japan rail

Is it better to purchase 7 day JR Pass and if so; are there enough trains with a ';green'; ticket to get back and forth from Osaka to Hiroshima? Does the JR Pass allow train travel which is still fast; not the bullet but not the train that stops in every town?

japan rail

The value of a JR pass depends on your train itinerary and number of days. You can%26#39;t use a pass on Nozomi trains. Other trains are fine.

japan rail

A JR Pass allows travel on virtually all JR trains, slow, fast, local, commuter, bullet trains, etc, as long as they are run by JR. The only major exception is Nozomi trains which run the fastest and are the most frequent.

As mentioned, you need to plan an itinerary first to see if the pass is worthwhile. Try to stick your long distance journeys within the validity of the pass%26#39;s period. Local rides within cities don%26#39;t cost very much so you don%26#39;t save much by having a valid pass on those days.

One way to assess pass%26#39;s value is to calculate the single journey ticket fares if you don%26#39;t have a pass. Add those together and see whether the pass saves you money. Hyperdia is easy to use and understand for this purpose:

http://www.hyperdia.com

You mention green ticket. I presume you mean Green Class (First Class) on trains, for which you pay extra when buying a JR Pass. Some recent TR contributors indicate they think it is worth paying extra for Green Class; I%26#39;ve not tried it, but my experience was that ordinary class was very comfortable and more than adequate, even on fairly long-distance trips and irrespective of the type of train (bullet train, limited stops train, all stops trains in some rural areas). Reservations are no extra charge, and I found these to wonderful - you are guaranteed of a seat, and you know from your reservation exactly where to stand on the platform to to go direct to your seat when the train arrives.

my itinerary for 2 people is:

april 5 tokyo to daytrip somewhere

6 tokyo to osaka

7 osaka to hiroshima

8 osaka to himeji

9 osaka to kyoto

10 osaka to nara or somewhere?

11 osaka hotel to kansai airport

does it pay for JR Pass for 7 days?

I appreciate your assistance.

The short answer is you are at about breakeven.

The long answer, which you can look up yourself at Hyperdia should you change your plans, is to add up the single ticket values as mentioned and compare it to the 28,300 Yen cost of the 7-day pass.

It will be worthwhile, particularly as there is no additional charge to JR Pass holders for reservations.

%26gt;%26gt;%26gt;does it pay for JR Pass for 7 days?%26lt;%26lt;%26lt;

Yes, it does. One way trip from Tokyo to Shin-Osaka and a round trip from Shin-Osaka to Hiroshima alone costs over 30,000 yen, so you%26#39;ll save a lot of money if you buy a JR Pass. However, I don%26#39;t recommend getting the Green Pass because the majority of Hikari Shinkansen trains that run between Shin-Osaka and Hiroshima are Hikari Railstars with no Green carriages.

we bought the green tickets for our trip and found that we broke even on cost. the convenience of having a pass was the winner for me.

I did not do the run to Hiroshima so I don%26#39;t know what the standards of those trains are like - but we got 1 or 2 green carriages on every train we caught.

the difference for Green was simply that the seats were spaced more widely apart, so it was easy to get up and out of the chair, I suspect the seats are bigger, the carriages were quiet with less people, everything was spotless and in very good condition, and the service was excellent. However I suspect this holds pretty much true across JR (esp. when compared with Australian trains - argh!) So I would say Green does not buy you any extra benefit other than luxury.