mrwunrfl

Good price here: 7 Day JR Setouchi Area Pass - Klook
They provide a mobile voucher good for 90 days.

plambers

Hi. I was able to purchase the Setouchi pass on the official Jr Site. It was same price on Klook. US$ strong now.
So now that I finally have the pass, I have been told the value is that I can make 6 advance reservations. Which do I want to make?

r/t from Kyoto to Himeji
o/w Kyoto to Hiroshima (on a Friday) or can I reserve train to Miyajima?
o/w Hiroshima to Fukuoka (on a Sunday morning)

Also, daughter wants to bring a big piece of luggage and put a smaller one inside so we can buy stuff. If its not check on size, do I have to reserve space for this? And if so, how?

Getting close and getting excited!

plambers

anyone? thanks

mrwunrfl

With that pass you can't uise the shinkansen between Kyoto and Shin Osaka. Between those stations you want to take a limited express train with seat reservations. You can take a JR rapid train with no seat reservations. The rapid trains are more frequent than the limited express but are busier and you may have to stand.

Between Kyoto and Himeji stations you want to take a limited express train with seat reservations. There are rapid trains for that trip.

You really want to use the limited express trains instead of the rapid trains because it makes for a more comfortable trip and adds great value to the pass.

Without the pass for Kyoto to Shin Osaka, the cost would be:
rapid train 580
reserved limited express = 580 + 1690
maybe half or more of that 1690 is for the limited express surcharge which you would pay if you used an unreserved car. The rest is for the seat res, maybe 700 or so

Kyoto to Hiroshima trip should be limited express to Shin Osaka and then the shinkansen.

>> can I reserve train to Miyajima?
No. Using your pass you would take an ordinary JR local from Hiroshima Station to Miyajimaguchi then a short walk to the JR ferry. There are boats (non-JR) to Miyajima from a port near the Peace Park that you can take at extra cost. See the Miyajima webpage at japan-guide.com

You can get reserved seats on shinkansen and limited express trains.They also have unreserved cars that you can use. Everything else would be unrserved (ordinary JR local, rapid, ferry)

That luggage idea is a bad one, imo. You can find the info about oversized luggage fees on the trains yourself.

You don't know the size of the bag you want for good reason: you (probably) don't know what you will buy, how much space you need.

Take a look at collapsible / foldable bags. I got a good size duffle bag in Japan that folds up and tucks into a small zippered pouch.

mrwunrfl

Or a fold-up backpack (or two). I have one that fits easily into the pocket of my hoodie. When I don't want to wear the hoodie, I just open the backpack and stuff the hoodie into it for hands-free carrying.

plambers

isn't there a shinkanzen to himeji that i can reserve please? nozomi is allowed with this pass

mrwunrfl

Not from Kyoto. If you wanted to take the shinkansen then you would have to transfer at Shin Osaka to get the shinkansen. Thing is, the limited express train that you would take from Kyoto to Shin Osaka might be going on to Himeji. Shin Osaka is a big station and you don't really want to do that transfer when you can just take one train.

Repeating: with that pass you can't uise the shinkansen between Kyoto and Shin Osaka.

mrwunrfl

Ok, the limited express train for Himeji that I am recommending is infrequent. 7:06, 8:50 AM and then every two hours after that. I would choose one of those to avoid the tranfers, but there are many more options with a transfer.

plambers

Hi again and thanks again. Yes I know shinkansen is not from kyoto and that I need to transfer at Shin Osaka. So if I can get a limited express train from Kyoto all the way to Himeji, that is what you are advising so I don't have to transfer. Got it. Or if I'd have to transfer Id take the limited express to Shin Osaka and then get a shinkansen to Himeji. If I am just going to Shin Osaka, do I still reserve the limited express train?

So for these trips,which do I reserve?
limited express to Shin Osaka
shinkansen to Hiroshima
shinkansen from Hiroshiima to Fukuoka
limited express or shinkansen from SHin Osaka to Himeji adn return trip also

mrwunrfl

>> Yes I know .... Got it
ok, good,

What I don't know is whether a trip with a transfer at Shin Osaka would count as two reserved seats on your pass or just one. Maybe that was mentioned on the pass webpage.

>> what you are advising
My preference would be not to make a transfer on the way to/from Himeji. There are two issues wih this. 1) the through trains are infrequent (several of the limited express trains from Kyoto to Shin Osaka are headed to Kansai Airport, not Himeji), 2) the transfer trip takes significantly less time.

