Help: Osaka - Hiroshima - Kyoto - Nara - Tokyo - Nikko - Mount Fuji

jtorresi

Hello,

My wife and I are travelling to Japan for the first time. We are thinking in buying the 7 days JR national pass for the following itinerary:

1) We arrived at Osaka on a Monday and we are staying there 2 nights.

2) On Wednesday morning we activate our JR pass and we go from Osaka to Hiroshima for the day (day trip). From Hiroshima we go directly to Kyoto, not to Osaka. (1 day using JR pass)

3) We stay in Kyoto for 3 nights, from Wednesday to Friday. (3 days using JR pass)

4) During our stay in Kyoto, we want to go to Nara for the day (day trip) and then go back to Kyoto. (still 3 days using JR pass)

5) On Saturday morning we go from Kyoto to Tokyo and we spend the night there (4 days using JR pass)

6) On Sunday we want to go to Nikko for the day (day trip) and then go back to Tokyo (5 days using JR pass)

7) The following day (Monday) we want to go to Mount Fuji for the day (day trip) and then go back to Tokyo (6 days using JR pass).

8) Our trip ends in Tokyo. Going back home from there.

Our questions are the following: It worth to buy the national JR pass for our itinerary? Can we use the JR pass to visit all these places ? How do we know the train that we suppose to take to visit all these cities?

Thank you so much in advance.

Tenjin

You can make a 7 day pass pay off ONLY if you rearrange your trip so that you go to Hiroshima and back, plus going from Kansai to Tokyo within 7 days. Try to lump together as much long distance travel together within the 7 days to get maximum savings.

You can see regular fares, routes and schedules on Hyperdia.
http://www.hyperdia.com
Under "More Options", be sure to uncheck the Nozomi box since you can't ride that train using the pass.

You are also putting waaay too much time in Tokyo. I suggest you take some day trips from there. The more you can take on the 7 day pass the better. For the rest, look at getting a Tokyo Wide Pass.
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2361_06.html
For Tokyo, about 3-4 days are enough.
Some day trip options include: Karuizawa, Kusatsu, Izu, the Hitachi Seaside Park, the Ushiku Great Buddha, Kawagoe, Takao, Okutama, Nikko, etc.
For the Fuji area, choose between Hakone or the Fuji 5 Lakes area, or go to both in 2 days. Odakyu has some good regional passes.
http://www.odakyu.jp/english/deels/

You can see previews of some of the best places to see in Japan on:
https://www.youtube.com/user/thejapanfaq/videos