jtm1631

Just trying to rough out a first trip to Japan. Length will be 14 nights. We are flying into and out of Narita through Chicago from Denver.

We will be flying in F so hoping to be somewhat coherent when we land. Arrival is at 15:30 on a Sunday.

I'm undecided if we should start with 4 or 5 days in Tokyo and then end with a night or 2 in Tokyo before flying out or should we go right from Narita to another area such as Kyoto and end with 5 or 6 days in Tokyo?

Just wondering if people have any thoughts of advantages to one over the other.

Thanks.

abmj-jr

You could do it either way but I'd think a "Tokyo first" plan would work better. With your arrival at 15:30, you would likely have at least 30 minutes or so getting through baggage claim, C&I and other arrival rigmarole. Then a train or limo-bus into the city from NRT will add another hour, putting you at your hotel sometime after 17:00 on a Sunday evening. Go for a walk, have a meal and go to bed at a regular bed-time to start the process of time-change with no stress.

There really is little reason to return to Tokyo for a few days before departing for home unless your flight out is before noon or so. From Kyoto or Osaka, the bullet train (shinkansen) plus airport train can get you to NRT in plenty of time for an afternoon departure.

roberto99

OP, I have flown from ORD-NRT many times.

I find that staying awake on the entire westbound flight gets me set to sleep all night in Japan and suffer virtually no jetlag.

Flying eastbound from Japan is great for sleeping 5-7 hours after dinner, and, again, little jetlag in the USA.

BTW, what month is your trip?

Enjoy Japan!

jtm1631

We are traveling the last two weeks of May.

evergrn

There's a number of different things you can do.
1). Tokyo x7nights, then Kansai (eg, Kyoto) x7nights, return to NRT on date of return
2). straight to Kansai first day, Kansai x7nights, Tokyo x7nights
3). stay at Shinagawa the first night, then Kansai x7nights, Tokyo x6nights.

I've traveled onto other places via few hours of train ride after arrival in NRT a bunch of times, but you may not be able to handle that as well. I might suggest doing #3 .

mkjr

As above, I would suggest 3 too. We have done that 3 times.

On my wife's first trip to japan, we arrived at the same time you do from ORD and then took NEX to NRT (they had the suica package back then) but I think that 14 days should allow the RT on NEX at 4000 per person.

We then stayed a hotel right near Tokyo station (the Marunouchi hotel - but given it is on the opposite side of where you activate the JR pass and the shinkansen lines, it was a bad choice, well, not bad, it was just not as convenient the next morning, so on next trip, stayed at Metropolitan Marunouchi instead).

Then early am the next day, activated our 7 day JR pass and went to Takayama, spent the night, then on to Kyoto for 4 nights (visited Nara on day but otherwise spent all time in Kyoto) then to Hiroshima to spend one night (so 6 nights) and then train back to Tokyo with a stop at Himeji on the way back to Tokyo on the last day of the JR pass.

Then 6 nights in Tokyo. On that trip, we did not do a day trip to Nikko but on another trip we did.

First trip with our daughter, same, but at Metro Marunouchi and then activate JR pass and go to Kyoto for 4 nights, then two nights in Hiroshima (met up with some friends) then to Hakata for the last day of the JR pass and then burned some avios on JAL from FUK to HND. getting to FUK is the easiest airport in the world and feels like a train station how fast you clear security.

On my most recent trip, same first night in Tokyo then JR pass and one night in Kanazawa, two nights in Takayama (this time with our 9 year old), then 3 nights in Osaka (no time in Kyoto) before going back to Tokyo for several nights.

ksandness

If you are arriving at NRT at 3:30 in the afternoon, there is no reason to go to Kyoto immediately, although it would be feasible, because you would arrive in Kyoto so late that you couldn't see anything anyway.

I agree with the advice to spend the first night in Tokyo, no matter whether you proceed to Kansai the next day or not.

My normal routine is to stay awake on the plane over, which was a lot easier in the days when they didn't darken the cabin to make the passengers drowsy. Anyway, I bring an iPad loaded with books, games, and TV shows so that there is plenty to do, and I don't try to fall asleep, although I may drop off for a brief period toward the end of the trip. But since arrival is at NRT is in daylight, it is better to stay awake than to get off the plane groggy.

I then take the N'EX (if I'm staying in the southern part of the city) or the Keisei Skyliner (if I'm staying in the northern part of the city) to Tokyo. Before getting on the train, I buy a bottle/can of tea or coffee (available from vending machines or kiosks before you enter the platform) for some caffeine fortification.

After checking in at my hotel, I walk around outside for a while and have dinner as late as possible. I then force myself to stay awake till 10PM local time. If you're from the Midwest, that's 8:00AM U.S. Central time, so it effectively means pulling an all-nighter.

I then go to bed and sleep for about eight hours, which puts me at 6:00AM Japan Time, early, but not unusually so. I take another walk outside before breakfast, and then I rarely have problems with jet lag.

