RTW1

No, the primary reason for chosing a hotel should be the destination.

It's a waste of time if you have to travel two days in a row to another city while you could easily stay there...... also the experience of staying there at night and the ability to go back to your hotel during the day make quite a difference.

booyun

Hmm.. I may lean more towards taking the train vs flying to Osaka now due to 1.) having to clear immigration, get backs and re-check in and 2.) my wife is not a fan of flying so 1 less flight probably won't hurt 3.) may be more economical to get JR pass as I'll be doing day trips while there. But I think you guys have made it clear to me that going directly to Osaka rather than stopping off in Tokyo for a day may be the right thing to do.

If I activate the JR pass at NRT, I would have 7 days to use it. That should cover my trip to Osaka and day trips while I am there (~4 days) and my return to Tokyo. Then I would have another ~3 days to use in Tokyo after which I can use the subway system or buses to get around for the final 2 days (including my transport to HND airport). Just want to make sure I haven't missed anything important. If not, then I think I have a good high level plan and now its just the details of what to do/where to go/places to stay and eat/etc.

ksandness

You could use the buses, but they are labeled only in Japanese, so they would be difficult. Even if someone told you which bus to take, the recorded announcements of the stops are also in Japanese only.

Fortunately, the subway signage is in both Japanese and English, English-language maps of the subway system are readily available online or at tourist information centers, the stops are all indicated by letter plus number codes, and the subway goes everywhere a first-time tourist might want to go. The above-ground commuter trains, also well signed in English, work for a lot of destinations as well and may be more interesting, if you have a choice, since you will have something besides a dark tunnel to look at.

kevincrumbs

For OP, feeding the deer at Nara is a bit more intense than I even imagined and for kids that are eight and five years old, it might even be a bit scary. It's still a unique experience but just be aware.

abmj-jr

Yes. You can also use the Rail Pass to cover the N'Ex from NRT to Shinagawa. If you have the same agent who activates the Rail Pass also make your reservations all the way to Shin-Osaka, he or she will make sure you are on the proper trains to make the connections as efficiently as possible.

One thing to consider is Rail Passes for the kids. The rules say the little one would not need a Pass but that he would be stuck in seats "as available." If a car is full then he would become a "lap child" without a seat. This is another case where you must decide your preference - save some money with the chance of an inconvenience or spend some more and have seat reservations for everyone. YMMV.

Remember that Rail Passes must be purchased before you leave for Japan but activated after you arrive. They can be ordered on-line or by phone from authorized dealers and major travel agents. The process is explained well on the following page. If you scroll down and use the hot link "Buy from authorized agent," you will get a list of agents.

http://www.japanrailpass.net/en/

The Japan Rail Pass is good on Japan Rail lines, some ferries and limited bus services. Other, private rail lines, are not covered. With a family, I'd suggest making seat reservations in advance of each day's travel for the shinkansen so you can all sit together. Just drop by the JR Travel Center at any station to make reservations. For local trains, such as Osaka to Nara, there are no reservations. You just show the Rail Pass as you walk through the manned gate at the station (not the ticket wickets) and walk on the train. Show the Rail Pass to the conductor when he asks.

The shinkansen to Osaka does not stop at Osaka Station. It uses the newer Shin-Osaka Station outside of the city. Connections can be made to the city center via subway, local train or taxi. I'd check with my hotel and get their suggestion for the best way to get there.

abmj-jr

+1. Those deer are rather aggressive in begging for snacks and could be a bit much for a little one.

booyun

Haha! Those were my EXACT thoughts when I heard about this deer park. I think I even saw a youtube video with these "aggressive" deer. I'll have to think about whether or not my kids would actually enjoy this, but thanks for confirming my thoughts.

txpenny

Conrad Tokyo.


I've done this several times. Do yourself a favor and divi your luggage up for your tip to Osaka/Kyoto and leave some of it at the Conrad.

abmj-jr

You absolutely should go if there is time. Just don't buy the ubiquitous pressed bread deer snacks that cart vendors will be selling. The deer only get pushy when being offered food. The rest of the park is quite interesting and pretty. One of the largest Buddhas in the world is inside Todai-ji temple, in the center of the park. The walking can be a bit much, so best to download a map or use a good guidebook so you can pick and choose what to see.

evergrn

A quick research shows the following:

Train:
Taking the 15.14pm NEx with transfer at Shinagawa to 16.40pm Hikari bullet train (with yet another transfer at Shin Osaka) will get you to Osaka Sta / Umeda area at 19.40pm.

Plane:
Unfortunately you won't be able to leave NRT until 17pm. You could kill time either at ANA arrivals lounge (if you somehow have access) or up on the 4th/5th floor where there's a bunch of shops and food. Flight gets into ITM at 18.20pm, but don't be surprised if the flight's a bit delayed. In any case, you should be able to catch the 19.05pm Limo bus that will get you to Umeda by 19.40pm.

