21-day rail pass value for money for non-round trip?

Hi Drew,

You will cover a lot of distance and as you say, a JR Pass could definitely be worth while using. Especially since most travel will be on the Shinkansen. To cities like Kyoto, Odawara (Hakone) Nagano and Sendai, as well as returning to Tokyo.

You can visit Jigokudani via Nagano, is this separate than the visit to Nagano mentioned above? In either case you'd come via Nagano so may as well visit Jigokudani while you are there.

Hope this helps,
Daniel

Hi Daniel,

Thanks for getting back so quickly. The visit to Jigokudani is part of the same trip and will be the primary reason I will go to Nagano. Given that I'm doing several cross-country trips I believe the cost will work out cheaper to get the pass, plus the added convenience.

One final question, does the pass help at all with the shorter day trips around Kyoto or Tokyo, or even within cities, or is it just a long-distance ticket? For example could it be used to visit the bamboo forest near Kyoto?

Thanks,

Drew