Are Nagoya day passes worth it? Donichi Eco Ticket, 24-hour subway pass and Me-guru bus compared by how many rides you need

Short answer: on Saturdays, Sundays, public holidays and the 8th of each month, the Donichi Eco Ticket (620 yen for adults) pays off after three 240-yen subway rides. On weekdays, the 24-hour all-subway pass (760 yen) pays off after four 240-yen rides. If you will only ride twice, single tickets are cheaper. None of these passes work on Meitetsu or the Aonami Line, so they don't help on a day trip to Inuyama.

What day passes are there for Nagoya's buses and subway?

All of them cover only the city buses and the subway — not Meitetsu, the Aonami Line or other companies' lines.

Tickets bought from a machine or on a bus are valid only on the day of purchase. If you buy the 24-hour pass from a machine, you must start using it by the last train that day.

Is a day pass worth it for a short visit?

Nagoya's subway fares go by distance: 210 yen (up to 3 km), 240 yen (up to 7 km), 270 yen (up to 11 km), 310 yen (up to 15 km) and 340 yen (over 15 km) for adults. From Nakamura Koen Station in Nakamura Ward, west of Nagoya Station, Nagoya Station, Sakae, Nagoya Castle and Osu Kannon are all 240 yen; Kakuozan and Atsuta Jingu Nishi are 270 yen; Higashiyama Koen, Atsuta Jingu Temmacho and Nagoya Port are 310 yen.

With those fares, here is how many rides each pass needs:

• Weekends, public holidays and the 8th: Donichi Eco Ticket, 620 yen. Three 240-yen rides (720 yen) and you are ahead. Two 310-yen rides break even
• Weekdays, subway only: 24-hour pass, 760 yen. Three 240-yen rides cost 720 yen, so single tickets are cheaper; four rides (960 yen) and the pass wins
• Weekdays with city buses: bus & subway one-day ticket, 870 yen. City bus fares are 210 yen for adults, so it suits a day of about two 240-yen subway rides plus two bus rides (900 yen)
• Me-guru sightseeing bus only: 1DAY ticket, 500 yen. One ride is 210 yen, so three rides (630 yen) and you are ahead

If your day is just "Nagoya Castle, a stop in Sakae, back to where you're staying", that is three rides, and single tickets are slightly cheaper on a weekday. If you hop between Nagoya Castle, Osu, Sakae and Nagoya Station, or travel across two days, the 24-hour pass is the better buy.

Sightseeing at the weekend: is the Donichi Eco Ticket the one?

Yes. The Donichi Eco Ticket works on Saturdays, Sundays, public holidays and on the 8th of every month (Environment Day). For 620 yen you can ride every city bus and subway line. Because the 8th counts even on a weekday, check whether your trip includes the 8th.

The Donichi Eco Ticket is also valid on the Me-guru sightseeing bus (Nagoya Convention & Visitors Bureau). On a weekend day along the Me-guru route — Nagoya Castle, Tokugawa Garden, the Toyota Commemorative Museum — you don't need a separate Me-guru ticket.

On weekdays: 24-hour subway pass or bus & subway one-day ticket?

If you only use the subway, take the 24-hour pass (760 yen). It runs for 24 hours from the first gate, so if you start in the afternoon you can still use it the next morning — handy for the afternoon you arrive in Nagoya and the morning after.

If you will also use city buses, take the bus & subway one-day ticket (870 yen), which runs from first to last service rather than 24 hours. Note that the 24-hour subway pass is not valid on the Me-guru bus (Nagoya Convention & Visitors Bureau).

What about the Me-guru sightseeing bus 1DAY ticket?

Me-guru is a sightseeing bus loop from Nagoya Station that stops at Nagoya Castle, Tokugawa Garden and the Tokugawa Art Museum, the Toyota Commemorative Museum of Industry and Technology and more. A single ride is 210 yen for adults and 100 yen for children; the 1DAY ticket is 500 yen for adults and 250 yen for children. It runs Tuesday to Sunday and does not run on Mondays (or the next weekday if Monday is a public holiday) or from 29 December to 3 January (Nagoya Concierge, the official Nagoya tourism site).

For the Toyota Commemorative Museum, board Me-guru at platform 11 of the Nagoya Station bus terminal and get off at the "Toyota Commemorative Museum" stop, right outside. The museum and Me-guru are both closed on Mondays, so plan this for Tuesday to Sunday.

Do day passes get you discounts?

The Nagoya City Transportation Bureau says that showing a day ticket such as the Donichi Eco Ticket, within its valid period after first use, gets you discounts and other benefits at participating places. They are listed in the "Nagoya Toku Navi" booklet handed out at subway stations, and on its web version.

For example, the Toyota Commemorative Museum of Industry and Technology gives 20% off admission when you show a one-day ticket (such as the Donichi Eco Ticket) or a Me-guru 1DAY ticket; it can't be combined with other discounts. Adult admission is 1,000 yen. Benefits differ by place, so check the booklet before you go.

Where don't the day passes work?

The city's day passes do not cover Meitetsu, the Aonami Line or other companies' lines. Inuyama, Tokoname and Chubu Centrair Airport are reached by Meitetsu, so on those days you need a different ticket.

For Inuyama, Meitetsu sells the Inuyama Jokamachi Ticket: 1,950 yen for adults from Meitetsu Nagoya Station. It bundles a discounted Meitetsu return ticket (to Inuyama-yuen Station from the Nagoya side), admission to Inuyama Castle (normally 1,000 yen for adults), a discount voucher for the Urakuen garden and coupons for the castle town. There is no child version (Meitetsu).

Which ticket should you buy on which day?

• Weekend day at Nagoya Castle, Osu and Sakae: Donichi Eco Ticket (620 yen)
• Weekday hopping between Nagoya Castle, Osu, Sakae and Nagoya Station: 24-hour subway pass (760 yen)
• Weekday with just two or three rides: single tickets
• Tuesday to Friday on the Me-guru route (Nagoya Castle, Tokugawa Garden, Toyota Commemorative Museum): Me-guru 1DAY ticket (500 yen)
• Day trip to Inuyama: Meitetsu's Inuyama Jokamachi Ticket (1,950 yen) — skip the city day pass
• The 8th of the month: the Donichi Eco Ticket works even on a weekday

On rainy days, indoor places close to subway stations — such as the Nagoya City Science Museum, 5 minutes' walk from Fushimi Station — make a day pass easy to use. From Nakamura Koen Station it is about 10 minutes on the Higashiyama Line with no change, 240 yen.

Where should you stay to make the most of a day pass?

If you plan to ride the subway all day, stay near a subway station. Central Nagoya is a group of private stays in Nakamura Ward, west of Nagoya Station. House and Residence are 7 and 2 minutes' walk from Nakamura Koen Station on the Higashiyama Line, with direct trains to Nagoya Station (about 7 minutes) and Sakae (about 12 minutes). Stays is 4 minutes' walk from Taiko-dori Station, one stop from Nagoya Station on the Sakura-dori Line.

Every stay has a kitchen and a washing machine (or washer-dryer), so it suits a stay of several nights where you use the Donichi Eco Ticket at the weekend and the 24-hour pass on weekdays.

• Inuyama Castle day trip from Nagoya →
• Nagoya itinerary: 1, 3 and 5 days →
• Is Nagoya worth visiting? →
• Staying near Nagoya Station →

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