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Should I buy JR Pass or JR East Pass?

miara_rigawa
miara_rigawa
about 10 years ago
3 responses

Itinerary:

May 5
Arrival at Narita Airport at 4:30 pm
Look around Shinjuku

May 6
Tokyo

May 7
Shibazakura Festival (With a Tour includes transpo already)

May 8-10
Nikko/ Kinugawa

May 11
Hakone Day Tour

May 12
Ikebukuro/Ueno

May 13
Flight back

I have several options but I don't know which makes sense. >_<

I can buy the Narita Express + SUICA and then buy JR East (5 flexible days). Does that mean I get to use this for nonconsecutive days? Also, I plan to buy Hakone Free Pass (because that will let me try all the transportations if I plan to do the tourist main loop route for Hakone).

To get around Nikko/Kinugawa, should I just use SUICA or should I buy All Nikko Free Pass (4 days)? But wouldn't that be overlapping with my JR East Pass? I seem to be buying a lot of passes, no? Also, if I want to upgrade to Romance car (for Hakone) and Spacia (for Nikko), can I use JR East Pass or do I have to pay extra fees? I keep searching but get different answers, I don't know which info is the latest and most reliable...

Thanks for all the help!

avatar
Daniel-san
18835 posts
about 10 years ago
Expert

Hello there,

Yes you can buy both the Suica + N'EX package and JR East pass. However given the above itinerary I think that it would be better to just purchase as you travel. Local travel around Tokyo is not very expansive and you can use the Suica card for that.

For travel to Hakone, The Romance car is operated by the Odakyu railway company and does not accept the JR Pass. However you can use the Hakone Free Pass for travel to Hakone, however an extra fee still applies for the romance car.

I hope this helps!
Daniel


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