Should i buy JR Pass

nkumarkv

My first visit to Japan, will be landing in Narita on 25th Nov and returning back from Narita on 4th Dec (10.30AM). planning to stay in tokyo for 4 days, visit Mt Fuji, Travel from tokyo to Kyoto and stay for 4 nights. Kyoto to Nara/Osaka for a day and back to Tokyo on 3rd Dec. wondering is it worth to buy 7 day JR pass for the above itinerary .. please advise.

Regards
Naveen

Tenjin

You can definitely make a 7 day pass pay off with the Fuji area day trip together with the trip from Tokyo down to Kansai and back within 7 days. For Fuji though, more precisely you'd probably want to go to Hakone - and you can take the bullet train down to Odawara Stn. From there the JR Pass is useless but a Hakone Free Pass can save you some money.
http://www.odakyu.jp/english/deels/freepass/hakone/
Since you are already seeing Tokyo, you can largely skip Osaka during the day. After the temples of Kyoto close down around 5PM, you can zip over to Osaka for the evening. At night the city comes alive and has some great places to see, such as Dotonbori, plus the night views from the Umeda Sky Bldg and Abeno Harukas Bldg are wonderful.
You could take that day time and visit nearby Himeji, with Japan's best castle, as well as Kobe. That would add even more savings.
You can see some videos of the places you'll probably go to see on:
https://www.youtube.com/user/thejapanfaq/videos

nkumarkv

thanks for the prompt response. will buy JR pass and follow your advise to make best use of it smile:

ura727

We will arrive Fukuoka on Feb. 07, 2017 stays there for 2 days visiting various places like Beppu and Oita. Then on the 3rd day going to Hiroshima for 2 days and probably Kyoto and Tokyo. Back to Fukuoka on the 6th day, Flying home on the 7th day. Is the 7 day JR Pass worth for us?

Tenjin

A 7 day pass would pay off well for such a trip. Fukuoka has some great sights of its own that you should not miss.
http://www.thejapanfaq.com/fukpic.html

You should also give at least half a day for Nara as well - it is very worthwhile.
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2165.html
You could see Hiroshima & Miyajima in 1½ days, or even one day with an early morning start. Kyoto is worth a lot of your attention.

karen25

we have a short segment of 4 days within which we will travel from Kyoto to Nara (11 Dec); from Nara to KObe (12 Dec). In kobe we will spend 2 days and travel to mt Rokko (1 day) and to Himeji castle (day 2) after which we will travel to Osaka. Pls advise if we should purchase the JR KANSAI WEST AREA PASS OR THE kANSAI THRU PASS? thanks

Tenjin

First, it's better to start a new thread and not piggyback your question on someone else's.
For a good explanation and comparison of the various Kansai passes, see:
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2357_005.html
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2361_03.html
and choose which one works better for you.