Osaka - Kyoto - Tokyo Dec 2018

[kebever]

Hi guys, first timer to Japan. Appreciate all the japan experts on our itinerary.

17 Days Trip - made some changes since last draft

Arrival: Osaka-Kansai
Depart: Tokyo-Narita

18 Dec Tue – SG to Osaka
1405 Depart SG
2120 Arrival Osaka-Kansai
2300 Check in hotel in namba

19 Dec Wed - Osaka
1000 Eat breakfast
1100 To Shinsekai market
1500 Shinsaibashi shopping street
1900 Dontonburi night shopping street

20 Dec Thur - Osaka
1000 Eat breakfast
1100 To Osaka castle (About 40min from Namba station) Take train to Shin-Imamiya Station to Morinomiya Station
1500 To Umeda station shopping (About 40min from castle) Take train from Tanimachiyonchome Station to Higashi-Umeda Station
1800 Higashidori (Right outside Umeda Station on the Hankyu Railway and Higashi-Umeda Station on the Subway Tanimachi Line)

21 Dec Fri – Nara Day Trip
0800 Breakfast
0830 Nara Day Trip
1800 Back to Osaka

22 Dec Sat – Osaka to Kyoto
1100 Check out
1200 To Kyoto
1400 Check in hotel at kyoto station
1600 To Fushimi Inari Taisha (5min from Kyoto station to Inari station and 2min walk from Inari to Fushimi)
1900 Back to Kyoto station for dinner

23 Dec Sun - Kyoto
1000 To Kyoto Sanjokai Shopping Street
1500 To Shinkyogoku and Teramachi Shopping (Kawaramachi Station)
1800 To Gion at evening (Gion-Shijo Station)

24 Dec Mon - Kyoto
1000 To Kiyomizu-dera
1800 End at Yasaka Shrine
1900 Near Gion

25 Dec Tue - Kyoto
0900 To Arashiyama
1300 To Tenryu-ji
1600 To Kinkakuji

26 Dec Wed – Kyoto to Hakone
0900 Check out
0930 Take Shinkansen to Odawara
1200 Arrive at Odawara station, buy Hakone Free pass, travel to Hakone Yumoto, take bus to Moto Hakone
1300 Arrive at Moto Hakone, sightsee
1400 Take pirate ship to Togendai port
1430 Take ropeway to Owakudani
1500 Arrive at Owakudani, sightsee
1600 Take Ropeway, cablecar, touzan railway to ryokan
1640 Arrive at ryokan, rest for the night


27 Dec Thur - Hakone to Tokyo

1000 Check out, go to Hakone-Yumoto station
1200 Have lunch, Board Romancecar
1340 Arrive and check in Shinjuku
1700 Shinjuku

28 Dec Fri – Tokyo
0900 To DisneySea
Shinjuku Station to Tokyo Station (transfer) to JR Maihama Station
1800 Back to Shinjuku

29 Dec Sat – Tokyo
1100 Asakusa - Nakamise Shopping Street & Sensoji Temple & Kaminarimon (Kaminari Gate) (connected & temple closed at 5pm and shopping street closed at 6pm)
From Tokyo Station
Take the JR Yamanote Line to Kanda Station (2 minutes, 140 yen) and transfer to the Ginza Subway Line for Asakusa (10 minutes, 170 yen).
From Shinjuku Station
Take the orange JR Chuo Line to Kanda Station (10 minutes, 170 yen) and transfer to the Ginza Subway Line for Asakusa (10 minutes, 170 yen).
1600 Skytree & Pokemon

30 Dec Sun– Tokyo
1100 To Odaiba

31 Dec Mon – Tokyo
1100 Akihabara shopping
From Tokyo Station
Akihabara is two stations north of Tokyo Station by JR Yamanote or Keihin-Tohoku Line. The trip takes about three minutes and costs 140 yen. During weekday daytime, the Keihin-Tohoku Line skips the station between Tokyo and Akihabara, which shaves off a few more seconds from the travel time.
From Shinjuku Station
Take the JR Chuo Line (orange colored rapid service) from Shinjuku to Ochanomizu Station (10 minutes) and make a quick and easy transfer to the JR Sobu Line (yellow colored local service) for one more station to Akihabara (2 minutes). Alternatively, take a yellow colored train without transfer all the way from Shinjuku to Akihabara (17 minutes). The one way fare is 170 yen in either case.

