JR pass? help please

hello me and my wife will be in Japan for 11 days and will be staying in Tokyo and Kyoto . we are staying in Tokyo for a few days. then down to Kyoto for 4 dayswith day trips to Osaka and Hiroshima then back to Tokyo for a couple more with a trip to Mt. Fuji is a rail pass the best option(cost ) for me ? our flight is leaving from Tokyo to Hong Kong, at the end of our stay in Japan

thanks

JR pass? help please

A seven day rail pass will save you quite a lot of money. As you may know, you must buy the voucher for the pass before you leave Hong Kong. You can then get the actual pass at Narita when you need to tell the member of JR staff the first day of use, which should be the day you will leave Tokyo for Kyoto. You can then use the pass for all trips until you leave Japan. I am assuming that your travel from Tokyo to Kyoto and Hiroshima, then your trip to Fuji will all be within a seven day period?

Travel within Tokyo is not expensive, so the pass is not particularly useful while you are there.

JR pass? help please

LondonBob is right. The other advantage of a JR Pass is that you pay no extra for reservations, so work out your itinerary (using hyperdia.com, but making sure you exclude the Nozomi train option) in advance and ask the booking clerk to organise your reserved seats at the time you swap your voucher for your Pass. Please note that the JR Pass also gives you free travel on the JR Ferry to Miyajima (if you go to Hiroshima you must go to Miyajima - if at all posible, catch the ferry over at high tide)...so your pass will cover the bullet train to Hiroshima, the train from Hiroshima to Miyajimaguchi, and the ferry to Miyajima.

At a minimum, make sure you fit your Tokyo/Kyoto(including Hiroshima) roundtrip within 7 days to get the most out of your pass.

It%26#39;s correct the JR Pass needs to be purchased outside Japan. However, I don%26#39;t see the OP saying he is coming to Japan from HK. Anyway, be sure to buy the exchange voucher before you leave.

Just to clarify, you must buy the voucher for the Japan Rail Pass before you leave your home country.

Another deal worth considering is the combination of (1) a ticket for the Narita Express (N%26#39;Ex) train from the Narita airport to Tokyo with (2) a Suica prepaid train card for trains and subways in the Tokyo area.

with the other last option you said for trains in the tokyo area. we will be taking trains in Kyoto and Hiroshima and osaka, so is that a better option than the JR pass??

Not sure what you mean by ';the other last option';? I think you meant Suica? Note that Suica is a stored value card that allows you to travel within Greater Tokyo (and also a more limited area in Kansai) so you never have to buy tickets. There is actually no savings involved. When the card%26#39;s value runs out, you can recharge it. It%26#39;s a tool of convenience only.

If you are heading to Hiroshima/Kyoto from Tokyo, as my other post said, try to fit everything so you come back to Tokyo within 7 days and you will maximize your savings.