Hello all, Daniel-san:
I am working on a 2 week itinerary in early January.
Tokyo - Kyoto - Nara - Kyoto - Himeji - Hiroshima/Miyajima - Osaka - Kanazawa - Takayama - Nagano - Tokyo
I am not sure whether the new pricing is going to make JR Pass worth it. And given the limitations (no Nozomi...), if it's close I may just go with buying tickets.
Is there a way to estimate the cost of my itinerary if I go with buying tickets?
Thank you
Hi CapitaineNemo,
Yes, we can take a look at ticket prices and see what makes sense. Note that these are estimated prices and can differ a little bit based on seasonality, seat reservations and so on.
Tokyo - Kyoto ¥ 13,850
Kyoto - Nara (return) ¥ 1,420
Kyoto - Himeji ¥ 5,370
Himeji - Hiroshima ¥ 8,440
Hiroshima - Osaka ¥ 10,420
Osaka - Kanazawa ¥ 15,960
Kanazawa - Takayama ¥ 6,770
Takayama - Nagano ¥ 10,730
Nagano - Tokyo ¥ 8,340
For a total of ¥114,760 the 14 day Japan Rail Pass is ¥80,000, so you'll net ¥34,760 in savings. The JR Pass will also cover the local JR Network in cities like Tokyo, Osaka and Hiroshima and include over travel such as JR Ferry to Miyajima and travel to/from the airport. All together, your savings would very likely be higher.
The JR Pass never included the Nozomi, until this year, where you can now use at by paying an extra fee. We still recommend using the Hikari trains instead, as they are free and the difference in travel time is often minimal.
Kind regards,
Daniel
Thank you again. I apologize for not responding immediately. We ended up not taking the JR pass. The difference in cost was not sufficient enough to compensate for the lower flexibility.
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