The JR Pass Conundrum - II (Kyoto/Osaka/?)
The passes have now been replaced with a magnetic fare card instead of a paper based booklet.
If you haven’t read Part I - The JR Pass Conundrum - I (Arrival/Tokyo) yet, here is a quick summary or you can go read the blog in detail.
Summary thus far:
The price of the JR Pass will increase by about 50% on October 1, 2023 from its original price for all length of travels
For my blog, I am trying to determine if its worth purchasing a 7 day ordinary pass vs paying individual fares for a trip in 2024 with my sister’s family
The first 3.5 days is in Tokyo and the remaining 3.5 days is split between Kyoto and Osaka
Total guestimated expenditure so far is 29,270 yen
Now, let’s discuss the Kansai Region of Japan.
Kyoto & Osaka (Days 4-6)
Kyoto and Osaka are two destinations everyone thinks of besides Tokyo when traveling along the ‘Golden Corridor’. Kyoto is full of history. It is difficult to see everything in two days depending upon the pace, interest and crowds. I have coloured coded the map below of the nearby sites to make it easier to cover off everything over as much as possible. In some cases, like the places in yellow, it is possible to walk to each with enough time. For the places in green, it is not possible to walk to all of them. Regardless of the locations, a combination of trains, buses and walking is necessary.
Example of distances from Kyoto Station
Arashiyama (30 minutes by JR San-In Line or 60 minutes by bus; 25 minutes by taxi)
Kinkakuji (50 minutes by bus; 30 minutes by taxi)
Kiyomizu dera (30 minutes by bus; 17 minutes by taxi)
Fushimi Inari Taisha (5 minutes by JR Nara Line; 14 minutes by taxi)
based upon Google Maps distances
There are no direct stations for many of the tourist destinations in Kyoto unlike Tokyo where Japan Rail East stations dominates many of the destinations that people like to go. The Japan Rail West trains and subways in Kyoto also do not connect everything together directly. Buses may need to be taken to get to the final destination or as the primary way to get around after the first destination without back tracking to the station. Kyoto has a number of bus companies so finding one that is operated by JR West may be slow and frustrating if it is full.
The optimal strategy for visiting everything is to make use of the alternate transit companies, such as: the Hankyu Kyoto Railway (make sure to select Kyoto Line on the page as it defaults to the Kobe Line for the full route line) to get to Arashiyama; or the Keihin Railway to get to both Fushimi Inari Taisha and Kiyomizu dera (Temple).
See simplified transit map below. This does not include the bus lines.
Both start at Kyoto Station and can be the starting point of that days travel. In both cases, individual fares can be purchased for the respective train companies as the JR Pass is not valid with the private companies. Similar to my previous blog post, I am not going to buy a day pass to keep things flexible. Bus rides are free if using the local bus operated by JR West or 230 yen for a single ride with all bus companies.
When I visited with my friends in 2018, we used a taxi to go from Kinkakuji to Arashiyama as many of the buses were full. It took us 20 minutes by taxi instead of using a local bus which might take at least 40 minutes if we managed to get one that was not full. Using a taxi is obviously more expensive than the bus and probably costed us 2000-3000 yen. (I have never seen a taxi accept credit card so keep cash on hand if using one.) Taxis can be found queued up at the entrance of many tourist destinations so take the first available one and not just a random taxi. The taxi driver will open and close the door automatically as well. At the destination, many taxis have a plastic tray to put the cash in. The driver will also provide you any change using the same tray.
A simplified view of the Kyoto Transit System (not including bus routes)
“Don’t jump on to the first train that arrives at the station. Check the train type as there are different types of express trains.”
So with those thoughts in the back of my head, here is the way I will show my sister’s family around Kyoto.
Day 4:
PM - Hopefully, we will have arrived closer to noon from Tokyo so the first to do after arriving at JR Kyoto Station (besides admiring the beauty of the architecture of the station) is to go to the hotel. Hotels in Japan will provide a luggage tag if you arrive early or if you want to check out something for a few hours after you check out. I would probably recommend that we buy and eat an ‘ekiben’ (eki-bento or ‘station lunchbox’) on the Shinkansen so we can hit the ground running.
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It is the only transportation where eating is acceptable. Don’t forget to take your garbage with you from the Shinkansen once you leave.
Visit - Fushimi Inari Taisha, Kiyomizu dera (Kiyomizu Temple), Gion (optional), Yasaka Jinja (optional), Heian Jingu (optional) and Nishiki Market (optional) - Depending upon the pace, there might be enough time to go see most of the places. It can be a bit meandering in the Kiyomizu area and it can be easy to miss the Gion area and end up at Yasaka Jinja. If there is not enough time to see everything, the optional places can be seen on Day 5 PM if desired.
Day 5 :
AM - Visit Arashiyama bamboo forest, Ryoan-Ji (optional), Kinkakuji - The famous bamboo forest can get quite busy once the tourist buses arrive so I suggest that we go there first in the morning. Although I did not show it on the map Ryoan-Ji is located between Arashiyama and Kinkakuji and is location for the famous zen garden.