It doesn't matter what you do first on your trip. Both Tokyo and Kyoto have entire guidebooks devoted to them and their environs, and both offer interesting side trips, so you can see an awful lot without changing hotels. Remember that all of Japan is the size of California, only with infinitely better public transit and intercity rail.

jtm1631

Thank you for all the great information. I was actually looking at the train schedules last night and saw it is possible to go NRT - Kyoto with a change of trains the day of arrival but it means not getting into Kyoto until probably 10:00 PM. Seems a bit much.

Talking to my infinitely better half after looking at that, we were discussing staying 1 night in Tokyo and then heading out Monday morning for Kyoto. I think that may be the direction we are leaning.

Since we will be using points for the hotels as much as possible, I want to try to at least get a plan for what nights in what cities so we make sure to have access to award nights wherever possible.

As to the comment from mkjr below, I believe you can activate the JR pass at Narita for a future date if I'm not mistaken. That would save us from going through the process the next morning before heading out of Tokyo. I will have to look into that to confirm however.

Thanks again to everyone for all the suggestions.

abmj-jr

Correct. Just tell the agent what day you want your Rail Pass to start.

On another note, if you will be using the Narita Express train to get from NRT to Tokyo, the same agent can make that reservation as well as your onward reservation in the morning. You would have to pay for the N'Ex of course.

The trick to juggling a 7-day Rail Pass with a longer visit is to make certain the Pass covers your most expensive travel days.

If your hotel points and preferences will allow, arranging that first night for a stay near Shinagawa Station rather than Tokyo Station will make the next morning far less stressful. Both the N'Ex and the limo-bus go to Shinagawa as well as to Tokyo.

ksandness

True. Shinagawa is much less stressful and confusing. There isn't much of interest in the area, but there are a number of hotels.

If you're just going to sleep for one night, you don't need a fancy hotel. A budget hotel (<US$150 for a double) will do just fine. It will be one level above a college dorm in style of accommodation, but clean and safe, with a private bath. Save the fancy hotels for places where you are going to settle in for a while.

evergrn

Yeah, Shinagawa is really the best option for the first night after arrival in TYO, if you're planning to travel on bullet train to Kyoto the next day. Narita Express goes there directly from NRT. Shinkansen stops there. Much less complicated than Tokyo Station as mentioned above. There's plenty of hotels of all spectrum nearby, with far better prices than many other Tokyo districts such as Marunouchi or Shibuya. Not much to see/do, but the train station has tons of great food and you will be tired and jet-lagged at ~6pm Tokyo time anyways. Although Grand Prince Takanawa and New Takanawa are dated properties, they're affordable and their Japanese garden might be a welcome sight for your first night in Jpn. Sakura Prince also shares the same garden, although much pricier (albeit much much nicer).

mkjr

Yes. Shinagawa is smart idea.

I get some very cheap corporate rates given the proximity of Tokyo Station to our offices so that's why I've always stayed there.

5khours

Depends on how much luggage, budget, whether you know Tokyo, etc., but my recommendation would be to overnight in Tokyo spend a day getting your bearings and riding the subway around Tokyo. Then head to Kyoto the next night. I think a day in Tokyo might give you a better idea of how you want to spend your time when you return. Kind of like a scouting trip so you're more comfortable when you come back.

If you're not carrying a log of extra baggage, travel is so easy in Japan you can come and go as you please without being chained to some fixed schedule.

txflyer77

Concur on staying up for an entire westbound TPAC ORD-NRT. I've found that to be a pretty solid strategy for warding off jet lag when I head to Japan.

jphripjah

I agree with not taking the train to Kyoto the day of arrival.

Adding a four four train ride immediately after 16 hours of flying does not sound fun to me.

Personally, I'd say that if you are going into Tokyo that afternoon, you might as well stay in Tokyo for the five days or however long you have planned to visit there.

Spending 16 hours flying to Tokyo, getting a one hour train into the city, sleeping and then immediately re-packing and getting a four train early the next morning doesn't sound ideal to me. You don't know if your body will want to wake up at 8 a.m. or wake up from 2-6 and then want to sleep again until 10 a.m.

I think you should just put all the Tokyo stuff first. The only downside of that is that Tokyo is big and sprawling and confusing and I think is not the ideal introduction to Japan for that reason.

I know that you haven't aksed for overall itinerary advice, but I personally think 5 days in Tokyo is enough and 5 days in Kyoto/Osaka/Nara is enough, so you may have a few days to go somewhere else. And as others have mentioned in other threads, Kyoto and Osaka are only 30 minutes apart by frequent trains so you can choose a hotel in either place and easily visit the other, you don't have to spend 3 nights in a Kyoto hotel and 2 nights in an Osaka hotel.

If you have a lot of bags you can send some from your Tokyo hotel to your Kyoto/Osaka hotel by TA-Q-BIN service.

Lastly, I highly recommend attending a baseball game in Japan, even if you are not a huge baseball fan, it's a great cultural experience. For you it would be best to try to do this at Yokohama Stadium (40 minutes outside Tokyo) or Koshien Stadium in Osaka.