1 Jan Tue – Tokyo
1000 Breakfast
1100 To Laforet Harajuku & sailormoon store

2 Jan Wed – Tokyo
1000 Breakfast
1100 Imperial palace
The Imperial Palace is a ten minute walk from Tokyo Station (13min from Shinjuku station)
1400 Character street at Tokyo station

3 Jan Thur – Tokyo to SG
1105 Depart Tokyo-Narita
1745 Arrive SG



A few questions
1) Namba-Osaka to Kyoto station with luggage, what is the best way (excluding expensive taxis)
2) Tokyo schedule, is it better to go to Odaiba on Sun 30 Dec, or 1 Jan, Or it does not matter that there will still be crowds.


Also appreciate comments on what is not recommended or must-go/buy/eat.

Thank you very much in advance!

 

[princessreiko]

Hi guys, first timer to Japan. Appreciate all the japan experts on our itinerary.



A few questions
1) Where's a good place to stay in Kyoto?
2) Is Nara day trip enough?
3) Is USJ worth to go in Dec?
4) NYE and New Year's Day, where's a good place to be at?
5) Since I am going from Osaka - Kyoto - Tokyo, is JR pass worth it?

Also appreciate comments on what is not recommended or must-go/buy/eat.

Thank you very much in advance!

I will be doing an almost similar trip soon!

1. You can refer to this thread
https://forums.hardwarezone.com.sg/japan-271/kyoto-hotel-recommendations-5828909.html
I personally like Resi Stay apartments.
You can see my post in that thread.

2. I will be doing Nara in half a day due to time constrainta.
I read about Nara- one day would be perfect.

3. I went to USJ a few years ago.
Didn't enjoy as everything was in Japanese so can't understand much.

4. Can't answer that as never been there on NYE and NY day. But from what I know most attractions will be closed then.

5. Definitely worth it!
Get the 7 day JR pass.

 

[VD]

I always stay near to the station, it is easy to access via bus and train.

Just a day trip is sufficient for Nara.

don't get JR pass, a single trip from Kyoto to Tokyo is only 13k+ yen, a 7 days JR pass is 33k. In order to make it worth getting the pass, is minimum a round trip

 

[kebever]

I will be doing an almost similar trip soon!

1. You can refer to this thread
https://forums.hardwarezone.com.sg/japan-271/kyoto-hotel-recommendations-5828909.html
I personally like Resi Stay apartments.
You can see my post in that thread.

2. I will be doing Nara in half a day due to time constrainta.
I read about Nara- one day would be perfect.

3. I went to USJ a few years ago.
Didn't enjoy as everything was in Japanese so can't understand much.

4. Can't answer that as never been there on NYE and NY day. But from what I know most attractions will be closed then.

5. Definitely worth it!
Get the 7 day JR pass.

thanks for the quick reply! how about stays at osaka, tokyo? any recommendation?

which area to stay in tokyo is good?

I always stay near to the station, it is easy to access via bus and train.

Just a day trip is sufficient for Nara.

don't get JR pass, a single trip from Kyoto to Tokyo is only 13k+ yen, a 7 days JR pass is 33k. In order to make it worth getting the pass, is minimum a round trip

do you mean all the JR stations at each places?

Yeah I was thinking the JR pass is probably not worth. After I plan out all the stops I will go calculate if worth.

 

[princessreiko]

thanks for the quick reply! how about stays at osaka, tokyo? any recommendation?

which area to stay in tokyo is good?



do you mean all the JR stations at each places?

