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7 or 14 Day Pass: Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, Nara, Takayama

gubrakz
gubrakz
over 11 years ago
4 answers

Hi all,

I am planning for my Japan trip in December and am a little confused to see if a 14 day pass will be worth it for my travel.

The travel will be for 2 people in early-mid December.

I'm thinking of going from Tokyo to Kyoto (1 or 2 nights), Osaka (5 or 6 nights), Nara day trip, Takayama (1 or 2 nights). Also might visit Yokohama and/or Kobe if time allows.

I have read many other itineraries from the forum, and many people have been discouraged from taking the 14 day pass. If it's really not worth it, I can try to squeeze my trip to 7 days and take out Takayama. Or maybe do a side trip to Takayama (will this be better?)

Would love your help in breaking down the prices so that I can have a better understanding. Thank you so much!

avatar
mari
1950 posts
over 11 years ago
Expert

Hi there!

7 or 14 days really depends on your planned travel I think. Actually the per-day cost of the 14 day pass is much less than the per-day cost of the 7 day pass, so provided you have enough travel planned, it works out as an even more economical ticket in many cases:

  • 7 day JR Pass: ¥4042/day
  • 14 day JR Pass: ¥3221/day

Looking at your travel, here are your costs (assuming arrival at Narita):

  1. Narita airport terminal 1 > Tokyo: ¥3,140 (62mins, 79km)
  2. Tokyo > Kyoto: ¥13,020 (164mins, 513km)
  3. Kyoto > Osaka: ¥540 (28mins, 42km)
  4. Osaka > Kobe(hyogo): ¥390 (27mins, 33km)
  5. Kobe(hyogo) > Nara: ¥1,380 (90mins, 81km)
  6. Nara > Osaka: ¥780 (51mins, 48km)
  7. Osaka > Takayama: ¥10,010 (220mins, 357km)
  8. Takayama > Yokohama: ¥14,070 (274mins, 511km)
  9. Yokohama > Tokyo: ¥1,460 (23mins, 28km)
  10. Tokyo > Narita airport terminal 1: ¥3,140 (58mins, 79km)

JR ticket cost: ¥47,930 for 10 legs

As you can see you'll make savings with both passes. The 14 day pass will offer less overall savings based on your travel listed, but will give you more flexibility to add to your plans if you need (eg, trips to Nikko, Hiroshima and travel around Tokyo on JR). I think if your plans are firm, then you should try and fit your loop from Tokyo (Tokyo,Kyoto, Osaka, Takayama,Tokyo) into a 7 day block to make the best savings. Takayama is sufficiently far from Tokyo (¥14,300 each way!) to mean that it is not a good idea to tackle it as a side trip.

I hope this helps!

Useful!1
gubrakz
gubrakz
4 posts
over 11 years ago

Thank you for the breakdown. I will definitely try to fit it in to 7 days, unless we can think of other trips further away to go to. Very helpful :)

Just a quick question... When in Tokyo, if we use a SUICA/PASMO pass, does that allow us to travel on Metro only or JR lines also?

Useful!0
avatar
Daniel-san
18919 posts
over 11 years ago
Expert

Hi there,

Just a quick follow up to your last question,

Yes you can use SUICA/PASMO pass on the metro and most kinds of other transport in Japan!

Useful!0
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