MY JR PASS ITINERARY: HOW I SAVED 40€ AND GAINED PEACE OF MIND
For my first trip to Japan, I knew I wanted to visit as many places as possible. To get around easily by train, I chose to take the JR Pass. I loved that it gave me the freedom to hop on any trains. While I booked one or two Shinkansen in advance to make sure I had a seat, most of the time, I just went in without reservation and sat into the non-reserved cars.
It’s pretty cool to just show up at the station and hop on a bullet train that goes at 300km/h… It felt like having a magic card that unlocks access to the entire country.
Is the JR Pass worth it?
The JR Pass was definitely worth it for me. I did the exact math and I saved 40€ compared to buying individual tickets.
JR Pass for 2 weeks costs 437€ on Omio, and 275€ for 1 week.
If I had purchased individual tickets, I would have paid more than 475€. Beyond the savings, I really appreciated the peace of mind it provided and the freedom of heading to the train station whenever I wanted and just inserting my pass into the gate to board any train.
My Japan itinerary with the JR Pass
Here is my exact travel route. I’ve detailed each destination further down with the top things to see and do!
My exact JR Pass route with individual ticket price to compare with full pass price (437€)
How to buy the JR Pass?
You must purchase the pass before you travel to Japan. It will be physically delivered to your home. You receive a paper voucher at home and you need to bring it to Japan. Once you arrive in Japan, you exchange this voucher at a JR office for the actual pass in any train station.
Omio is an authorized reseller of the pass, so you can safely buy it there
Be mindful that the Nozomi and Mizuho train types typically require an extra supplement with the JR Pass. Since the Hikari and Kodama trains run the same routes and are fully included, I recommend those!
My tip: Check your route on Google Maps. It will show the train type ("Nozomi 24", "Hikari 502", etc.). Just pick the times that are not Nozomi or Mizuho to use your pass for free.
Japan trip highlights
Nara day tRip
I took the Shinkansen from Tokyo To Kyoto and then transferred on the local Limited Express to join Nara. It’s only 2h15 from Tokyo to Kyoto and another 30 minutes to Nara
Nara was just a day trip. While it was quite busy, I still enjoyed it a lot. I wrote an article about it here.
Kobe: the chill city
Kobe is an awesome city with more of a chill and peaceful vibe. Even though it’s still a 1.5m inhabitants and basically a suburb of Osaka as you can get there with the local train in just 25 minutes.
There are so many things to do in Kobe. But my highlights are:
The herbs garden: go up with the ropeway and hike the way down. It goes through one of the top 3 waterfalls of Japan!
The Tadao museum gallery - awesome architecture and great to learn more about Tadao Ando. They also have good temporary exhibitions. While I was there it was about women artists post-war in Japan
The carpentry museum - also beautiful architecture and gives a deep dive into Japanese beautiful wood construction techniques
For food
Eat Kobe beef at Steakland Kobe-kan - they have a lunch menu and it’s a cool experience with the chef cooking right in front of you
Experience the ramen in a cubicle at Ichiran!
Organic meal in the cute Kitano district at Farmstand
I wrote a dedicated article about Kobe, because this city truly deserves a full page. Check it out for more things to do and eat.
Arima Onsen
Super easily accessible from Kobe, just follow Google Maps indication to take the local trains that go up there.
It’s very small but super cute. I experienced two different onsens: Kin No Yu & Gin No Yu, each has different water properties for your skin. Be prepared, they are quite simple and small, without outdoor bath! But it felt like a true local experience, which I liked.
There is also a bigger spa-like onsen there if you want a more fancy experience, but it was closed when I visited: Taikou-no-you hot springs.
My food highlight was the Italian restaurant near the station. It’s actually very japanese style and more like a Japanese x Italian fusion and delicious. It’s called PORCO Aglio e olio.
HIMEJI CASTLE
I definitely recommend stopping at Himeji on your way down to Hiroshima.
My special highlight and recommendation was that I managed to take the Hello Kitty Shinkasen between Kobe and Himeji! You can check the departure time on the JR website, there is one per day.
Himeji castle is super easily accessible with the Shinkansen, you can actually already see the castle from afar when you exit the Shinkansen station and you just have to ride a bus for two stops to get from the station to the castle.
There are lockers at the train station so you can just store your luggage while you visit the castle.
I would recommend planning around 3 hours stop over to have time to visit the castle.
It’s really cool and well preserved and maintained castle. The visit is also well organized and you get to see each floor inside the main castle, including the armory, etc.
It’s the biggest castle in Japan and one of the rare original ones.
Fun fact: it was fully dismantled for renovation and put back together!
Hiroshima
I did not have much expectation. I obviously wanted to see the peace memorial, the building that survived the bomb and the peace museum. But Hiroshima is actually a super nice city to visit for a couple of days. Chill vibe, pretty cool bars and restaurants… I really liked the atmosphere.
It is of shocking/ humbling to realize that almost every building you see is less than 80 years old. 94% of the city was fully destroyed by the A-bomb. The whole city is basically a big peace activism place with a lot of commemorative signs spread across the city. So you always remember.
My favorite places in Horoshima:
The Shukkeien Garden, a beautiful Japanese garden
Cafe flex for a healthy meal by the river (with outside sitting on the terrasse)
You have to eat Okonomiyaki, Hiroshima’s specialty. I went to Okonomimura, which was a pretty fun experience with several floors. Chefs prepare on the hot plate in front of you!
For bars, I stumbled upon a standing bar, called 立ち飲み居酒屋 火場忠 . It was super fun, you get to talk to locals and the owners are very friendly!
Of course, don’t miss the peace memorial and museum…
Miyajima
No trip to Japan is complete without the Miyajima day trip.
You can easily get there with a 30 minute train ride from the Hiroshima station and then a short ferry ride. (all included in the JR Pass)
The island is pretty awesome, and not as crowded as I thought. Be ready to hike a lot, in case you want to do the loop like I did: you can take the cable car to a first observatory and then hike up to the top of Mount Misen - it takes about 30 minutes and then down via the Dasisho-in temple, which takes another 1h30 minutes. So it’s quite a long loop but it’s very nice through the forest and you get to see some more temples and gates, as well as some waterfall.
We did not have time to test any restaurants, instead we bought some snacks from the Lawson near the ferry arrival and ate it during the hike.
KYOTO
Kyoto can’t be summed up in a paragraph! Check out my complete blog post about Kyoto.
Here is a glimpse:
Kyoto is a must-stop on your JR Pass route, and getting there on the Shinkansen is super easy. Honestly, I was a bit worried about the famous Kyoto crowds, but they're actually quite easy to avoid! My biggest tip is to hit the major spots at off-hours—like grabbing Lawson breakfast to eat in line before the Golden Pavilion opens, or doing a spooky (but super fun!) night hike through the 10,000 gates at Fushimi Inari. Otherwise, I highly recommend just being spontaneous. Wander through the totally empty Myōshin-ji temple complex, chill by the rock garden at Ryoan-ji, and definitely leave time for the amazing vintage thrift shopping and local izakayas.
Stay tuned! I’ll be posting a dedicated blog post about Takayama soon!
