Looks like a great trip! (and good job with the markdown!)

If you stick with your current itinerary, then you are certainly best to get a 14 day rail pass - according to your itinerary, you will save a minimum of ¥4,100, and as you say, you'll probably save more as you use it to travel around Tokyo.

However... reviewing your trip, there is a simple change you could make that would let you manage it on a 7 day pass rather than 14 day: rearrange your accommodation in Hiroshima...

The idea is that Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe are all in pretty much the same area, with cheap travel between them all - Osaka to Kyoto is around ¥500, so there's little point on using a JRPass for these sorts of journey. If you group these cities in your itinerary, then you would get to all the same places, and also save a bunch of money in the process by only needing a 7 day pass:

Itinerary

• Wed, 11 May - Osaka - Hotel Hillarys - standard ticket
• Thu, 12 May - Osaka - Hotel Hillarys - standard ticket
• Fri, 13 May - Osaka - Hotel Hillarys - standard ticket
• Sat, 14 May - Kobe - Chisun Hotel - standard ticket
• Sun, 15 May - Kobe - Chisun Hotel - standard ticket
• Mon, 16 May - Kyoto - Hotel Anteroom - standard ticket
• Tue, 17 May - Kyoto - Hotel Anteroom - standard ticket
• Wed, 18 May - Hiroshima/Miyajima - 7 day pass day 1
• Thu, 19 May - Nagoya/Mie [SL] then Tokyo (night) - 7 day pass day 2
• Fri, 20 May - Tokyo - 7 day pass day 3
• Sat, 21 May - Tokyo - 7 day pass day 4
• Sun, 22 May - Tokyo - 7 day pass day 5
• Mon, 23 May - Tokyo - 7 day pass day 6
• Tue, 24 May - Osaka - 7 day pass day 7
• Wed, 25 May - Osaka - Head home - standard ticket

Train Costs

• 11th - 7pm > Kansai Aiport to Osaka-Namba > ¥890.00
• 14th - 2pm > Osaka to Kobe > ¥400.00
• 16th - 9am > Kobe to Kyoto > ¥1,050
• 18th - 10am > Kyoto to Hiroshima > ¥10,790.00
• 19th - 9am > Hiroshima to Nagoya (Bus to Nagashima SL) > ¥10,790.00+bus
• 19th - 7pm > Nagoya to Tokyo > ¥10,580.00
• 24th - 10am > Tokyo to Osaka > ¥13,750.00
• 25th - 5pm > Osaka-Namba to Kansai Airport > ¥890.00

It all boils down to whether you can rearrange your hotels. I suppose Hiroshima to Tokyo including Nagashima all in one day is a long trip, but there are savings to be made if you can handle it! Besides which, you could actually go down to Nagoya/Nagashima from Tokyo and back on a day trip with your JR Pass while you are in Tokyo - it would make a nice change!

• Standard tickets: ¥3,230
• 7 day pass: ¥28,300
• Total cost: ¥31,530 (saving of 13,600 over a 14 day pass, or ¥17,700 over 100% standard tickets tickets)

Hope this helps!

M

Thanks a bunch for the swift reply!! :-)

I like your idea, I've made my bookings already but I will see how hard it is to rearrange my accommodation to suit !!

Would be a decent saving indeed.

I think the main reason I placed Hiroshima where I did was because heading back to Kyoto then onto Nagoya is, as you mentioned, much shorter than Hiroshima->Nagoya->Tokyo ...

It will be one long day!

I will investigate re-arranging my booking :)

Thanks again Mari :-)

Kind Regards,

Andrew

I've changed the booking around :-)

My itinerary now looks like this (had to change accom in Kyoto and also booked in my Tokyo hotels).

Itinerary

• Wed, 11 May - Osaka - Hotel Hillarys
• Thu, 12 May - Osaka - Hotel Hillarys
• Fri, 13 May - Osaka - Hotel Hillarys
• Sat, 14 May - Kobe - Chisun Hotel
• Sun, 15 May - Kobe - Chisun Hotel
• Mon, 16 May - Kyoto - Super Hotel Kyoto Shijo Kawaramachi
• Tue, 17 May - Kyoto - Super Hotel Kyoto Shijo Kawaramachi
• Wed, 18 May - Hiroshima/Miyajima - Urbain Hiroshima Executive
• Thu, 19 May - Nagoya/Mie [Nagashima Spa Land] then Tokyo (night) - Hotel Asia Center of Japan
• Fri, 20 May - Tokyo - Hotel Asia Center of Japan
• Sat, 21 May - Tokyo - Mitsui Garden Hotel Yotsuya
• Sun, 22 May - Tokyo - Mitsui Garden Hotel Yotsuya
• Mon, 23 May - Tokyo - Mitsui Garden Hotel Yotsuya
• Tue, 24 May - Osaka - ?
• Wed, 25 May - Osaka - Head home..

Let me know what you think :-)

I'll be booking in my JRPasses today.. It's a shame they went up in price today a bit due to fluctuating currency rates.. Oh well.... I hope 2 weeks is enough time to order and receive them..

Looks great!

Delivery to Australia is a 3 day service and is very punctual, but be sure to add an extra day for processing too.

M