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When to Activate / Itinerary Check

pcone0405
pcone0405
about 8 years ago
2 responses

There are multiple passengers in my group with slightly different itineraries and I was wondering if a JR Pass makes economic sense and when to activate.

If I activate a 7 day card at 8pm on Day 1, will it stay valid for 7 days (i.e., 168 hours) from the time of activation so it expires at 8pm on Day 8 or will it expire at 12:00am on Day 8?

Passenger 1's proposed itinerary, who is considering a 14 day JR Pass, is as follows:

Day 1 - March 27 (8pm) - Arrive Narita Airport, train to Tokyo
Day 2 - March 28 - Tokyo to Kanazawa
Day 3 - March 29 - Kanazawa
Day 4 - March 30 - Kanazawa
Day 5 - March 31 - Kanazawa to Takayama
Day 6 - April 1 - Takayama
Day 7 - April 2 - Takayama
Day 8 - April 3 - Takayama to Tokyo
Day 9 - April 4 - Tokyo
Day 10 - April 5 - Tokyo
Day 11 - April 6 - Tokyo to Kyoto
Day 12 - April 7 - Kyoto
Day 13 - April 8 - Kyoto
Day 14 - April 9 - Kyoto to Tokyo
Day 15 - April 10 - Tokyo to Narita Airport

Do you suggest a 14 day pass for this itinerary and on what day should passenger 1 activate?

Passenger 2's proposed itinerary, who is considering a 7 day pass, is as follows:

Day 1 - March 26 (5pm) - Arrive Narita Airport, train to Tokyo
Day 2 - March 27 - Tokyo
Day 3 - March 28 - Tokyo to Kanazawa
Day 4 - March 29 - Kanazawa
Day 5 - March 30 - Kanazawa
Day 6 - March 31 - Kanazawa to Takayama
Day 7 - April 1 - Takayama
Day 8 - April 2 - Takayama
Day 9 - April 3 - Takayama to Tokyo
Day 10 - April 4 - Tokyo
Day 11 - April 5 - Tokyo to Narita Airport

Do you suggest a 7 day pass for this itinerary and on what day should passenger 3 activate? Day 3?

Passenger 3's proposed itinerary, who is considering a 7 day pass, is as follows:

Day 1 - April 2 - Arrive (6pm), Narita to Tokyo
Day 2 - April 3 - Tokyo
Day 3 - April 4 - Tokyo
Day 4 - April 5 - Tokyo
Day 5 - April 6 - Tokyo to Kyoto
Day 6 - April 7 - Kyoto
Day 7 - April 8 - Kyoto
Day 8 - April 9 - Kyoto to Tokyo
Day 9 - April 10 - Tokyo to Narita Airport

Do you suggest a 7 day pass for this itinerary and on what day should passenger 3 activate? Thank you!!

avatar
Daniel-san
18835 posts
about 8 years ago
Expert

Hello there,

Starting with a bit of general information, the JR Pass is valid for 7 consecutive days and is counted in full days. In other words, the 1st day is counted as a full day, no matter what time you start using the train.

Now, let's look at each itinerary.

Starting with itinerary 2, you would pay the following fares without the JR Pass:

Tokyo - Kanazawa ¥ 14,120
Kanazawa - Takayama ¥ 6,650
Takayama - Tokyo ¥ 15,830

For a total of ¥ 36,600 or ¥ 7,490 in savings, as a 7 day JR Pass is ¥ 29,110.

Going to itinerary 3, here too a 7 day JR Pass would be helpful. The cost of a 7 day JR Pass is almost the same as a normal return ticket Tokyo - Kyoto using the Shinkansen (¥ 27,820). Add in local travel in Tokyo and Kyoto on JR lines and a one way Tokyo - Narita Airport (¥ 3,020) and you can make nice savings.

Itinerary 1, is basically a mix of the two and a 14 day JR Pass is ¥ 46,390, so here too a JR Pass would be well recommended. The key to using the JR Pass is to cover your inter city trips with it (such as Tokyo - Kyoto) and then try to cover as much other travel with it as well.

Hope this helps,
Daniel

pcone0405
pcone0405
2 posts
about 8 years ago

Thank you, Daniel. This was extremely helpful!


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