20 night Itinerary check

Hi Mark,

1) With this sort of itinerary is the JR Pass a good option?

While the Nationwide JR Pass offers great convenience, it does not provide the best value for your specific route. For a more cost-effective approach, we recommend combining a regional JR Hokuriku Arch Pass (covering the Tokyo - Kanazawa - Kyoto portion) with individual point-to-point tickets for the remainder of your journey.

2) Which legs would we have to book seats on?

You will need a seat reservation for the following legs:

• Tokyo to Kanazawa (04/09)
• Kanazawa to Kyoto (09/09)
• Kyoto / Hiroshima / Osaka / Odawara (14/09 -18/09)

3) If you have a booked seat and the pass is that all you need for travel?

You will need to make seat reservations at a JR station ticket office or a ticket machine using your physical pass. However, for any local trains on your itinerary, you can simply board with your pass without needing any advance reservations.

4) Will Silver week give us any issues we should consider?

Silver Week is from 19 to 23 September. Since you are only traveling from Odawara to Tokyo on the 19th, it should be fine, though stations will be noticeably more crowded than usual.

I hope this helps with your planning!

Kind Regards,

Mariko