Best use of a 7 day JR Rail Pass between October 23 - October 29

Hi Mike,

1.) There are two options to travel from Tokyo/Shimbashi to Odawara, the first is to take the quick Shinkansen (35 Minutes / ¥ 3,640) the 2nd is to take the local train (¥ 1,450 / 72 Minutes). I also looked up the route in Hyperdia. Look at Route 1 and Route 2 when you open the link. Route 1 is for the Shinkansen and Route 2 is for the local train. If you stay at Shimbashi station simply take a train to Tokyo station (¥ 130 / it is very close to Tokyo station so you could also walk and travel from there).

2.) You can activate your JR Pass @ Odawara station and take a bullet train directly from there to Kyoto/Shin-Osaka. You can travel on from Shin-Osaka either into Osaka itself or on the Kobe.

3.) All travel between Osaka/Kobe/Kyoto is covered by the JR Pass so you don't have to worry about buying tickets at all! Something I would like to point out is that the center station for Kobe is called Sannomiya, so you may want to travel there depending on where your accommodation is located. This station is covered by the JR Pass and you can use the Shinkaisoku train to travel from there directly to either Osaka/Kyoto.

Hope this helps!
Daniel