[Zoelee25]

Hello,

I am planning to travel Japan and stay behind after my 4 days Toyko trip.
Can anyone advice how to go to kyoto from toyko and the prices as well?

Checked that there is a Japan Rail Pass7 days costs 28300 yen.
I need to travel from toyko to kyoto and then will hang around kyoto, osaka & kobe for 4 days. After that i need to go back to toyko, narita airport to catch the flight back to HK.

Is it worth to buy it?

[freeier]

depends on where u going to stay.
JR pass can only be used on JR trains and some Buses operated by JR (which is not alot).
if your hotel/place of stay is near a JR station, then by all means buy the pass. use it and make sure it covers the return ticket to kyoto/osaka.
the bullet train ticket to osaka two way would be around 28k yen anyway..

in between osaka/kyoto/nara/kobe its good to use JR as well...

[AdrInHK]

I just got back from Tokyo where I stayed for a few days and travelled to Kyoto. I think the JR Pass is well worth the money, make sure you get it before you go though and validated at Tokyo airport, which is very easy. It is not accepted on all rail lines, but I found that for most of the main lines it was fine. Also I would recommend to book a seat on the bullet trains a day or so before doing your trips on them as I found they got quite busy and I couldn't get the times I wanted.

[freeier]

actually u don't need to book if you don't mind just standing..
jr bullet trains have reserved and non reserved seats. the reserved seats can get full but the non reserved ones are always ok as long as u dun mind standing. 8-P

[thewongs]

The train from tokyo to kyoto is 2.5 hours so you might not want to stand the whole time. In August, I bought the r/t JR ticket on the shinkansen/bullet train with reserved seats in both directions and it was around 25,000 (Yen). From what I understand, the JR pass available outside of Japan will allow you travel between tokyo and kyoto but not on the bullet train/shinkansen. The next fastest train is the Nozomi (I think) but either way the next fastest train should only take about 20 minutes longer and you can use the JR pass. I would get the JR pass if you think you will go to Osaka and some other areas besides the r/t tokyo to kyoto.

[freeier]

huh ?
shinkansen = bullet train
shinkansen includes, 1. hikari, 2. nozomi, 3. kodama (i think).
nozomi is the fastest, like around 20mins faster than hikari..
and some of the nozomi are prob excluded from the JR pass..
not much different from hikari though..

if u want real cheap travel u can get from tokyo to kyoto by night train, get the right ticket and its around 3000yen (i.e. 200hkd) to go from tokyo to kyoto. but its all slow train and the trip takes around 8 to 9 hours.. used to do that alot when time was not a luxury and money was.

[thewongs]

Sorry for the confusion. Thanks for pointing that out freeier. I just wanted to point out the fastest jr train between tokyo and kyoto doesn't accept the JR pass purchased outside of Japan. I thought it was called the shinkansen but it's called the Nozomi. IMO, I still think the JR pass is a good deal if you want to see more than just tokyo to kyoto r/t. But it it's a super cheap trip then the 3000 yen is just that .. super cheap.

[freeier]

super cheap but u spent alot of time on the train. hehe.
anyway my friend once clocked up hundred of thousands of miles on shinkansen. he stayed there for like 1-2 weeks and travelled to nagano every night for dinner and back (tokyo).

[Zoelee25]

Thanks so much for all of your replies!!!

Finally i have picked the 7 days JR Pass.
It is very convenient to use it but just a bit hard to find the counter to exchange the pass in the first day.

I did use it to travel from Toyko to Kyoto.It would be better to book a reversed seat, maybe 2 days before. I could only book a non smoking seat a day before because it was public holiday. Luckily, I got a seat from non-smoking from non-reserved area ^_^

[Antzy]

Hi all,

I just joined Geopat not long ago and found out that u guys have experience hanging around in tokyo/osaka/kyoto...just wondering how much (approximately) for the whole trip if i wanna stay for max 8 days ? say tokyo and osaka. could you please also tell us the travel expenses between the 2 cities ?

thanks