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The original was posted on /r/japantravel by /u/HomeworldMoA on 2024-10-07 19:12:29+00:00.
I was spending two weeks in Japan with the majority based out of Kyoto. (2 days in Osaka, rest Kyoto)
I had a split itinerary, with one week focused on Osaka and Kyoto themselves and another week focused on daytrips to things I could get to using the sanyo sanin area pass. This is a region specific JR pass that you can get for 23000 yen that lasts 7 days. Here is a coverage map.
It allows you to ride the JR lines between Osaka/Kyoto and Fukuoka even including the Nozomi, (fastest), Shinkansen as many times as you want. This really helps with a day trip based itinerary. (It should be noted that you can’t ride the Shinkansen between Kyoto and Osaka on this pass.)
This pass also gives you access to several express trains that depart a few times a day to specific touristy locations, these were very useful when I was putting my itinerary together.
The pass also allows you to book the HARUKA express that travels to/from KIX.
I was aiming to get out as early as possible and return to Kyoto by ~6/7pm most days.
If I were to do this again, I’d suggest making a base in Osaka rather than Kyoto simply because it’s so much easier to not have to think of how you are going to get to Shin-Osaka station to get the really early Shinkansen.
The day trips were as follows:
- Hiroshima.
Simple, just get the Shinkansen from Shin-Osaka. When you arrive, there are several JR tour busses that are covered by this pass that depart from the station main entrance.
Your pass gives you free travel on the Miyajima ferry. Make sure you take the Sanyo line down to the ferry terminal and not the metro as the metro is not covered in your pass.
Hiroshima was amazing and I would 100% recommend visiting. This one daytrip almost entirely pays for the pass itself. I personally split the day between extensively visiting the peace museum and Miyajima shrine with a small amount of walking around downtown inbetween while killing time waiting for public transport.
It’s so easy and quick to get there and as it’s essentially Shinkansen all the way. You could do two day trips to Hiroshima and not run out of things to do.
- Tottori.
There is a dedicated train to get from Kyoto called the HAKUTO that goes to Tottori. If you have a full day to dedicate to Tottori I would suggest just getting this train and calling it a day. The train leaves Kyoto at 7am and you will arrive at 10am.
You can then catch the Super Inaba Limited Express from Tottori at ~7pm to Okayama before switching back to the Shinkansen to get back into Osaka/Kyoto around ~10pm. Remember to not stay on the Shinkansen after Shin-Osaka as this is not covered by the pass.
You will see talk of supplement fares needing to be paid to get to Tottori that are not covered by the JR pass online but these are specifically covered by the sanyo sanin pass and you do not have to pay anything extra at any point.
Tottori is the least visited prefecture in all of Japan and that is a shame. It’s beautiful, interesting and I don’t regret making the journey out there. I would recommend taking advantage of something the local government is offering called the ‘Foreign Tourist Taxi Service’ where for 4000 yen, you get a taxi to ferry you around between the points of interest for 3 hours. This all departs from / is organized by the Tottori Tourist Information Center which is in the same building as the station but accessed from the outside.
If you want to go to the Tottori Sand Museum, buy your ticket at the train station as you arrive and not at the museum itself as it’s cheaper. If you stay in Tottori for the entire day you do not have to limit yourself to Tottori City, if the weather is nice I’d recommend bringing your swimming gear and spending time at Uradome Coast or looking at the neighboring Kurayoshi city as well.
- Kinosaki-Onsen.
You should spend the night at Kinosaki-Onsen at a Ryokan. A day trip does not do it justice but it could be done if pressed for time.
The Hashidate departs from Kyoto to Kinosaki early in the morning and there are several ‘special’ trains that leave back to Osaka/Kyoto in the late afternoon / evenings. You need to reserve seats for these so make sure you leave some time to talk to the JR staff at the station if you don’t pre-book a specific train back. There can be large gaps of several hours between these trains back so it’s really worth figuring it out.
You can purchase a day pass from any of the 7 ‘Mythic Onsen of Kinosaki’ for 1500 yen that gets you access to them all for the day. If you stay the night, this is usually given to you for free by your ryokan.
