Japan’s Rail Passes RANKED: 5 KILLER Deals (& Which to SKIP)

Comments · 39

• JA

  @japanunravelled · 1 year ago (edited) · pinned

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• BE

  @bennykoh · 6 months ago

  i used the 10 day jr east Tohoku pass in December 2025. Even without a round trip to Tokyo i still managed to squeeze out more value than the cost of the pass (not by much though). Tokyo -&gt; Sendai; Sendai -&gt; Morioka; Morioka -&gt; Kakunodate -&gt; Akita -&gt; Morioka; Morioka -&gt; Aomori; Aomori -&gt; Sendai then to Yamagata by limited express. This pass also covers some JR buses in Aomori and Hachinohe area.

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• AU

  @audiblebyhl6604 · 8 months ago (edited)

  A little information I&apos;d like to mention for the passes he suggested to avoid<br>1. Hokuriku Arch Pass - Indeed i think this is one of the weaker of the passes, having used one myself, I could say that the duration and coverage doesn&apos;t make much sense, especially since local trains in the Hokuriku area is no longer operated by JR. However, it is the cheapest JR Pass that lets you use the reserved seats on Kansai&apos;s local JR trains (The only other pass being the nationwide), and does cover a fair bit of both Kanto and Kansai. <br>2. Kansai Area Pass - This one is an oddball of a pass, and its a bit too complicated for a normal first-time visitor imho. It comes with complimentary vouchers for one-day passes on certain other railways in the area, just one set, irrespective of the duration of the Kansai Area Pass you purchased. This greatly expands the scope of the pass more than the JR lines (for one day at least) and hence, has some value if you can make use of the vouchers. The one day version is slightly more expensive than a single Haruka ticket, so it might make sense if you&apos;re arriving at Kansai, taking the Haruka early in the day, and manage to make 3 extra rides out of the vouchers or the pass during the remainder of the day. <br>3. JR East-South Hokkaido Pass - Frankly this pass is mostly a misnomer, It is essentially (with exceptions) a 6-day version of the JR East Tohoku Pass (5/10 days), with essentially the same per-day cost of the 5-day version, that just happens to include some of Hokkaido. If your trip is exactly 6 days wandering around Tohoku, even if you don&apos;t touch Hokkaido, you would see the value in this pass.

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• GY

  @gypsyrose2362 · 8 months ago

  Thanks for the tips: Subbed 😊

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• ZO

  @zoronqueen · 10 months ago

  Planning on purchasing the west hiroshima pass. Is it better to purchase online and wait for it to be sent to your home?

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• AL

  @alexte007 · 10 months ago

  You have been a lifesaver I am amazed by the quality in the production of your videos, as well as the information you provide will be forever grateful for finding your YouTube channel.

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• TL

  @TLOWNSU · 11 months ago

  <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gc-CeLANm3M&amp;t=310">5:10</a><br>To anyone watching I HIGHLY recommend booking an Onsen Ryokan in Kinosaki. Stayed 1 night a couple years ago and it was incredible! Plus you&apos;ll get a pass to all of the Onsens and bathhouses in the area.

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• EL

  @Eldiran1 · 11 months ago

  Great piece of advice <br>But i want to explain one of the interest of using JR West all area even if i did also did choose Sanyo-Sa&apos;in Northen Kyushu. The reason why JR West all area could be interesting is, despite the Kanazawa-Toyama where i didn&apos;t go (yet ^^ ), is the access to the Kii peninsula, after the Wakayama prefecture. Here you can do the kumano kodo trail, visit the biggest torii in Japan, the talest waterfall, etc...<br>In the end, both pass are great but the Kii peninsula is sort of an hidden gem for me. Yeah using you pass during a multiday hike is not a good choice but you can start your pass after your hikking is finish, like i did.<br><br>PS: I love the idea of supporting you by buying my pass with your link but i wanted to buy two different pass for my tohoku travel (if i understand well, we can&apos;t buy twice the same pass for the same person). So i choose the JR East Tohoku Area Pass that you recommand for visiting the tohoku region for 10 days. After that, i will be at aomori and will continue the trip with a JR East-South Hokkaido Rail Pass. This way i could visit Hakodate,Sapporo and return to Tokyo for cheaper. I also wanted to add that i will travel during January/early february for the many snow festivals we can find here. (and the many recommandations you give us! )<br>Anyways, i wanted to get my JR East-South Hokkaido Rail Pass with a link of your if you allowed that, this way you can get a small bonus even if you could disagree with my choice of pass ^^ (i hope my explanation make sense!)

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• UN

  @undercrisis · 11 months ago

  I used the Hokuriku Arch pass in my trip this month, for an edge use case - I had to go from Tokyo to Takayama, back to Omiya, back to Kanazawa and then Tokyo. So it really worked for me. Threw im a half day to Kyoto from Kanazawa, and i saved up at least 30k yen in the end.

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• PE

  @peter.walters · 11 months ago

  I made good use of the Hokoriku Arch Pass back in 2023, I was already intending to visit Kanazawa and was travelling from Tokyo and then through to Osaka, while I stayed in Kanazawa I did a side trip to Amaharashi Coast (absolutely stunning spot on a clear day) and Toyama.<br><br>The Kansai Wide Area pass is amazing, I did a day trip to Nachi Falls from Osaka with it (it&apos;s a crazy day trip) but that alone was worth more than the pass cost. &nbsp;The other days of travelling around were just a bonus.

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• CU

  @Cubebass · 11 months ago

  Thanks a lot for this information and links &nbsp;:)

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• FL

  @FlareOfLegacy · 11 months ago (edited)

  From personal experience, the JR West Kansai + Hiroshima pass is well worth it and easily paid off just going to Hiroshima and back. Even for those who are first timers and just want to do the golden route, it&apos;s worth the money (Miyajima might as well be a natural extension of the golden route). Just a note that if you want to use it to go visit the Kintaikyo bridge in Iwakuni, you have to go by the regular train after reaching Hiroshima - the shinkansen to Shin-Iwakuni is not included.<br><br>The Takayama Hokuriku pass is great too, and you can also take the bus from Kanazawa as well, not just Toyama.<br><br>On the Hokuriku Arch Pass, I think it&apos;s a mistake to treat it as a poorer substitute for the Tokaido line - you have 7 days to go along the entire route, why not stop at Takasaki, Nagano, Toyama, Kanazawa and Fukui along the way - by the time you reach Tsuruga and have to switch over to the limited express down to Kyoto/Osaka, it&apos;ll be a much shorter trip. Of course if you just wanted to go direct to Kyoto/Osaka from Tokyo as many first timers would do, then Tokaido is still the better choice - the golden route is the golden route for a reason.<br><br>Just an extra note on the national JR Pass should one still get it (there are still trips that make it worthwhile, your itinerary just needs to match) - the regional passes often include buses and non-JR trains for certain areas that the national pass will not (and so you will need to pay extra for). This includes Amanohashidate as well as the buses to Shirakawa-go.

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