Hyperdia price + seat fee vs JR pass?

Hi Britta,

Prices in Hyperdia can indeed be the cause of some confusion. Basically you should always look at the total fare.

For instance look at the route Tokyo - Kyoto. As you can see the ticket price is made up of the following: Total:¥ 13,910(Fare:¥ 8,210 Seat Fee:¥ 5,700). The Total is the price that you would pay for the ticket. The fare is the price for distance travelled and the Seat Fee the price for travelling on a Shinkansen or limited express train. Only local trains don't have a seat fee.

Lastly there's also a seat reservations fee, which you pay if you reserve a seat in advance. Generally between 200-600yen.

The JR Pass covers all of these fees and you can travel without having to worry about ticket prices. I would also recommend a 7 day JR Pass for your travel. You could use it from day one and only the last part Tokyo - Narita Airport would fall outside it's validity period.

Hope this helps!
Daniel

PS: The JR Pass covers most of the route to Kawaguchiko as well, however the last part Otsuki - Kawaguchiko is travelled on the privately owned Fujikyu line and requires an additional fare of 1,110yen.

Arigato Daniel-san for the detailed info!
Hope my JR pass arrives in time...