My partner and I are travelling to Japan in February next year.
We are planning on staying in the following areas:
Osaka - 3 nights
Kyoto - 1 night
Tokyo - 3 nights
Hakuba (ski) - 7 nights
Tokyo - 1 night
We would love to utilise the bullet trains to reach each of our destinations e.g. Osaka to Kyoto, Kyoto to Tokyo, Tokyo to Hakuba then back from Hakuba to Tokyo.
Which rail pass do you recommend us purchasing (cheapest option) for the bullet trains?
Have a look at our shinkansen fare calculator, add up the cost of the shinkansen trips, and compare that with the cost of the two week rail pass.
(Note there’s no shinkansen all the way to hakuba, closest station is Nagano, from which you take an hour long bus to hakuba)
I suspect it’ll be cheaper if you don’t buy the rail pass. There’s a discount shinkansen ticket between Tokyo and Osaka or Kyoto (links on the fare calculator above), that might save you some money.