JR West Passes – Kansai Plus Neighboring Areas

Before or after visiting Kansai, you can also travel around its neighboring areas, like Hiroshima, Hokuriku, and San’in. For such long-distance journeys, the best way is to take a train. In Japan, many railway companies would launch concerning transportation passes, by which visitors can take designated vehicles for some time. It’ also the same with JR West companies, which is in charge of the JR railways in Kansai and its nearby areas, and it sells Kansai-Hiroshima Area Pass, Kansai-Hokuriku Area Pass, and Kansai-San’in Area Pass. In addition, you can also buy JR-West All Area Pass to travel across the whole West Japan. With these passes, you don’t bother to always spending time buying tickets.

Kansai – Hiroshima Area Pass

Valid time: 5 days
Prices: 17,000 yen for each adult; 8,500 yen for each child
Note that child here refers to individuals who are under the age of 12 years old.
Covering areas: Kansai and Hiroshima

Available public transportation tools: Shinkansen, some private railways, JR’s Limited Express, Buses, Local, Rapid, Special Rapid Service, and Ferry.

1. JR Railways and Shinkansen

	Local/Rapid/Special Rapid trains	Limited Express trains	Sanyo Shinkansen
Non-reserved seats	√	√	√
Reserved seats	Separate charge is needed when enjoying A-seats	√	√
First-class seats	An additional first-class seat ticket is needed.	You need to buy a first-class seat ticket and a limited express ticket.

Note:
The Pass supports Sanyo Shinkansen from Shin-Osaka to Hiroshima with Nozomi and Mizuho included.

2. West JR Buses:

Kansai – Hiroshima Area Pass supports the local buses of both Chugoku JR Bus and West JR Bus. Local buses run within the city and generally would not go beyond the city. Expressway buses are not included (It also applies to the below 3 passes).

3. Private Railways:

The Pass also supports parts of Kyoto Tango Railway and Wakayama Electric Railway. Below is the valid section:

Kyoto Tango Railway: Toyooka – Miyazu – Fukuchiyama – Nishi-Maizuru

Wakayama Electric Railway: Kishi – Wakayamashi

4. Ferry:

With this Pass, you can take JR-West Miyajima Ferry from Miyajimaguchi to Miyajima, but an extra fee of 100 yen will be charged as the visitation tax to board on Miyajima.

Kansai-Hokuriku Area Pass

Valid time: 7 days
Prices: 19,000 yen for each adult; 9,500 yen for each child
Covering area: Kansai and Hokuriku

Available public transportation tools: Shinkansen, JR’s Buses, Local, Rapid, Special Rapid Service, Limited Express, and a part of private railways.

1. JR Railways and Shinkansen

	Local/Rapid/Special Rapid trains	Limited Express trains	Sanyo Shinkansen & Hokuriku Shinkansen
Non-reserved seats	√	√	√
Reserved seats	Separate charge is needed when enjoying seats.	√	√
first-class seats	You need to buy an additional first-class seat ticket.	An first-class seat ticket and a limited express ticker are needed.
Gran-class seat for Hokuriku Shinkansen	-		You need to buy a Gran-class ticket.

Note:
The Pass supports both Sanyo Shinkansen with Hello Kitty Shinkansen included, and Hokuriku Shinkansen. Their valid sections are from Shin-Osaka to Okayama and from Tsuruga to Joetsumyoko respectively.

2. JR Buses

Kansai-Hokuriku Area Pass supports West JR Buses around Kyoto, Kanazawa, Obama, and Omi-I mazu.

3. Private Railways:

The private railways supported by this Pass include Kyoto Tango Railway, IR Ishikawa Railway, Wakayama Electric Railway, Hapi-Line Fukui, Ainokaze Toyama Railway, and Noto Railway.

Kyoto Tango Railway: Toyooka – Miyazu – Fukuchiyama – Nishi-Maizuru

Wakayama Electric Railway: Kishi – Wakayamashi

Noto Railway: Nanao – Wakuraonsen

IR Ishikawa Railway: Tsubata – Kanazawa

Ainokaze Toyama Railway: Takaoka – Toyama

Hapi-Line Fukui: Fukui – Echizen-Hanando

Kansai-San’in Area Pass

Valid time: 7 days
Covering area: Kansai and San’in
Prices: 18,000 yen for each adult and 9,000 yen for each child

Available transportation tools: Shinkansen, a part of private railways, JR’s Local, Rapid, and Special Rapid Service, Limited Express, and JR Bus.

1. JR’s Railways and Shinkansen

	Local/Rapid/Special Rapid trains	Limited Express trains	Sanyo Shinkansen
Non-reserved seats	√	√	√
Reserved seats	Separate charge is needed when enjoying A-seats.	√	√
First-class seats	You need to buy an additional first-class ticket.	An additional first-class ticket and a limited express ticket are needed.

Note: This Pass supports Sanyo Shinkansen from Shin-Osaka to Okayama. In addition, you can also take Hello Kitty Shinkansen with this Pass.

2. JR West Bus

3. Private railway

You can take Chizu Express and Kyoto Tango Railway with this Bus and below is the valid section.

Chizu Express: Chizu – Kamigori

Kyoto Tango Railway: Toyooka – Miyazu – Fukuchiyama – Nishi-maizuru

JR-WEST All Area Pass

Valid time: 7 days
Prices: 26,000 yen for each adult and 13,000 yen for each child
Covering area: West Japan including Kansai, San’in, Hokuriku, and Hakata.

Available transportation tools: Shinkansen, JR’s Local, Rapid, Special Rapid Service, Limited Express, West JR Bus, and Ferry

1. JR Railways and Shinkansen

	Local/Rapid/Special Rapid trains	Limited Express trains	Sanyo Shinkansen & Hokuriku Shinkansen
Non-reserved seats	√	√	√
Reserved seats	Separate charge is needed when enjoying A-seats.	√	√
First-class seats	You need to buy an additional first-class seat ticket.	An additional first-class seat ticket and a limited express ticket.
Gran-class seats for Hokuriku Shinkansen	-		You need to buy a Gran-class ticket.

Note:
The valid sections of Sanyo Shinkansen and Hokuriko Shinkansen are separately from Shin-Osaka to Hakata, and from Tsuruga to Joetsumyoko.

2. West JR Bus:

You can take West JR Bus and Chugoku JR Bus

3. JR Ferry:

You can take JR-West Miyajima Ferry from Miyajima to Moyajimaguchi with 100 yen as the visitation tax.

4. Private Railways:

Kyoto Tango Railway, IR Ishikawa Railway, Ainokaze Yoyama Railway, Noto Railway, Chizu Express, and Hapi-Line Fukui are available when you hold the Pass. The usage information is the same as those in Kansai-Hokuriku Area Pass and please refer to it.