I take the limited express from Kyoto through to Himeji and it takes 90 minutes. Taking one train to Himeji means that I definitely will have one more free seat reservation available when I get to Hiroshima.
You take the l'ex to Shin Osaka, have 10 minutes to make the transfer to Nozomi bound for Himeji, and the trip takes you 61 minutes..,

So, the option I suggested is a preference, not a recommendatilon. I prefer the simplicity vs time savings. I would take the transfer option on the return to Kyoto even if it was only to see how many reserved seats it would count. Wouldn't know what time I would be getting back to Himeji station is a better reason - not going to wait around for the next l'ex to Kyoto.

>> Hiroshiima to Fukuoka
Let's start calling that by the correct name: Hiroshima to Hakata

You have up to seven train rides: 2 to 4 for Himeji, 2 for Hiroshima, and 1 for Hakata. I would just take the trains I wanted and if that meant that my 6 free seat res were used up when I got to Hiroshima then that would be fine. Go unreserved to Hakata or, maybe better yet, pay for the reserved seat (pay if you want to take a particular train from Hiroshima if you are heading to FUK airport). I would have said that the seat reservation would cost 500 to 900 yen but jorudan says 1530 yen, but still that is only 10 bucks. My expectation would be that you would be able to get reserved seat at last minute or there would be open seats in unreserved on this leg.

There is a possibility of having to stand when the seats in the unreserved car(s) are full. I had to stand with a bunch of others on Sanyo shinkansen once, and boy, people all around were pleased when I gave up my seat for an ancient lady which is not something I would have been compelled to do if I was Japanese.

I would probably book the reserved seat to Hakata when I arrived at Hiroshima.

plambers

thanks again for this. let me wrap my arms around it and will ask if further question.s

plambers

Hi again. So it seems I would want to reserve:

Hiroshima to Fukuoka shinkansen

Limited experess from Kyoto to Shin Osaka and then from Shin Osaka to Hiroshima via shinkansen (not sure if this is 1 or 2 reservations)

Rt limited express to Himeji from Kyoto.

Trains from Kyoto to Uji and Nara don't allow for advance reservations.

Another question-I am on the Japan travel app adn I am searching Kyoto to Himeji and not seeing any limited express trains. Just transfers at Shin Osaka. What am I doing wrong??

plambers

am using Navitime but not seeing any limited express trains

plambers

On Navitime, i put in the Setouchi pass and it shows 7:26-8:49 and 7:34-8:49. the second has 1 transfer in Shin Osaka. No direct trains

mrwunrfl

Sorry, I looked at the pass info again and the train i was recommending is one of the reserved seat trains that can't be used with that pass. i am very surprised by that. I think there are limited express trains that you can use between Kyoto and Osaka or Shin Osaka.

So, you will have to change trains.

I can't find the results you gave. What date? You can definitely use the *Rapid* train with the pass. They go to Shin Osaka and to Himeji. You could transfer to one of the permitted shinkansen at Shin Osaka.

The Rapid trains are all non-reserved. They are more/less commuter trains, so good chance of having to stand at least part of the way. They could be crammed, actually.

Uji and Nara would be on JR local or rapid trains (a rapid is like an ordnary local train but with fewer stops). You didn't want to use your free reserved seats for those trips anyway.

plambers

Ok thanks. Thought i was going crazy. Weird bc it says limited express are included but they don't seem to be, at least on the app. so yes rapid train and then change at shin osaka for shinkansen.

also, it looks like i can make unlimited reserved seat reservations but only 6 can be done online and the rest at ticket offices. Thanks again!!

mrwunrfl

You can use the Haruka Limited Express between Kyoto and Shin Osaka. The webpage for the pass says so. I def would want to get a reserved seat on that instead of the rapid train. That adds good value to the pass.

Here are Kyoto departure times of Haruka L'ex per the JR West timetable webpage:
7:13
7:49
8:20
8:45

That is for May 11. IDK why I can't get those trains on Navitime even when not selecting a pass.

plambers

thanks. so are you on the jr site then?

mrwunrfl

Yes, this one: West Japan Railway Company - Timetables, Route Maps, and Station Maps (westjr.co.jp)

mrwunrfl

jorudan shows these:
7:49
8:20

This is the transit route of the search result from Kyoto to Shin-Osaka - Japan Transit Planner | Norikae Annai (jorudan.co.jp)