Japan Sample Itinerary thread

[VD]

you do have to consider traveling time, and also consider the distance between your destination. Yokohama and Osaka is not near at all. Yokohama is near to Tokyo.

 

[babycat2010]

Why not book your hotel at TDL/TDS for the first 2 days then go Lake kawaguchi, 4 dec takayama castle tower? I don't think u have time to cover lake kawaguchi, Mt fuji and Gotemba.

Thank you VD. I will put your suggestions to my draft planning and Yokohama at Tokyo is noted. Will do changes to it too. Greatly appreciated

 

[evilerniex]

Dear evilerniex,

I am planning my 1st trip to Japan (Tokyo and Osaka) with my family this December (2A2C). I have not book the flights and hotels and would like to seek your help to review my current plan. Do let me know if you think I need to make any adjustments.


1 Dec Fri - Arrive Tokyo Narita Airport / Haneda Airport (Check in either hotel: Hotel Sunroute Plaza Shinkuju / JR Kyushu Hotel Blossom Shinjuku / Keio Plaza Tokyo / Hotel Rose Garden Shinjuku). Any comment on these 4 hotels?

2 Dec Sat - DisneySEA

3 Dec Sun – Disneyland

4 Dec Mon – Mount Fuji, Lake Kawaguchi, Takayama Castle Tower and Gotemba Premium outlet (Still cannot decide whether to stay 1 night or just a day trip there)

5 Dec Tues – Osaka via Shinkanzen (Wish to try Ryokan. Looking at Kaneyoshi Ryokan, Namba Dotombori, Osaka or Drop Inn Osaka) Any comment on these 2 Ryokan? Any suggestion where to go upon check-in?

6 Dec Wed – Universal Studio

7 Dec Thurs – Yokohama, Cup noodles museum, Nara Dee Park, Yoshikien Garden, Kasuga Taisha Shrine and Osaka Castle then food trip in Namba area

8 Dec Fri – Karuizawa Prince Hotel Ski Park (Wish to let my kids experience winter with "snow")

9 Dec Sat – Shibuya (Looking at Dormy Inn Premium Shibuya and Shibuya Excel Hotel Tokyo) Any comment on these 2 hotels?
Yoyogi Park, Jingu Shrine, Harajuku, Ometesando, Meiji Shrine, Tokyo Dome City, Pokemon Centre Mega Tokyo at Sunshine City

10 Dec Sun – Odaiba, Return flight to Singapore (Narita)

We are not a temples or museums kind of person and may I know which type of JR pass should I buy cos I am still very confuse with the transport passes…


Many thanks in advance!

seems too packed in general, and quite a bit of travelling.

since u only have 10 days, i suggest u skip osaka takayama. these places are very far from tokyo. that way u can have more days for tokyo and spread out some places. it will save u quite a bit on transportation as it cost almost $200 per pax for shinkansen from tokyo to osaka.

for 10 days, u have:
2 days hakone+kawaguchiko+gotemba or karuizawa (overnight)
2 days disneyland + disneysea (overnight or daytrip)
yokohama (daytrip from tokyo)
5 days tokyo

u can cut down on tokyo further and do both hakone+kwawguchi+gotemba and karuizawa. but i felt it is too much travelling ard for a trip, and leave u with not much days left for tokyo

 

[gentoro]

Yes, too much of Tokyo and too many of far away places to go in just 10 days. Have you thought about how much will the shinkansen cost you? The reason being - 2.5hrs reach hakone from Tokyo then never factor in the transport for station to kawaguchiko and gotemba and back to station for 2.5hrs ride back to Tokyo?
1) Can do or not? - I personally dun want to try, too rush
2) Worth it? Cost for shinkansen and having a short day for 3 places in hakone..I personally feel not worth
3) Timing to complete? Gotemba closed at 7pm meaning dinner last order at 6.30pm. I ain't dun want to rush like mad

1 day trip to karuizawa via shinkansen roughly 2.5hrs also. Do you know how far is the station to Prince hotel ski resort?
1) Time to complete? spend lesser time at ski resort or ski playground? I rather let kids more time to play more
2) Worth it? Similarly the Prince shopping mall closed at 7pm and last order via food court at 6pm. Ok as in restaurant nearby closed at 9pm
3) Can do? Yes, if you not going to karuizawa Ginza street as it alway closing early and nothing much there after 4pm.

Travelling to Osaka about 4hr from Tokyo. Got check how much? Worthwhile as day trip and back to Tokyo at end of day?