There isn’t much to specifically say about this one; if you like Onsen, you will like it. If you say the night, your ryokan will usually provide you with traditional dress and footwear for making the onsen pilgrimage in the evening.
The pass you receive from the Ryokan is valid until 3pm the next day. I’m not sure if this is the case for the bought day pass.
2+3) You can do a combined Tottori day trip with overnight at Kinosaki-Onsen with minimal time wastage so long as you take a very specific set of trains. This enables you to do the 3 hour taxi tour in Tottori and then get an express train to Kinosaki-Onsen just as the Ryokan are opening check-in.
• Take the 5:20am Rapid Himeji from Kyoto to Shin-Osaka.
• Take the Hikari Hakata Shinkansen to Aioi (You must pre-book before the journey as there is no time to do so at the station)
• Take the San-yo Line from Aioi to Kamigori.
• Take the Super Inaba Limited Express up to Tottori Station to arrive at 8:36am.
• Take the Taxi Tour on your selected route from 9am-12 midday.
• You have an extra ~hour to shop in Tottori. I’d suggest buying tottori pears and honey.
• Take the 12:56pm Hamakaze from Tottori to Kinosaki-Onsen. (Must be pre-booked) This gets you there at 2:11pm which gives you more than enough time to get to your ryokan.
The pass booking system will not let you pre-book this journey in one go, you must book the Shinkansen, Super Inaba and Hamakaze separately.
If you do spend the night at Kinosaki-Onsen, consider getting one of the trains back to Kyoto that goes via Amanohashidate. (One of the ‘three most scenic views of Japan’) The Kyoto Tango Railway is not a JR route but is included in this pass. I didn’t end up doing this because the weather was bad on the day.
- Himeji.
Get a rapid train down to Shin-Osaka and switch to the Shinkansen. No real advanced planning required beyond booking the Shinkansen seat.
The roads leading up to Himeji-jo are shoutengai. I’d suggest getting their early-ish in the morning and going on a food tour along the shoutengai. I stopped in at 4 places on the way up the castle and the food was all cheaper than it was in Osaka/Kyoto, there were no lines at all and it was very high quality. I particularly liked Tamagoya.
I can’t recommend the official guided tour enough. The guides are very passionate, and it greatly enhances the experience. There are very limited places on these tours so I’d get there early for the timeslot. They happen at 10am and 1pm each day.
- Nara.
Again, very easy. There is a direct JR line from Kyoto. Make sure you don’t get the non JR line.
You know what Nara is. Go get attacked by deer and visit Todai-Ji. I thought Nara was going to be overrated but I enjoyed it.
Much like Himeji, the shoutengai here have hidden gems, totally worth going up and down them to see if anything catches your eye. I want to call attention to ‘Treasure Off’ with their 500 yen giant plushies.
If you are staying in Kyoto, Nara and Himeji could easily be half day excursions with an evening in Osaka as to take advantage of the free travel between them while you have the pass. The JR rapid train between Kyoto and Osaka is more expensive than the non JR line that is not covered by the pass so may as well make the most of it while it’s free.
I spent the other two days in and around Osaka/Kyoto with friends. Even then with ‘wasting’ two days of the pass on cheap transport days, what is described above Is ~52,000 yen worth of travel for only 27000 yen. If I had used it book the HARUKA, it would’ve saved another 6000 yen on top of that. (I happened to have it covered by something else.) You could very easily get loads more value out of this pass.
Something to be aware of is that once you have collected the pass at the JR desk / machine. You will be unable to book more reservations through the online portal and you must book seats at the JR desk from that point onwards.
Here is the link to the pass. Look at the regional passes for your trip, they are probably much better value than the main JR pass!
The rest of my trip was spent doing the usual things in Kyoto / Osaka that you’ve read about a million times before! All I’ll say is that Gion is overrated and to be careful that you may get charged an extra fee if you do tax free shopping in some shopping malls where you have to go to an external desk outside of the actual store.