Because the connecting flight to Osaka leaves so late, it actually becomes a wash time-wise. Even then, I still think plane's the better option if you have a bunch of luggage. With the plane, you just drop it off at NH bag-drop and then, once you get to ITM, the Limo bus folks will again take care of it for you. With the train, you're looking at at lugging suitcases through 2 transfers, plus having to deal with storing away suitcases while onboard the train. Alternatively, you could ship your luggage from NRT to Osaka. However, if you're having to do luggage forwarding on top of ATM and JRPass voucher, then you will risk missing the 15.14pm Narita Express if your SQ flight is a little delayed.

In any case, you're looking at getting to your Osaka hotel ~20pm (4am LA time). I'm sorry, when I made my previous recommendation, I thought there'd be a more decent connecting flight to Osaka that would get you to your hotel at least an hour earlier. With this in mind, you might start to reconsider the option of staying the first night in Tokyo.

Based on our experience, your kids will probably be deep asleep on the bullet train on the night of arrival. Which means you'll have to shake them awake and then have to deal with half-asleep kids while trying to transfer at Shin-Osaka station towing luggages. We've done this kind of stuff many times, I speak and read the language, and am used to Japanese train stations and ITM limo bus ticket vending machines and so forth. Your family hasn't done this, so maybe it's a bit too much on the first night.

With regards to whether/not to purchase seat (or Rail Pass) for your 5yo, we have always bought 3 seats on bullet train (or any other express train) for our family of 4. Shinkansens are either 2-3 or 2-2 seating and, on the Tokyo-Osaka portion, I don't recall any train with middle arm rest that does not go up. As long as you're slim to average, 2 people + your 5yo will fit on 2 seats, or 3 people + 5yo will fit on 3 seats.

evergrn

I don't think Conrad's a good option for the OP's first night. It's not the easiest hotel to get to/from the nearest JR station. I had trouble finding it before, although it gets easy once you're used to it. OP should stay at a place where he can take NEX / Limo bus to on the 1st day and catch bullet train from on the 2nd day. Tokyo Sta area and Shinagawa are the most logical choices... Shinagawa is better because Tokyo Sta is complicated.

This, I agree with. Or ship luggage with clothes for the 2nd half of the trip (Tokyo portion) to Conrad.

booyun

Wow, didn't really put that into perspective til you mentioned that. Personally, if it was just me, I think I would go straight to Osaka. But with kids in tow (and a wife who needs her sleep), as you mentioned it might make sense to just spend the 1st night in Tokyo.

Which brings me to my new strategy. Given that we will still be adjusting to time zones our first day/night, I think this would be the perfect opportunity to stay near the Tsukiji Fish Market (maybe Conrad or Andaz), wake up early and go try and see the auction. After which we get our first taste of sushi in Japan! If we try this any other day, my guess is that my kids (and wife) won't have the desire to wake up that early to go.

booyun

How do you ship luggage? Are there special carriers? Does the hotel take care of it?

txpenny

If you do by chance stay at the Conrad on night 1, the fish market is a 15 minute walk (great knife shops at the market as well).

evergrn

Yes, if you want to go see the fish auction, the day after your arrival definitely makes the most sense. I'm not too familiar with Andaz, but Conrad is definitely convenient to Tsukiji.

There're different companies that do this. Yamato, ABC, You-Pack. Yamato and ABC have counters at the arrival concourse of NRT Terminal 1. You can ship your luggage from there. However, you won't have time to be doing that if you want any chances of catching the 14.25pm Limousine bus to Conrad. And you won't need to, since the Limo bus takes care of all your bags for you, it's door to door, and you'll still be able to ship luggage from Conrad to Osaka (more on that later). You'll be among the first off the plane and typically the passport control line is not bad in early afternoon. You could make it from plane to arrivals concourse (immi/bags/customs included) in 20-25min under best circumstances. You'll want to catch the 14.25pm one, because the next one is 16.25pm. If you take the Limo bus to Conrad and you're also planning to get JR Pass, then you'll need to do the JR pass exchange the next day at either Tokyo or Shinagawa station prior to catching the bullet train.

Another option is to do the JR Pass exchange, activate the pass at NRT, take the NEx train to Tokyo, then taxi from Tokyo station to Conrad. If you're going to do this, then you could consider forwarding some stuff from NRT to Osaka.

You'll be able to forward your bag to anywhere in Jpn from just about any hotel in Jpn. Just ask the front desk. You fill out the requisition form (you can ask the front desk person to help fill it out for you), pay the hotel, and the hotel pays the parcel company. Most hotels will not allow you to put this on tab and will ask you to pay just for that in cash. It'll be usually via Yamato or You-Pack.