 

[babycat2010]

seems too packed in general, and quite a bit of travelling.

since u only have 10 days, i suggest u skip osaka takayama. these places are very far from tokyo. that way u can have more days for tokyo and spread out some places. it will save u quite a bit on transportation as it cost almost $200 per pax for shinkansen from tokyo to osaka.

for 10 days, u have:
2 days hakone+kawaguchiko+gotemba or karuizawa (overnight)
2 days disneyland + disneysea (overnight or daytrip)
yokohama (daytrip from tokyo)
5 days tokyo

u can cut down on tokyo further and do both hakone+kwawguchi+gotemba and karuizawa. but i felt it is too much travelling ard for a trip, and leave u with not much days left for tokyo

Hi evilerniex

Thank you for your suggestions. Greatly appreciated. Will put your suggestions in and will work out a final itinerary.

 

[babycat2010]

Yes, too much of Tokyo and too many of far away places to go in just 10 days. Have you thought about how much will the shinkansen cost you? The reason being - 2.5hrs reach hakone from Tokyo then never factor in the transport for station to kawaguchiko and gotemba and back to station for 2.5hrs ride back to Tokyo?
1) Can do or not? - I personally dun want to try, too rush
2) Worth it? Cost for shinkansen and having a short day for 3 places in hakone..I personally feel not worth
3) Timing to complete? Gotemba closed at 7pm meaning dinner last order at 6.30pm. I ain't dun want to rush like mad

1 day trip to karuizawa via shinkansen roughly 2.5hrs also. Do you how far is the station to Prince hotel ski resort?
1) Time to complete? spend lesser time at ski resort or ski playground? I rather let kids more time to play more
2) Worth it? Similarly the Prince shopping mall closed at 7pm and last order via food court at 6pm. Ok as in restaurant nearby closed at 9pm
3) Can do? Yes, if you not going to karuizawa Ginza street as it alway closing early and nothing much there after 4pm.

Hi gentoro

Thank you for your advice. You too feels that I shld skip Osaka and just concentrate in Tokyo?

 

[gentoro]

Hi gentoro

Thank you for your advice. You too feels that I shld skip Osaka and just concentrate in Tokyo?

4 days - Tokyo
3 days - Karuizawa
3 days - Hakone

Skipped the disneylands...

 

[babycat2010]

4 days - Tokyo
3 days - Karuizawa
3 days - Hakone

Skipped the disneylands...

But but.. with children... skip disneylands? They will be disappointed...

 

[evilerniex]

4 days - Tokyo
3 days - Karuizawa
3 days - Hakone

Skipped the disneylands...

dun skip disneylands lah... kids probably will not be able to appreciate nature and shopping. so maybe cut down on hakone or karuizawa loh

 

[babycat2010]

dun skip disneylands lah... kids probably will not be able to appreciate nature and shopping. so maybe cut down on hakone or karuizawa loh

Thank you!

 

[VD]

Stay with Tokyo and u still can do Karuizawa, leaving Osaka for another trip. Plus u excluded Kyoto, defeats the purpose of not visit Kyoto. you can also consider getting the 3 days JR East tokyo wide pass, cost is 10,000 for adults and 5,000 for children. Without JR pass one way to Karuizawa cost 5,910.

Rule of a thumb when planning within Tokyo, visit 2-3 places a day, too many will be tiring and too rushing. Depending on where you gg to stay, plan the places according to the close proximity of each destination to cut down traveling time.

Instead of Gotemba, you can consider Mitsui outlet instead. Mitsui makuhari is 30mins from Tokyo via train.

Think about storage of luggage too when u head to Lake kawaguchi and Karuizawa, you wouldn't want to tug along your huge luggage along. I usually carry a small bag and leave the luggage with the hotel I'm coming back to. If you were to stay in eg. Hotel A then u leave for another location but coming back to the same Hotel to stay, then depending on the duration between, the Hotel might allow u to store your luggage with them. So far, I have left luggage with hotels for 3 days max and they are fine with that.

just my 2 cts

 

[thwysg]

1 Dec Fri - Arrive Tokyo Narita Airport / Haneda Airport (Check in either hotel: Hotel Sunroute Plaza Shinkuju / JR Kyushu Hotel Blossom Shinjuku / Keio Plaza Tokyo / Hotel Rose Garden Shinjuku). Any comment on these 4 hotels?

2 Dec Sat - DisneySEA

3 Dec Sun – Disneyland

4 Dec Mon – Mount Fuji, Lake Kawaguchi, Takayama Castle Tower and Gotemba Premium outlet (Still cannot decide whether to stay 1 night or just a day trip there)

5 Dec Tues – Osaka via Shinkanzen (Wish to try Ryokan. Looking at Kaneyoshi Ryokan, Namba Dotombori, Osaka or Drop Inn Osaka) Any comment on these 2 Ryokan? Any suggestion where to go upon check-in?

