Discussion
As in my flights thread the Mrs and I are hoping to get to Japan in June for approx 3 weeks.
Sorting flights and a few nights in Tokyo is relatively straightforward but I’m a bit lost as to what to do next.
I’m tempted to do what I normally do when I holiday in Europe and hire a car but we always stay in one location. This wouldn’t really work being based in Tokyo all the time. The bullet train is an option but prices have just gone up to about £1k for us both for 2 weeks.
Is it possible to take off in the car and book hotels ad hoc as we go along? I’m not particularly bothered about going to X one day and Y the next just because they’re on the tourist trail. I’d rather just take off and see where we land.
I’m rambling a bit because this is a bit new to me. Usually it’s fly somewhere to a pre booked hotel and hire a car for a couple of weeks.
Any helpful suggestions?
I’ve revised my plans (at least for now) and have approached https://www.insidejapantours.com/ to give me a price for a partial custom self guided tour.
That way I’ll have more of an idea of costs at least and it will cut down on the logistics which quite honestly were daunting. Although if it came down to a massive cost difference I could do it.
That way I’ll have more of an idea of costs at least and it will cut down on the logistics which quite honestly were daunting. Although if it came down to a massive cost difference I could do it.
Drawweight said:
I’ve revised my plans (at least for now) and have approached https://www.insidejapantours.com/ to give me a price for a partial custom self guided tour.
That way I’ll have more of an idea of costs at least and it will cut down on the logistics which quite honestly were daunting. Although if it came down to a massive cost difference I could do it.
This isn’t getting any easier, if anything I’m more conflicted.That way I’ll have more of an idea of costs at least and it will cut down on the logistics which quite honestly were daunting. Although if it came down to a massive cost difference I could do it.
I looked up one of their set tours and it comes in at £6.2 k for 2 weeks, accommodation and travel for us both.
However I priced up the very same hotels for the same number of days on Booking.com, train fares between the cities and it comes to approximately £1.7 k.
I’m assuming that they will have extras that I haven’t accounted for but that’s one heck of a price difference.
Well after much consideration I finally pulled the trigger and booked 18 days for Mid May.
We will be visiting Tokyo, Hakone, Kyoto, Miyajima, Kanazawa and Takayama. Longest stops will be 4 days in Tokyo and 5 days in Kyoto which will be a good base to travel around.
It’s quite tricky, choosing hotels, getting the correct dates, booking them. I can see why an organised tour is attractive. Price wise it’s quite a bit cheaper but the main attraction for us was the ability to choose the type of accommodation we used.
I only made one minor cock up, fortunately easily sorted. We’re flying out on the 13th so bookings start from the 14th. Coming home we leave on the 31st so I just assumed we’d be landing on the 1st and booked the car parking and cattery for those dates….oops.
Bit of a bump but sitting in a hotel room near the end of 18 days in Japan.
What a fabulous country, clean, the people are so friendly and helpful, everything works, trains are on time (well almost, we had to change plans when rain stopped the Shinkansen last night and book into a hotel last minute)
We tried a few different accommodation options, hotels are clean and relatively inexpensive. Ryokans are controversial, we tried 2, first one was lovely with an individual pool on the balcony but service and food wasn’t great. Second was good service and great food but only a public bath in the basement with no shower in the room. On the whole, we’ve tried them and are glad we did because it’s one of the things you do but next time wouldn’t bother.
Only tried one ‘traditional’ Japanese house which turned out to be laid out more like a youth hostel with breakfast left in a bag in the fridge. Unfortunately we had to cancel the other due to the disrupted travel plans, but I was hoping for an improvement.
It was hot, approaching 30 degrees at one point.
Food was great, I don’t think we had a bad meal from a restaurant. We ate everything from barbecue to sushi. My wife is more into fish than me so she’s been in heaven. Try the little mom and pop restaurants down the side streets, you won’t be disappointed. I only once saw people queuing outside a restaurant and that was in Gion, presumably because it was instagram famous but it’s not something I’d even consider. I was wary of Ramen because I thought it might be a thick broth with loads of salt but it was the exact opposite. Light and absolutely delicious. I’ve discovered a liking for sake as well.
I made a few mistakes which I won’t do next time. I went by area then found a hotel, without considering travel time, which was a pretty stupid mistake to make. A couple of times it was a 5 hour journey, changing trains 3 times.
I can’t think of a single negative that wasn’t down to me or my planning. Next time (and there will be a next time) I’d cut down on travelling with better planning, maybe go North next time.
Enough rambling. Obviously I’m just a newbie but if you want to know anything from a newbie’s point of view just ask.
Flew BA economy which wasn’t particularly pleasant but…if you’re on a budget like we were it was a necessary evil. Even just premium economy was double the price.
However we were flying from Edinburgh and BA got us to Heathrow and then directly to Haneda for approximately £1300 apiece. We wanted a direct flight as my wife is paranoid about getting stranded by cancellations.
Next time I’ll definitely investigate alternatives.
Gassing Station | Holidays & Travel | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff