Kansai Wide Area Pass
After choosing the Hokuriku Arch Pass as my transport pass (from Kanto to Kansai), I knew I was going to spend a lot of time in Kansai. It is a hot spot, but I usually use Osaka as my base and move around. Besides the basic idea of having Osaka and Kyoto JR lines covered, I would also get Single day passes in both Osaka and Kyoto’s subway systems. Additionally, Kyoto Tango Railway, Chizu Express and Wakayama Electric is covered.
The range of the pass is what sold me. Originally, I was suppose to go to Takamatsu to meet with Noguchi-san again (but that didn’t happen) and I knew I was going to explore Amanohashiate and that trip in itself was pretty much the prices of the KWAP. That would make it pay off.
When I saw the pass covers a range up to Tottori and far as Nara and Wakayama, I was planning to go to those spots. Knowing that to get to Tottori, I would use the Chizu Express (which I had another reason to use that railway). Unfortunately, on that day, I was a bit late waking up and when I got to Akashi station (there was a castle there), I decided to turn around as I knew that day, I had planned to go on a tetsuin run for Ibara, Hojo, Chizu and Wakasa railways. That run would have taken all day since it was usually an hour on each railway to get to the designated stations. I lost motivation that day. I also ran out of time with the trying to go to Mie and Wakayama.
One surprise I did get was when I used the KWAP to go to Koka, Shiga. If you look at the KWAP map, Kusatsu is right below Maibara. To get to Konan/Koka area, you have get off at Kusatsu station and take the local line. I was expecting to pay at Konan station, but staff there looked at my pass and let me through when arriving and leaving.
2 High points of having this pass is you can also use the Shinkansen between Osaka to Okayama ONLY. The other high point is that you have access to rental cycles from Ekirin Kun. I personally didn’t use the Eikirin rental cycle (I did plan to rent, but that part of my trip didn’t happen).
Issues
I have to say, issues were minimal. The only issue I felt was you ‘can’t use the Shinkansen between Osaka and Kyoto’. You end up using the local line (which obviously takes a bit longer) and even with the Rapid version of that line, (stopping at like 3 or 4 stations), its all meant for commuters.
Speaking of access, this pass doesn’t cover too much of Mie prefecture. It covers doing down the Ise Peninsula up until Shigu station. But nothing about eastern Mie such as Ise, Tsu or anything past Nara.
Conclusion
This pass is absolutely worth it. It gives a pretty good wide range of the Kansai region even though a good portion of Mie prefecture isn’t covered.