Help...figuring which pass to get!

Hi there,

I also agree using a 7 day JR Pass from March 26th or March 27th. This way you can cover the most travel using the JR Pass and make considerable savings compared to purchasing normal tickets. The 27th may be the better option as it would mean that you can use the Shinkansen from Hakone - Tokyo, and if you go a little crazy, include a visit to Nikko on this day as well.

Personally I love Nikko and its one of the best day trips to make from Tokyo.

Travel for the other days in Kansai will not cost a lot if you use local trains and I think using normal tickets here would work best.

Hope this helps,
Daniel

Thanks Daniel for the response. I was thinking if I started the 7-day on March 27 it wouldn't include the Hakone trip back to Tokyo on April 3. Wouldn't the 7 days be from March 27-April 2 or is the counting of days done differently? If that's the case I was thinking it might be more bang for the buck for March 26-April 1 since we would be doing local travel in Hakone on April 2. Please let me know if I misunderstood how the rail pass works. Can you also tell me of how I could do Hakone to Nikko to Tokyo. We still haven't figured out lodging in Hakone. Also I read about the Hakone Pass which option would be better. I greatly appreciate all the help. Thanks for taking the time.

Hi again!

Sorry you are right, somehow I miscounted by 1 done. So here it would be better to use it from the 26th to the 2nd.

Without the JR Pass, the economic way to travel to Nikko is by local line. Use a local JR lines from Odawara to Tokyo station. From there take a local line to Utsunomiya and from there again to Nikko.

It is also possible to use a slightly more expancive ltd. express train from Shinjuku, Tokyo.

Thanks for your assistance Daniel-San! I was looking over my itinerary and was wondering would it be more cost effective to get the 1Day Kansai area pass to Himeji (2200 Yen) on March 27 instead of starting the JR Pass. Instead start the JR Pass on March 28 so that it include our return from Hakone to Tokyo on April 3 (JR Pass March 28-April 3).

With that idea I would pay for the Nara ticket separately. The 2-day Kansai pass I don't think is worth it if just going to Nara and the next day Himeji. Am I correct? I found a train for 710 Yen one way to Nara.

I completely forgot I was hoping to go to Nagano to see the snow monkeys. Would that be more worth seeing over Hakone? We were going to stay 2 nights in Hakone.

Hi again!

You could indeed use a Kansai pass but keep in mind that this is valid for local trains only. With the JR Pass you can use the Shinkansen to Himeji, which is a lot faster and comfortable. Instead I would use a local train from Odawara to Tokyo in case you are looking at cost savings.

Travel to Nara does indeed not cost a lot, so there I would use a normal ticket.

Personally I would prefer Hakone more, the Snow Money park is nice but that is the only big thing in the area. Hakone as a lot more variety and would take a lot less travel to get to. Maybe the Snow Monkey park is a good idea for a 2nd trip to Japan ;)

Hope this helps,
Daniel