6 Dec Wed – Universal Studio

7 Dec Thurs – Yokohama, Cup noodles museum, Nara Dee Park, Yoshikien Garden, Kasuga Taisha Shrine and Osaka Castle then food trip in Namba area

8 Dec Fri – Karuizawa Prince Hotel Ski Park (Wish to let my kids experience winter with "snow")

9 Dec Sat – Shibuya (Looking at Dormy Inn Premium Shibuya and Shibuya Excel Hotel Tokyo) Any comment on these 2 hotels?
Yoyogi Park, Jingu Shrine, Harajuku, Ometesando, Meiji Shrine, Tokyo Dome City, Pokemon Centre Mega Tokyo at Sunshine City

10 Dec Sun – Odaiba, Return flight to Singapore (Narita)

I've only stayed in Keio Plaza Tokyo and Sunroute Plaza Shinjuku. Will be staying at JR Kyushu Hotel for my upcoming trip in Feb.

If you had the budget, you could book Keio Plaza Tokyo. There's a free Disney Good Neighbor shuttle bus that goes direct to the hotel bus terminal in front of Maihama station. From there, it's easier for you to go to Disneyland and DisneySea. Just inform the concierge during check-in that you would like to reserve seats to go to Disneyland. You'll board the shuttle from the terminal back to your hotel. I like the breakfast buffet spread in Keio Plaza as well. It's actually about 5 min away from Shinjuku station if you walked via the streets. The two sheltered exits are quite far away - which we have tried two and took us about 10 min to reach.

Sunroute is next to the exit for the subway but no lifts or escalators so you'll need to drag your luggage up the stairs unless you prefer to cut across via the streets. Or you could always exit via JR Kyushu Hotel which is located next to Sunroute.

I booked JR Kyushu Hotel to try the room since I would be traveling alone and the bus terminal is just 3 min away. Plus there's couple of washers and dryers in various floors which means I could do my laundry before I head back to SG. Among the three hotels, this is a newer hotel.

Not stayed at Shibuya Excel but a friend of mine stayed with her family of 8 including a few elderly family members. They liked the location very much, right above to Shibuya station. I was also considering Dormy Inn Shibuya but it's located between Shibuya and Harajuku. There's free shuttles to Shibuya station and there's washers and dryers as well plus a public bath place. But the prices were comparable to JR Kyushu Hotel thus I decided to take JR Kyushu Hotel instead.

Not to sure where Takayama Castle Tower is, but if you meant Takayama, save it for another trip when you're visiting Chubu Region. Karuizawa isn't that near as well.

7 Dec is way too ambitious. From Osaka to Yokohama, then to Nara and back to Osaka? I don't think the kids could take the long hours of traveling.

You can't really go up Mt Fuji in December so visiting one of the Five Lakes is good enough. Kawaguchiko is the most developed area among all five lakes. Yamanakako isn't too bad too.

Doesn't seem that you have much time to check Tokyo out.

 

[babycat2010]

Stay with Tokyo and u still can do Karuizawa, leaving Osaka for another trip. Plus u excluded Kyoto, defeats the purpose of not visit Kyoto. you can also consider getting the 3 days JR East tokyo wide pass, cost is 10,000 for adults and 5,000 for children. Without JR pass one way to Karuizawa cost 5,910.

Rule of a thumb when planning within Tokyo, visit 2-3 places a day, too many will be tiring and too rushing. Depending on where you gg to stay, plan the places according to the close proximity of each destination to cut down traveling time.

Instead of Gotemba, you can consider Mitsui outlet instead. Mitsui makuhari is 30mins from Tokyo via train.

Think about storage of luggage too when u head to Lake kawaguchi and Karuizawa, you wouldn't want to tug along your huge luggage along. I usually carry a small bag and leave the luggage with the hotel I'm coming back to. If you were to stay in eg. Hotel A then u leave for another location but coming back to the same Hotel to stay, then depending on the duration between, the Hotel might allow u to store your luggage with them. So far, I have left luggage with hotels for 3 days max and they are fine with that.

just my 2 cts

Thank you for your kind advice

 

[babycat2010]

I've only stayed in Keio Plaza Tokyo and Sunroute Plaza Shinjuku. Will be staying at JR Kyushu Hotel for my upcoming trip in Feb.

If you had the budget, you could book Keio Plaza Tokyo. There's a free Disney Good Neighbor shuttle bus that goes direct to the hotel bus terminal in front of Maihama station. From there, it's easier for you to go to Disneyland and DisneySea. Just inform the concierge during check-in that you would like to reserve seats to go to Disneyland. You'll board the shuttle from the terminal back to your hotel. I like the breakfast buffet spread in Keio Plaza as well. It's actually about 5 min away from Shinjuku station if you walked via the streets. The two sheltered exits are quite far away - which we have tried two and took us about 10 min to reach.

Sunroute is next to the exit for the subway but no lifts or escalators so you'll need to drag your luggage up the stairs unless you prefer to cut across via the streets. Or you could always exit via JR Kyushu Hotel which is located next to Sunroute.

