Tokyo - Osaka - Kyoto - Kobe - Osaka - Tokyo

Hi Thomas,

In general, a 7 day rail pass is worth it if you do 1 return trip to Kyoto/Osaka, but a 14 day requires a little more travel to make it worthwhile. That said, a 14 day rail pass will cover you from the 21st to the 4th, so lets look at the per ticket costs as shown on the hyperdia travel planning website:

1. Narita airport terminal 1 > Tokyo: ¥3140, (62mins, 79km)
2. Tokyo > Osaka: ¥13950, (194mins, 556km)
3. Osaka > Kyoto: ¥540, (29mins, 42km)
4. Kyoto > Kobe: ¥540, (29mins, 42km)
5. Kobe > Osaka: ¥540, (29mins, 42km)
6. Osaka > Tokyo: ¥13950, (194mins, 556km)

TOTAL: ¥32660 for 6 legs

As you can see, buying individual tickets turns out to be ¥12,440 cheaper than a 14 day rail pass (¥45,100) for this itinerary.

Alternative options?

If you can possibly reduce your time in Osaka to fit within 7 days, a 7 day rail pass would start to be cost effective, but this may not fit with your plans. Alternatively, I would recommend a 14 day rail pass if you included extra trips from Osaka. For example, return day trips to the popular destinations of Hiroshima or Takayama:

1. Narita airport terminal 1 > Tokyo: ¥3140, (62mins, 79km)
2. Tokyo > Osaka: ¥13950, (194mins, 556km)
3. Osaka > Kyoto: ¥540, (29mins, 42km)
4. Kyoto > Kobe: ¥540, (29mins, 42km)
5. Kobe > Osaka: ¥540, (29mins, 42km)
6. Osaka > Hiroshima: ¥10150, (103mins, 345km)
7. Hiroshima > Osaka: ¥10820, (109mins, 345km)
8. Osaka > Takayama: ¥10610, (223mins, 357km)
9. Takayama > Osaka: ¥10610, (220mins, 357km)
10. Osaka > Tokyo: ¥13950, (194mins, 556km)

TOTAL: ¥74850 for 10 legs

Adding either of these destinations to your itinerary would add ¥21,000 of ticket costs to your itinerary and make a 14 day rail pass very worthwhile.

Hope this helps!

Ok, thank you,

thomas

Hi again,

how are you ? !!

thank you for all your help, we finally going Tokyo (3days) - Kyoto ( 4 days) - Osaka (5 days) - ??? - Kyoto (1days) - Tokyo ( 3 days ).

So we have 3 free days between mai 1th and mai 4th. we'd like to go in the country, somewere in the Kansai prefecture, But we dont have any ideas.

Maybe you can help giving us some good ideas, we would like to go in the country to relax a little bit, we are looking for nice little city with nice landscape and some little bars too :).

somewere close to the japan's see ( i mean far from Osaka or kyoto ) we realy want to see the deep country of japan.

Can you give us some ideas or advises about that ?,

have a nice weekend,
thanks a lot for your help

Sincerely

thomas and Guillaume

Hi there,

Good to hear things are coming together!

I'm pretty sure I have a perfect recommendation for you - how about an overnight stay at Kinosaki Onsen hotspring bath town? It's around 3hrs from Osaka on the coast of the sea of Japan, and is a fantastic little town with many Onsen baths, a great atmosphere and routinely described as the best Onsen town in the area of Hyogo. Here's a good forum post with more, and you can also book many onsen online. Here's a good tripadvisor with people's opinion of the town to give you a flavour of what to expect.

Here are some photos from Kinosaki, and a map showing where kinosaki onsen is in relation to Osaka.

Hope this helps!