Yeah I was thinking the JR pass is probably not worth. After I plan out all the stops I will go calculate if worth.

I stayed at Red Planet Asakusa and really loved the hotel.
It is new and the whole place is smoke - free.
I will be staying there again for my coming trip.
If you book on Ctrip.com, they have good prices!
A room costs slightly above SGD $100.
You can use hotelscombined.com to compare the prices.

It is easily accessible to Haneda airport by train, or you can take the airport limousine to and from Haneda Airport to Asakusa View Hotel which is nearby but that depends on your flight time.


I like Asakusa as it is a quiet town although it is not on the Yamanote line, in Tokyo everywhere is near a train station.
The Ginza line is just 3 min walk away.
Not pertaining to your question but I can't help but sharing this - Next to the hotel is a second hand clothes shop and the clothes there are new and very very cheap.
Last winter, I bought a winter jacket for only 800 yen! That's about $10! And it had 75% goose down feathers.

I haven't been to Osaka so I can't advice on the hotels.
The next trip, I will be there just for half a day as I don't find anything interesting there.
Instead I will be in Kyoto for 3 days.
There's so much to see in Kyoto!

 

[VD]

thanks for the quick reply! how about stays at osaka, tokyo? any recommendation?

which area to stay in tokyo is good?



do you mean all the JR stations at each places?

Yeah I was thinking the JR pass is probably not worth. After I plan out all the stops I will go calculate if worth.

unless there is some hotel u gotta stay at because of whatever reasons, i always choose a hotel that minimize lugging my luggage.

For Osaka, u can try Namba, since u traveling to Kyoto. Near to Dontonburi and Shinsaibashi.

For Tokyo area, I choose Shinjuku and usually a hotel with a limo bus pick up. you can of cos pick any other places due to Budget, but all of the places u have listed down is along the Yamanote line, so u should choose a location along this line.

 

[princessreiko]

@kebever

Let's go through the costs.
Depending on how much you travel in Tokyo...you decide whether to get the JR pass or not.
Like what VD said, it may not be such a good idea.

If you take the shinkansen one way from Osaka to Tokyo on the Hikari trains, it is about $170.

If you take the faster Nozomi train, it will be about $180.

The 7 day JR pass is $344 on Klook website and if you spend > $450 you can get $50 off the total bill with the code Yourway50.
Assuming u buy two 7 day JR passes, the cost of the pass after discount will be $319.

But the JR pass is not applicable for the Nozomi train.

$319- $170 = $149

During the 7 days of the pass, you can use JR trains without incurring extra costs.

Assuming you spend $10 a day in Tokyo for 7 days, you would spend $70 of the $149 which leaves you $79.

To fully utilize this pass, you may wanna detour on your way to Nagoya (on your way from Osaka to Tokyo).
Also if you go to Hakone, you can make use of the JR pass and stop at Odawara station.

 

[Ruriel]

JR pass usually isn't worth for one way shinkansen. Furthermore if you get JR pass in such situation, you need to probably plan your routes in Tokyo in a way that you have to travel by JR lines (not all lines in Tokyo are served by JR lines) in order to "maximise" or justify the value of getting the pass. That's so much more troublesome when you could just use a suica or pasmo and tap at whichever station that's nearest for you to go to your destination.

 

[anyhowsaysay]

Aoi Matsuri not in Dec! haha

 

[anyhowsaysay]

If you use the SMART EX app to book 21 days in advance. Normal car Tokyo to Shin Osaka is 11000 Yen which is only 130 dollars. and by the fastest Nozomi.

I been to Japan 9 times. But then my last trip instead of using JR Pass, i just use Smart EX and sit the Nozomi Green Car, got quite a bit of saving and also can sit Nozomi

 

[anyhowsaysay]

JR pass usually isn't worth for one way shinkansen. Furthermore if you get JR pass in such situation, you need to probably plan your routes in Tokyo in a way that you have to travel by JR lines (not all lines in Tokyo are served by JR lines) in order to "maximise" or justify the value of getting the pass. That's so much more troublesome when you could just use a suica or pasmo and tap at whichever station that's nearest for you to go to your destination.