I booked JR Kyushu Hotel to try the room since I would be traveling alone and the bus terminal is just 3 min away. Plus there's couple of washers and dryers in various floors which means I could do my laundry before I head back to SG. Among the three hotels, this is a newer hotel.

Not stayed at Shibuya Excel but a friend of mine stayed with her family of 8 including a few elderly family members. They liked the location very much, right above to Shibuya station. I was also considering Dormy Inn Shibuya but it's located between Shibuya and Harajuku. There's free shuttles to Shibuya station and there's washers and dryers as well plus a public bath place. But the prices were comparable to JR Kyushu Hotel thus I decided to take JR Kyushu Hotel instead.

Not to sure where Takayama Castle Tower is, but if you meant Takayama, save it for another trip when you're visiting Chubu Region. Karuizawa isn't that near as well.

7 Dec is way too ambitious. From Osaka to Yokohama, then to Nara and back to Osaka? I don't think the kids could take the long hours of traveling.

You can't really go up Mt Fuji in December so visiting one of the Five Lakes is good enough. Kawaguchiko is the most developed area among all five lakes. Yamanakako isn't too bad too.

Doesn't seem that you have much time to check Tokyo out.

Thank you Thwysg! Very informative

 

[klavier]

for kawaguchiko and hakone, u can stay either place so as to minimise changing accom. for example, head to hakone on day1 then stay a night, sightseeing in hakone, stay another night. head to kawaguchiko on day3, then back to tokyo

Thanks.
For Kawaguchiko and Hakone (or anywhere else), say I have little interest to visit the onsen, would it still make sense to stay 2 nights at either place?

My view is, even if I were to try the onsen, its probably just going to be the one off experience so i am not too sure if its worth making the trip. However, I hope to spend the first 2 nights of my trip out of Tokyo just to escape city living for awhile.

 

[evilerniex]

Thanks.
For Kawaguchiko and Hakone (or anywhere else), say I have little interest to visit the onsen, would it still make sense to stay 2 nights at either place?

My view is, even if I were to try the onsen, its probably just going to be the one off experience so i am not too sure if its worth making the trip. However, I hope to spend the first 2 nights of my trip out of Tokyo just to escape city living for awhile.

even if u are not going for the onsen, there is still things to see in hakone. in tt case, maybe stay kawaguchiko instead of hakone. so u can catch the view of mt fuji during sunrise and sunset

 

[thwysg]

Thanks.
For Kawaguchiko and Hakone (or anywhere else), say I have little interest to visit the onsen, would it still make sense to stay 2 nights at either place?

My view is, even if I were to try the onsen, its probably just going to be the one off experience so i am not too sure if its worth making the trip. However, I hope to spend the first 2 nights of my trip out of Tokyo just to escape city living for awhile.

There's quite many attractions around Kawaguchiko and Hakone. Could enjoy the kaiseki and onsen whenever you check in to a ryokan. This is why ryokans are never cheap. Different onsen towns have different types of hot spring water and for different purposes.

 

[TiOnGSquare]

hi everyone, if i only want to go Tokyo, will 7 days be sufficient to cover all the places? all shopping/sightseening, temple and also DisneySea and Disneyland ?

btw will it be difficult for me to go around there without any knowledge of jap language?

thanks!

 

[evilerniex]

hi everyone, if i only want to go Tokyo, will 7 days be sufficient to cover all the places? all shopping/sightseening, temple and also DisneySea and Disneyland ?

btw will it be difficult for me to go around there without any knowledge of jap language?

thanks!

yup, 7 days is typically enuf for tokyo. maybe u can list out the places u planning to go, then it will be easier to estimate the number of days needed.

getting ard isnt a problem in the cities. there are signage in english, and many service staff can speak a bit of english. i also dunno japanese, but so far no issue

 

[Delardino]

Hi everyone, going to Tokyo from 18-30 Mar.

Itinerary as below,
Day 1
Arrival at Haneda Airport at night, proceed to hotel in Shimbashi

Day 2
Akihabara
Ginza
Yurakucho / Marunouchi

Day 3
Asakusa
Ameyoko
Ueno Park

Day 4
Tsukiji Fish Market
Odaiba
Tokyo Tower

Day 5
DisneySea

Day 6
Yokohama

Day 7
Kamakura
Check in to hotel in Shinjuku

Day 8
Kawagoe
Ikebukuro

Day 9
Meiji Shrine
Yoyogi Park
Harajuku
Shibuya

Day 10
Kawaguchiko or Hakone

Day 11


Day 12
Doraemon Museum
Nihon Minkaen
Shinjuku

Day 13
Departure from Narita Airport in the morning

Advice/Suggestion needed for Day 10 & 11, can Hakone be covered in a day, cause don't think i will be staying overnight there. Any other additions i can add in to the rest of the days?