PM #1 - Visit Nijo-jo, Kyoto Imperial Palace (optional), Heian Jingu and Nishiki Market. After visiting Kinkakuji, there isn’t a lot of food options around Kinkakuji so its better to head back in the direction of Nijo-jo (Nijo Castle) or the Kyoto Imperial Palace. A guided tour must be arranged either in person that day or in advance if booking online to see the palace buildings. Heian Jingu and Nishiki Market can also be visited optionally on Day 5 in the afternoon as they are close enough to the Imperial Palace.
Day 6 :
AM: Visit Osaka for the day starting with the Umeda Sky Building and Osaka Castle. Umeda Sky Building is an amazing piece of architectural and has a nice roof top observation deck. The glass escalator going down is also the best!
PM: The area between Shin-Imaimiya and Shinsaibashi Stations include Tsutenkaku, Namba and the Dotonbori district is prettier as the neon signs light up. There are plenty of places to try some street food if hungry. It takes approximately an hour to get back to Kyoto so more time can be spent checking out the area.. Check apps like Jourdan Rail to find out the easiest way to get back. Some segments of the trip back is covered by the JR Pass but part of the trip will require the use of the Osaka Metro which the JR Pass will not cover.
On second thought . . .
At this point, I don’t think a 7 day Ordinary JR Pass is going to pay for itself yet, as the total spend will be about 45,000-46,000 yen (29,270 yen so far - (See The JR Pass Conundrum - I (Arrival/Tokyo); a reserved seat ticket to get back to Tokyo by Nozomi Shinkansen 14,140 yen; and maybe 3,000 yen to get around Kyoto and Osaka so far).
Depending upon spirts and exhaustion, to make the JR Pass worth it requires that another long distance segment be made and no first time trip to Japan can be complete without a visit to Miyajima in my opinion.
It will cost approximately 11,830-12,470 yen one way depending upon the route taken from Kyoto. The ferry to Miyakojima is covered by the JR Pass otherwise it is 180 yen one way. If we do decide to go, the total spend would be almost 69,020 yen if we were to pay for the fares individually making the JR Pass worth purchasing if this is our trip plan.
So let’s rewind and reconsider buying a JR Pass from the beginning and do Day 5 and 6 all over again this way.
Kyoto/Osaka (Day 5)
Day 5 :
AM - Visit Arashiyama bamboo forest, Ryoan-Ji (optional), Kinkakuji - The famous bamboo forest can get quite busy once the tourist buses arrive so I suggest that we go there first thing in the morning. Although I did not show it on the map Ryoan-Ji is located between Arashiyama and Kinkakuji and is location for the famous zen garden.
PM #2 -Visit Osaka, Umeda Sky Building, Osaka Castle and Namba area. Umeda Sky Building is an amazing piece of architectural and has a nice roof top observation deck. The glass escalator going down is also the best! The area between Shin-Imaimiya and Shinsaibashi Stations include Tsutenkaku, Namba and the Dotonbori district is prettier as the neon signs light up. There are plenty of places to try some street food if hungry. It takes approximately an hour to get back to Kyoto so more time can be spent checking out the area.. Check apps like Jourdan Rail to find out the easiest way to get back. Some segments of the trip back is covered by the JR Pass but part of the trip will require the use of the Osaka Metro which the JR Pass will not cover.
Miyajima (Day 6)
Day 6:
AM/PM - I suggest that we go to Miyajima and stay the whole day as it will take 2.5 to 3 hours by using a combination of shinkansen, local train and ferry. On Miyajima, there are plenty of food options and time to check out the island including Itsukushima Jinja. The floating red torii gate was recently renovated so plan ahead and check the local tidal schedule to determine the best time to go see it at low tide. The return to Kyoto will take the same amount of time approximately.
Homeward Bound (Day 7)
Day 7:
A last chance to cover anything in Kyoto can be done depending upon flight schedule. It is a 3.5 hour trip back to Narita Airport from Kyoto by the Nozomi Shinkansen and the Narita Express. As mentioned, a separate Nozomi ticket back to Tokyo would cost 14,140 yen. The Narita Express was prepaid as round trip ticket so no further expenditure is required. The hotel can provide a baggage claim tag if we want to check out something or a few hours in the morning before leaving.
Conclusion
So is a 7 day ordinary pass worth spending 50,000 yen? It depends. It is very difficult to make good use of it if applying it to just the ‘Golden Corridor’. It gets close and many of my estimates depends upon constantly backtracking to a JR Bus or Station.
There are calculators on the Internet that I have seen that can help with this type of analysis but are not updated yet with the new prices. There may also be future announcements if local transit prices increase as well which might impact my analysis. Day passes are useful if you don’t need to buy or can’t use a JR Pass but its payoff is dependent upon using the same transit company all day instead of using the myriad of options that Japanese transit has to offer. This was a fun review and a simple trip schedule for anyone who wants to use it.
Enjoy your trip to Japan.