Yeah, sometimes within Tokyo, JR lines is not the best way to travel. I often use Metro like Marunouchi and Ginza line. more than JR.

 

[anyhowsaysay]

I think for your plan, you should either stay in Kyoto or Osaka during your Kansai leg. But not both. Kyoto and Osaka is very close, the rapid line maybe 30mins or so which is like Jurong to City Hall.

Looking at your plan, I would stay in Kyoto. Osaka Day trip is enough maybe can even squeeze to 1 day. And then you got much more time in Kyoto.

Luckily for you, your period is non peak period so Hotels in Kyoto will be very cheap. For area to stay at, From Kyoto Station upwards to Shijo all fine. I personally like Gojo, quieter and i can walk to Shijo in 20mins.

18 Dec
Arrival in Kyoto

19 Dec
Osaka Castle
Shinsekai market
Shinsaibashi, America Mura, Den Den Town
Dontonburi

20 Dec - 25 Dec Kyoto & Nara (rough plan)
Nara day trip
Kiyomizu temple
Kinkakuji - golden pavilion
Fushimi Inari temple
Sanjo - eat and shop
Gion at night
Yasaka shrine
Arashiyama (bamboo forest)
Tenryu-ji
Nijo Castle
Ginkakuji
Nanzenji
Kodaiji
Ryoanji
Uji

Can also consider going Day trip to Kobe. So that will leave you 4 days in Kyoto and 2 days Nara/Kobe

 

[apeape]

If you're going Kyoto, get hotel nearest to Station as you do not want to travel with your luggage in their small bus. alternative is luggage lockers in Kyoto Station itself.

4) In your aprtment/hotel drinking with your travel buddy haha.

NYE in Tokyo got nothing much leh, maybe at Shibuya there's like some big countdown. We avoided it because there was ALOT OF TOURISTS and Koban. Also trying to fight for a place in the train amidst all the Shibuya Meltdown (ie really wasted/drunk people) is no fun. I drink, but i find drunk people annoying hahaa. I also avoid drunk white people like the plague, which were plenty.

Also you can delay your shopping until NYE or 1st Jan? so many discounts!

 

[cherub123]

robot restaurant!
its really fun!

i love it lor....

 

[rrr2015]

if in umeda, umeda sky garden for sunset & nightview

20 Dec
Nippon bashi den den
America mura
Umeda shopping mall KIV if have time
Higashidori KIV if have time

 

[kebever]

bumped up!

 

[princessreiko]

bumped up!

What would you like to know?

I enjoyed my trip alot!
As I mentioned, I stayed in Red Planet Asakusa in Tokyo and Resistay Owan in Kyoto and loved them!

 

[kebever]

What would you like to know?

I enjoyed my trip alot!
As I mentioned, I stayed in Red Planet Asakusa in Tokyo and Resistay Owan in Kyoto and loved them!

hi thank you! mainly the question on whether a detour to Hakone for one night, versus staying in a ryokan in kyoto for a night will be better.

 

[princessreiko]

hi thank you! mainly the question on whether a detour to Hakone for one night, versus staying in a ryokan in kyoto for a night will be better.

Definitely a visit to Hakone is a must since you have so many days.
Hakone is doable in 1 day, or you can opt for 2D1 N and stay in a ryokan in Hakone.

You can shorten ur stay in Osaka to 1 day instead if you don't have time.

I think no point shifting from a hotel in Kyoto to a ryokan in Kyoto cos you will be wasting ur time checking in and out.

Since you have so many days, do consider visiting Nikko too.

 

[naveen99]

Very slow paced trip. For eg on 24 Dec you do not need 9hrs at the Kiyomizudera / Yasaka shrine area.