Sylvie,
Je ne résiste pas au plaisir de vous envoyer cette discussion sur un site anglophone.
Le Surutto Kansai ticket ne semble pas être le Surutto Thru Pass qui doit être acheté avant le départ. Le Surutto K ticket peut être acheté par tous, Japonais inclus, sur place.
Sur Jorudan.co.jp vous voyez les horaires des trains. 6H du matin de
Kyoto à
Nara. Mais je l'ai trouvé avec Kintetsu; cela doit exister avec JR aussi.
En allant au Koyasan de
Kyoto, il faut près de 4H. Ne pas y loger est une erreur car le repas du soir, la nuit dans le temple et l'office du matin forment un tout indissociable.
Mes groupes disent que cela reste un grand moment du voyage. Mais sans loger sur place, vous allez perdre beaucoup.
Perso, je suis tout à fait de l'avis de Lauren (ci-dessous aussi), j'ai toujours pris le National JR pass pour 14 ou 21 jours. Car les bus JR sont gratuits avec le Pass.
Exemple : on peut ainsi aller au Nijo-jo, Ryoanji et Kinkakuji (temple d' or) avec le bus JR de
Takao. Mais peu de touristes le savent.
Je prends toujours le train pour le Nijo (5' depuis
Kyoto) puis je reviens à la gare du Nijo pour continuer en bus vers le Ryoanji etc...
Il y a un 3ème avis, bref c'est assez complexe.
Merci por vos infos sur
Himeji.
Surutto Kansai Ticket/JR rail pass 2009/5/19 Hi guys and gals, just want to start by saying that I love the site and all those that post informative replies. I'm travelling to
Japan for the first time in November and this site (with the info and the people) has helped me more than any other site. My partner and I plan to travel around
Japan in 20days. We fly into
Osaka and fly out from
Tokyo. We've looked at the suggested itinerary on this site for 19days and would roughly follow that. We're doing the Kansai area for about 5days at the start, then heading down south to
Beppu then back up to
Tokyo and be based in
Tokyo for the last few days. Not too sure how long we're going to settle in each area along the way, but I do know that we want to have about 5 days in the Kansai region at the start. We’re not too sure where we want to go around the Kansai region yet, still getting ideas. What I was wondering is suggestions for how to maximise value on the rail passes? I understand that the Surutto Kansai Ticket is valid in more places than the JR pass (west or national). So I was thinking of using a couple of Surutto Kansai Tickets at the start of our trip, then activating a 14day JR national pass once we move on from the area. If we did it this way, it would cost around 53,900Yen.
The other option is to purchase the 21 day JR national pass for 57,700Yen, but I am reluctant to do this as it would be more expensive and I have the impression that it would give us less access around the Kansai region. Any thoughts or corrections or ideas on this subject would be greatly appreciated :)
by lauren (guest)
... 2009/5/20 Hi there, You would be suprised how much of tha Kansai area IS serviced by JR transport. The direct train to
Nara is a JR service. There is an
Osaka loop line that circles the city, which is JR, along with several other lines connecting to this loop which are JR also (ie: the line to
Nara). And all of
Kyoto and its tourists sites are serviced by JR trains, and especially JR buses! I too travelled for 20 days, mainly in the Kansai area and found I only had to buy Surutto Kansai Card once, and I ended up wasting my money on it as I later found out a JR bus serviced that tourist spot in
Kyoto! Definitely do more research and figure out exactly where you plan on going, and use
hyperdia.com (the English version) to help you figure out times and costs of the transport you wish to take. It is a fantastic website for planning! I think you will find that a 21 day JR pass will be fine, but if you really work it out to be cheaper using the Surutto Kansai Cards then go for that option instead. My friend who I travelled with bought Surutto Kansai Cards instead of a 21 day JR pass and regretted it because he ended up spending enough money on the cards to make his total transport cost more than what the 21 day JR pass would have cost him anyway! Anyway, I hope that helps. Just do the research and whichever works out cheaper obviously choose that option. But from personal experience I think a 21 day JR pass would be fine. Good luck!
by Dan (guest)
rate this post as useful
not quite 2009/5/20
And all of Kyoto and its tourists sites are serviced by JR trains, and especially JR busesPlease don't rely on JR in
Kyoto: you will need subways and buses there as well, definitely.
JR will get you to Fushimi Inari, Nijo castle, Ryoanji, (with a 20+ minute walk to and from Kinkakuji) and Arashiyama, but not a great deal more. There is so much more to experience in
Kyoto.
We went through 4000Y worth of Surrutto prepaid cards in 4 trips to
Kyoto, and that was using JR to get there. Admittedly we were also using them at night in
Osaka as we stayed there at the station hotel, and used the Misosuji subway line to Namba on 4 nights.
If you can manage
Osaka and
Kyoto on Surrutto Kansai through pass then great, and leave
Nara for JR Pass: my bet is you may need in 20 days both the 21 day pass and a Surrutto pass/card as well. In 20 days it would be
nice to have at least 3 or 4 in
Kyoto.
The JR Pass is so worth it for the ease of travel and vast options it provides; the Surrutto prepaid cards are the same, although don't provide the discount. The Surrutto Kansai through pass may not be valid for long enough for what you want to do. by
fmj rate this post as useful Thanks! 2009/5/21 Thanks for your answers guys, still not sure exactly where we're going in Kansai,
