JR West but operated by JR West Miyajima Ferry Co.

To see a JR Pass valid route on the shinkansen you need to uncheck the box for:
NOZOMI / MIZUHO / HAYABUSA (SHINKANSEN)

mrwunrfl

When you do that query, notice that the Sakura shinkansen takes less than half the time of the Kodama shinkansen. Both are valid with the JR Pass but you want to avoid the Kodama.

rachel_k_cassar

Cool thanks mrwunrfl, you've answered both those questions!