deant

Currently planning a 10 / 11 day trip to Tokyo / Kyoto with wife and adult daughter. We arrive and depart from NRT. Will stay 5 nights at the Conrad Hilton in Tokyo and then 4 nights at the Hyatt Regency in Kyoto.

Planning a day trip (possibly tour) to Mt. Fuji (depending on weather) while in Tokyo and a day trip to Himeji Castle while in Kyoto. Figure that will still leave sufficient time to see both Tokyo and Kyoto.

What is the general feeling on getting a 14 day JR Green pass? Since we will basically doing a RT Tokyo - Kyoto plus the Kyoto - Himeji Castle trips, it seems like getting the 14 day pass is probably the best idea.

Anyone have any better suggestions?

mt-i

Schedule your travel to Mt. Fuji, Kyoto and Himeji over 7 consecutive days and you can use a 7-day pass. Using a 14-day pass instead doesn't make much sense—whatever JR travel you'll be doing around Tokyo or from the airport will not be worth the extra cost.

As for whether a green pass is worth it, it's up to you, but let's just say that normal cars on the shinkansen are plenty comfortable, especially for the relatively short trips you're considering. And you shouldn't have any problem reserving seats even a few minutes before train departures outside of peak travel seasons like New Year vacations and Obon (mid-August).

basscadet75

The 7 day Rail Pass value is marginal, although it's close enough that you might justify it just through the convenience and peace of mind it brings. The 14 day pass is almost certainly not worth it.

I just checked quickly and it seems like the round trip travel between your destinations will be around 20,900 yen, whereas a 7 day pass costs 29,110 yen. You'd have to work pretty hard to spend $80 on transportation around your destinations over those 7 days, but it's possible and even if you don't do it, there's at least some value to being able to just flash your pass everywhere, and to knowing you can take some unscheduled trips if you feel like it without paying anything extra.

As for the 14 day, that's 46,390 yen. There is no way that would be worth it - you'd have to be spending close to $250 per person on just JR transportation (not subways) within Kyoto and Tokyo over that period. The Conrad Hilton is reasonably close to Shinbashi Station on the Yamanote Line so you could use JR a decent amount in Tokyo, but a lot of your destinations will probably be along subway lines so I can't see how you'd rack up the amount of usage needed to make a 14 day pass worthwhile.

I'd personally get the 7 day pass and just activate it around the middle of your trip, so both of your side trips are covered.

As for the Green Car pass, I've done it and I did think it was worth the extra cost (which is marginal in the grand scheme of things). But one consideration is that there's a three-seat side in the ordinary cars of shinkansen, so assuming there's room, your family could sit together. In the green cars, somebody would always be by themselves or sitting with a stranger.

Bluebirdie

If I read it correctly, your plan seem to be centered around two cities. Like mt-i and basscadet75 mentioned, the longest pass you may need is probably a 7 day pass by exchanging it mid-way. I used a 7 day JR pass for a 7 day trip visiting 4 cities and many points. In total, I used it daily and probably rode JR and other train/bus using the pass for around 16 times. It saved me more than twice its face value.

BTW I purchased my pass here in the states before the trip.

mt-i

This seems to be off by a significant margin.

Tokyo to Kyoto one-way on the shinkansen is around Ą13000. Kyoto to Himeji one-way is over Ą5000. So the round trip from Tokyo to Kyoto plus the day trip to Himeji alone are already close to 40k: the 7-day JR pass is easily worth it. And that's not even counting the trip to Mt. Fuji and the N'EX on the way back.

basscadet75

Woops, you are correct - I had failed to include the seat fee and was only counting the rail fare.

That makes the 7 day pass worth it. The 14 day still isn't, though. The side trips could be easily accommodated within the 7 day.

abmj-jr

As others have noted, this is off by a significant factor. I suspect you forgot to add the seat supplement.

OP: The way to deal with this would be to do your Tokyo stay first, as you have planned. Buy and activate a 7-day Rail Pass for the LAST 7 days of your stay including departure day for home. That would cover your round trips Tokyo-Kyoto-Tokyo and Kyoto-Himeji-Kyoto plus the Narita Express back out to NRT on the last day. When you arrive in Japan, you can activate the Rail Pass for any date in the future. That could be done at NRT or at Tokyo Station (or any other major station) in the city.

While in Kyoto, a Rail Pass will not be much help in the city but will be useful for the local trains to Nara or Osaka.

You could even use the first couple of active days of the 7-day Rail Pass for day trips out of Tokyo, such as to Hakone, Kamakura or Nikko. For local travel around Tokyo, a prepaid Suica transit card will be much more useful than a JR Rail Pass as it is good on subways, local private and JR rail and miscellaneous purchases. You can get that at NRT or any JR station.

For 3 adults, I wouldn't waste the money for a green car pass. The regular reserved cars are very comfortable. If you really want the green car, the cost benefit will be smaller but still worth it by a small margin in money and a significant convenience factor.

Remember that you must purchase the JR Rail Pass before you arrive in Japan and "activate" it after arrival. There are many services that will sell the Rail Pass by phone or internet and ship it to you by certified carrier. My preferred seller in California uses Fedex 2-day.

Vendors in North America. Just FYI, I use TTA in SF: http://www.japanrailpass.net/area_04.html

General Rail Pass info: http://www.japanrailpass.net/en/

I generally prefer to make seat reservations a day or so ahead. Others just take what they can get on day of travel. YMMV. You can reserve seats at any Japan Rail station. I suspect the concierge at the Conrad can also help with that.

AlwaysAisle

Shinkansen fare for Tokyo – Kyoto – Himeji round trip is 35,720 yen per person round trip using Nozomi and 34,460 yen per person round trip using Hikari or Kodama.

Above fare is valid for ten days. The day of departure and the day of arrival back to Tokyo have to be within 10 days.

Tokyo – Himeji is 644.3 km so round trip Base Fare (乗車券) is valid for 10 days (twice of one way 5 days validation). Also, Tokyo – Himeji is more than 600 km so there will be round trip discount of 10% when purchased as round trip and entire trip is within 10 days. Base Fare (乗車券) portion can be purchase as one ticket Tokyo – Himeji round trip and can stop over at Kyoto.

Shinkansen Limited Express Surcharge fare (新幹線特急券) have to be purchase as each section, Tokyo – Kyoto – Himeji – Kyoto – Tokyo. There is no round trip discount of Shinkansen Limited Express Surcharge Surcharge fare (新幹線特急券) and no transfer discount at Kyoto if stepping out from the station.

If making Tokyo – Kyoto – Himeji – Tokyo, then Shinkansen fare will be 33,030 yen per person using Nozomi and 31,880 yen per person using Hikari or Kodama.

Above fare is on Regular Reserved car (普通車指定席), not on Green Car.

abmj-jr

So, in other words, the 29,110 yen 7-day Rail Pass is still the better deal - and it will also cover the N'Ex back to NRT.

deant

Thanks everyone for their input. Seems like the 7 day pass is the way to go.

Cdnblue

This is a great thread as I'm also travelling to Japan in March of 2016. I've gleaned lots of good stuff here, thank you!

Does anyone know if the cost for the 7 day pass is 29,110 yen for an 8 year old also? I'm travelling with my son and am setting budgets now.

Thanks!

msb0b

Tickets for children 6-11 year old are half price at 14550 yen. See: http://japanrailpass.net/en/about_jrp.html