ena225

Hi, I'm in the early stages of planning a trip to Japan next year with my partner for my 40th I'd really appreciate any help or advice you can give me on things I can be doing now to make the trip easier/cheaper/more pleasurable.

I live in the UK, don't have any status and I'd really prefer to fly from Manchester which I think means we'd be connecting in HEL, AMS or CDG. We're also visiting all the European capitals and haven't done Helsinki yet so Finnair's stopover programme looks interesting. A flight which arrives into Tokyo and leaves from Osaka or vice versa would be best but it looks like flying from MAN limits our options a lot.

While we're in Japan I want to go to Tokyo (probably about 5 days), Kyoto, Hiroshima and maybe Nara. When we're away in Europe we tend to stay at unfussy 3-4 star hotels at £70-90/night, as long as it's clean then location is more important than facilities. I tend to book with Hotels.com for the free nights.

Is there anything I could be doing or planning to make the most of my spending etc between now and when we go? Thank you so much in advance for any help

I think we'll be going either in April or October, unless that's a terrible idea

AlwaysAisle

When deciding on exact date of travel, look up Japanese holidays and Japanese school holidays. Try to avoid coinciding with those dates when trains likely will be busy (some will sell out in advance) and hotels near major tourist attractions will be priced higher.

School summer vacation in Japan is short, usually from July 20 to end of August. Also summer in Japan tends to be very hot and muggy, adding to that school vacation makes places and trains to be busy, that can be not so comfortable situation.

Mid-June to mid-July is raining season in Japan, but that is mother nature, some year it rains every other day and some other year it hardly rains at all.

First week of May is called Golden Week, multiple holidays one after another allow most Japanese to enjoy entire week off, one of most busy travel period in Japan when air planes and trains sell out weeks in advance and tourist places will be very busy.

Another heavy travel time is a religious holiday, Obon, which take place in mid-August. Again places will be busy and planes and trains sell out weeks in advance. Also, New Year is another major travel period in Japan.

Many lodging in Japan do not start take reservation till three to four months in advance. When try to book lodging in Japan in advance of three/four months, then often show a hotel with no availability or show only a rack rate (i.e. most expensive rate). It is common that discount rates for hotels in Japan do not appear till four to three months in advance. But if you avoid busy travel period in Japan then waiting to make lodging reservation till three to two month before the trip should be no problem.

abmj-jr

It helps to have a general idea of what part of the year you are considering for your visit. Some areas are better in some seasons and others at other times.

The last week of March through the second week of April is among the more beautiful times to visit due to cherry blossoms being in bloom. That is also a VERY popular time for tourists, for the same reason. Likewise, fall color season is also quite beautiful but is a time when many Japanese and foreign tourists plan to visit.

Nara is really just an easy day trip from Kyoto. The local lines take less than an hour, one-way. Nara is one of my favorite places but you can see most of it in a single day so there really is no reason to plan a change of hotel for that visit.

Likewise, Hiroshima can be visited in a long day trip from Kyoto but it would make for a full day. I prefer at least one night in Hiroshima to allow time to see both Hiroshima and Miyajima.

If you cannot work out an open jaw visit in which you arrive at Tokyo and depart from KIX, near Kyoto/Osaka, then a Japan Rail Pass will probably be a good investment. The round-trips on the shinkansen (bullet train) Tokyo-Kyoto-Tokyo and Kyoto-Hiroshima-Kyoto definitely cost more than the price of a 7-day Rail Pass.

ena225

Thank you both so much for the advice, I especially didn't realise that I should book hotels much nearer the time ^

I think we'll be going either in April or October but avoiding public holidays and especially Golden Week. It'd be handy to travel across the UK Easter public holidays which in 2018 are March 30th and April 1st, just to maximise my holiday allowance.

paperwastage

it doesn't hurt to start searching for hotels

ksandness

Japan's budget hotels are a great deal. You get a barebones room (small but spotless) with a private bath and maybe a breakfast buffet for prices well within your range. They are found in all the cities you plan to visit.

I like booking.com for hotels, because you can cancel up to 24 hours in advance with no penalty, and each property description includes photos and guest comments.

October is usually a good time to travel. High temperatures are usually in the 20's C with sunshine, although I encountered both hot weather and a typhoon on one October trip. (That was once out of several October trips.)

School is in session, and the peak autumn leaf season isn't till November, so the crowds won't be too bad.

Yes, if you can't get an open-jaw flight, the JR Pass is a good deal. Even if you can't get an open-jaw flight, you can easily make a late afternoon flight out of NRT if you start early in the morning in Kyoto.

angra

How long will you have total for the trip? You mentioned 5 days in Tokyo. What about the rest of it?

