Hi everyone!
This would be my 3rd trip in Japan and now I discover that there are regional passes!
We will spend quite some time in the west side and I was considering buying the West pass only to use it from our arrival in Kyoto and pay individual tickets to get from Tokyo to Kawaguchiko and from Kawaguchiko to Kyoto.
The thing is the west pass duration is 7 days only so what if I need to extend the duration, should I buy 2 passes (we will off in west for 11 days).
Can you confirm that the regular Japan rail pass won't let me travel for free from Kyoto to Osaka, from Osaka to Kobe, from Kobe to Hiroshima, from Hiroshima to Miyajima, from Hiroshima to Tottori and from Tottori to Tokyo?
Thank you for your help!
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Comments
Paying regular fare for the Kansai-Tokyo round trip might make sense. It all depends on the details. There are many regional passes however.
https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2357.html
And with the JR West passes, you can ride the Nozomi bullet trains (if bullet train routes are included), whereas with the full JR Pass you cannot ride on the Nozomi trains at all. Another major difference is that with the JR West passes you cannot ride on the bullet trains between Kyoto and Osaka - but you can take the limited express trains like Haruka or Thunderbird, which are nearly as fast (and during the morning and evening rush hours, the regular rapid trains can get very congested and you could be standing for 30 minutes).
You don't give the amount of time at each place, so whether a rail pass pays off for you or not is an open question. Getting 2 JR West regional passes might pay off, or you could lose money on it.
I suggest you use a site like www.hyperdia.com and check rail fares, schedules etc to see which way works best for you. The Chugoku Region though is loaded with great places.
https://goo.gl/V6K1jx
https://goo.gl/K3RqXH
Good luck.