Tokyo 8D7N

[raymondseow]

Hi

Planning for a family trip end November. Any recommendation for itinerary, accommodation?

Read thru lots of thread and report here but dont know where to start. Like which is the best location for hotels etc

Our plan mainly for kids activities like DisneyLand/Sea, Sanrio Puroland, some sightseeing n lastly shopping

Should we venture out of Tokyo? Any ideas will be greatly appreciated

 

[James Tang]

I think the best place to start is still looking at the various threads on trip reports.

If too many threads can be confusing, I suggest you find Sam's thread... full of photos and info and her blog has loads of info as well (by far the best I have seen online)

Location of hotel is very subjective as there is the location vs cost factor as well. For example, some like to stay at Ueno but some like to stay at Shinjuku area, which is more expensive.

I believe from your planing, you already have 3 days cut out perfectly: Disney Land, Disney Sea and Sanrio, each for one day. Just arrange the res remaining 3 days to areas of interest (depending on activities). Ueno has a zoo also and a large park to walk around.

Shopping (to me) will be Shinjuku(Nishi): all the BIC camera etc, shopping centers, and a huge Takashimaya (with Tokyu Hands; depending on how you walk this whole area can be one day; add in Roppongi at night, another day gone); Harajuku (weekends; half a day) and of course Ginza (Just add in Tsujiki in the morning and you probably have another day burnt).

Also depending on how old are your kids too but overall Japan is very kid friendly.

 

[lapucelle]

Lots of kid friendly shopping malls in Tokyo if your kids are young or if you wanna buy kids stuff. Malls like lalaport, lake town, olinas etc... have things like kid friendly cinemas etc... but typically if ur kid is still a toddler.

They tend to be further away although Roppongi has a few too.

Odaiba also has things like Legoland, Joypolis etc... that kids might like.

 

[raymondseow]

thanks for all the ideas. you guys are great.

 

[coldmilk]

Raymond,
I was trying to send you a PM but your mailbox is full.

Some suggestions
Side trip outside of Tokyo city;
1) take a 1 or 2 nights trip to Hakone. It is a great time of the year to be there (autumn leaves). Besides the onsens, there are still many things for the children (pirate ship cruise, rope-car over a volcanic pit, one of the best view of Fuji-san on a clear day, many museums if you like this sort of thing etc).
2) Day trip to Yokohama - Yokohama is the 2nd largest city in Japan and it is a seaside city. Good for an easy day trip.

Good planning can make your trip to Japan more enjoyable and at a much lower cost! You are at the right forum and there are many helpful people here.

 

[cpuer]

I mainly tried to make use of the passes from the various train company for my visits.

E.g.:
Hakone, I plan to use Odakyu Hakone FreePass
Hakone Freepass | Economical Excursion Tickets | Odakyu Electric Railway

 

[cpuer]

Takao san is near Tokyo and could be interesting for your kids too
Takao Tozan Dentetsu Official Site | Monkey Park and the Wild Plant Garden
Japan National Tourism Organization | Suggested Itineraries | Golden Route | Mt. Takao-san

 

[raymondseow]

thanks coldmilk and cpuer for your recommended. at first thought my 8 day was long holiday now like not enough

 

[cpuer]

thanks coldmilk and cpuer for your recommended. at first thought my 8 day was long holiday now like not enough

I feel the same too. And I will be there for 12 days.

 

[cancer81]

I would say it is almost never enough... unless u can only afford so many days

 

[cpuer]

yeah, 世界那么大, 钱包那么小！

 

[James Tang]

Holidays are never enough.... it is usually decided by the depth of our pockets.... sigh

 

[cancer81]

no no no should be

yeah, 日本那么大, 钱包那么小！

 

[coldmilk]

thanks coldmilk and cpuer for your recommended. at first thought my 8 day was long holiday now like not enough

Another recommendation- Matsuzaka Beef at Steakhouse Satou in Kochijoji

Kochijoji is a trendy suburb in Tokyo and accessable via its subway system. Satou steakhouse served excellent beef set. Their lunch set is as cheap as 1,000 yen to about 3,000 yen. Great value. Their dinner set where they served excellent beef is about 10,000 yen.
There is a covered shopping place plus some very trendy shops along the small roads nearby.
There is also a nice park at the opposite side of the subway station, where you can watch autumn leaves. There is a stream which runs along the park which make it very picturesque.

more info on Satou steakhouse;
ieatishootipost blogs Singapore's best food: Tokyo Eats Part 3: Matsuzaka Beef at Steakhouse Satou in Kochijoji

 

[raymondseow]

Thanks for the tips

 

[samtcy]

Hi

Planning for a family trip end November. Any recommendation for itinerary, accommodation?

Read thru lots of thread and report here but dont know where to start. Like which is the best location for hotels etc

Our plan mainly for kids activities like DisneyLand/Sea, Sanrio Puroland, some sightseeing n lastly shopping

Should we venture out of Tokyo? Any ideas will be greatly appreciated

Maybe something like this?
Day 1: Arrive at Tokyo. Depending on what time you arrive at hotel, you can probably explore some nearby shopping areas to spend the rest of the day.

Day 2: Go to either Hakone or Kawaguchiko and stay 1 night at a ryokan.
If you are using the same Hotel for Day 1 and Day 3 onwards, you can probably just bring a small overnight luggage for this ryokan stay and deposit the rest of your big luggage at your Tokyo hotel.

Day 3: Return to Tokyo. Go Shibuya and experience the large crossing, and also go to the Tokyu Hands store at Shibuya.

Day 4: Disneyland or Disneysea. (make sure you are not going on a weekend though, the crowd's even worse on weekends)

Day 5: Morning to afternoon, Sanrio Puroland. If you want to make your kids even happier (but tough on your wallet), you can also bring them to the character street at the basement of Tokyo station after Sanrio Puroland, where there's many different shops like Hello Kitty store, Miffy store, Rilakkuma store, Jump store (for One Piece/Bleach/Naruto stuffs), Calbee store, Snoopy store...etc.

Day 6: Morning go to old town area of Kawagoe in Saitama (about 1hr regular train ride out from Tokyo) and then on your way back to Tokyo, drop by the large railway museum at Omiya (since you will have to transfer train at Omiya station anyway) and also have lunch at the museum. Then upon returning back to Tokyo, you can probably spend the evening at maybe Shinjuku? or go Tokyo Tower or Skytree?
Or alternatively, if you want to skip Kawagoe, you can go to Sensoji temple at Asakusa in the morning, then go to Omiya for railway museum after you are done with Sensoji Temple.

Day 7: Morning go to the Nissin Cup Noodle Museum in Yokohama (not to be confused with the Shin-Yokohama Ramen museum) and make your own cup noodles (which is really fun for children and adults) and then afternoon go to the Chinatown area in Yokohama to find lunch, then after Chinatown, head back to Tokyo area and go wherever you feel like doing some last minute shopping (that's if your wallet is not already dry by now. hehe)

Day 8: Fly back to Singapore.

Except for Hakone and Kawaguchiko (which I've been to about 20yrs ago when I was still a kid), you can probably find pictures/info on my blog:
Go Away, Sam...
or my other hardwarezone thread.

 

[raymondseow]

Thank Samantha

Thanks for your suggestion. In fact I have visited your blog with my kids and they love it.

Like i said, its seemed my 8D7N in Tokyo is going to be too short.

 

[mickeycena]

Hi will be going to Tokyo for 8d7n too, any places recommended for young adult couple??? I will still go to pokemon center though hahh.