Nara and Hiroshima each can be done as a daytrip from Kyoto/Osaka, but depending on your time available and interests, might be better served by staying in one of them.

regarding budget hotels - be aware that there won't be much spare space in the room for organizing, storing, or spreading out. Since you'll be traveling with a partner, I've found that this can occasionally create difficulties. Not insurmountable just something to be aware of/prepared for.

ena225

I think we'll have up to 2 weeks for the trip but it's more likely to be around 10 days. It sounds like we should plan to stay in Nara and Hiroshima.

Small rooms are ok (within reason - I don't fancy capsule hotels!) as we'll most likely be travelling with our 35L backpacks. Are there any chains I could be earning points for?

evergrn

I second the word of caution regarding budget hotels. Some are dark and dingy and dated, many are stingy with things like towels, and some have mediocre breakfast offerings. Can you see the two of you crammed into a 12m2 cubbyhole (including bathroom)? Some business hotels do have select rooms that are 20-30m2, though. The only business hotel chain that I will stay at these days is Richmond Hotels, which are really more of a 3-star chain. They have many rooms that are >20m2, great breakfast, consistently clean, and many of their locations should meet your budget as long as you book far enough out in advance.

Depending on the location, you'd be surprised how cheap some of the full-service foreign branded hotels are. Higher-end IHG hotels will certainly exceed your budget at places like Kyoto and Tokyo, but ANA Crowne Plazas in places like Hiroshima, Okayama and Nagasaki can certainly be had for <12,000yen per night for two (largely depends on the date, though), possibly even with breakfast included.

Also, in my recent experience, I would say most Japanese hotels are taking reservations at least 6 months in advance. And more and more places are accepting reservations even a year out. Maybe there're still some places slow to adapt. But things have changed quite a bit over the last few years in this regard. I usually book a room in my hometown's hotel 10-12months in advance, and the rates there typically never go lower than that. If I wait till 3months before, it's almost a guarantee that my favorite room type is sold out. The ryokan we're staying at in Hokkaido next month wasn't taking reservations until 4mo out 2 years ago, but this year I booked them almost 6mo out. So it would not hurt to book now, but then I'd come back again to recheck rates ~3mo before the date.

Finally, not related to Jpn, but... I think hotels.com's reward program is a pretty poor value. You have to stay 10 nights to get a free night, and usually only standard rate counts towards one of those 10 nights. You get none of the perks that the hotel chain's loyalty program status grants you (upgrade, free breakfast, bonus points, late checkout, free pool access). In UK, is there such thing as hotel loyalty program credit card? Simply signing up for a Hilton card here will get you a Gold status, which then leads to free breakfast and, with all the bonus points and different Hhonors offers, it's conceivable for one to rack up enough points from 2-5 nights (depending on the type of Hilton property you stay at) for a free night's stay.

angra

I know that Toyoko Inn has a points system and a membership that provides some small discounts. I don't know about any of the other chains.

evergrn

Richmond hotels do, as well. It's free to join, but it may be difficult if you can't read Japanese. I signed up at the front desk by filling out a form. I'm not sure if they have English version of the application form. It entitles you to check out time extension by an hour, exclusive discounted rates ( although not a huge amount ), points accrual.

abmj-jr

Richmond is good but I would also add to that list the Comfort Hotels in the Choice chain. Some of their properties are refurbished older hotels purchased from other, older chains but the newer properties that are purpose-built have been quite nice.

Heartons are pretty nice as well, albeit with typically tiny rooms.

abmj-jr

I would strongly suggest staying either in Kyoto or Nara but not changing hotel between them. The train trips between Kyoto-Nara, Kyoto-Osaka or Nara-Osaka are all less than an hour and quite easy, especially with a Rail Pass. Day-tripping between all three is simple and far more efficient than switching hotels among them.

I have actually, on occasion found the best hotel deal in Nara, at a property very near the station, when my favorite places in Kyoto were booked up or over priced. So I stayed there and commuted to both Kyoto and Osaka during week-plus long Kansai-area visits.

evergrn

I agree that Comfort Hotels in Jpn are probably among the better business hotel chains. Better than Washington, Sunroute, etc. But whereas this snooty traveler finds Richmond adequate, Comfort doesn't cut it for me. I stayed at the one in Narita a while back. Had to stay at their Hakodate location 2 years ago (not by choice) and I hated coming back to the room and skipped their free breakfast after finding it inedible. Their twin rooms are decent size for biz hotel, and their rooms are fairly clean. But the rooms are very sterile-looking, their beds/linens feel cheap, and their free breakfast is mediocre. Comfort Hotels would've worked for me 15 years ago and may still be an okay option for others. I guess I'm becoming fussier as I get older. But there's a big difference between Comfort and Richmond imo. Of course, there's also a price difference. But I would definitely pay >5000yen more per night to stay at Richmond over Comfort. There are other biz hotel chains besides Richmond that I'd be open to trying... for example, Vessel Hotel.