Originally Posted by
jessieh
a)Already tried to make a booking in Ryokan Tokaisou in Tokyo, but it's full for the days I wanted. So, just now tried to book Hotel Parkinn and Kyoto Garden Hotel by email, hope to receive good reply.
If not, need further seaching again.
If you don't, let us know as soon as possible and I'll start a tailored hunt for you. I've stayed at both the Park Inn and the Kyoto Garden Hotel and can recommend both as good value lodgings.
abmj-jr has given some excellent advice about last minute bookings and I can also confirm that
www.japan.hotel.net is a reliable site.
Another site to look at is
http://travel.rakuten.co.jp/en/
Originally Posted by
jessieh
b)
(1)Willer Luxury coach to Osaka sounds good, but too bad their website is in japanese and therefore unable to understand and get any information.
That particular service only started running a couple of months ago. Remember Willer Bus is affiliated with
www.123bus.net. If you email 123bus.net and tell them that you want to book seats on that bus they should be able to book it for you. In English.
Originally Posted by
jessieh
(2)Any comment about 'Puratto Kodama Economy Plan'??
It offers a discount (approximately 3,000yen) on the usual Shinkansen tickets between Tokyo and Kyoto/Osaka. The journey time is around 4 hours. Cost is around 10,000yen. You'll need to figure out where to buy it (according to
this page it's only available from the JTB, Japan Tourist Board, in Asakusa or from JR Tokai Tours.)
Personally I'd take that bus, but then I believe I'd get a good night's sleep on it. If you or your mum have any doubts about sleeping on the road then this would be a good discount rail ticket to look into.
Originally Posted by
jessieh
d) Just found out Miyajima from the website, it seems like a nice place to visit, and makes me think of put it in my itinerary, what do u think?
Miyajima is very nice, but (in my opinion) it's best experienced with an overnight stay there. There are inns and Minshuku (traditional style lodgings) on the island but the rates are quite expensive.
If you did decide to go for a JR Pass then this excursion would be a way to make the pass economical/worth the cost. But I stress again, you don't have that much time and the trip would be a rather expensive one compared to the costed itinerary I gave you (roughly 9,000yen because you'd be getting the JR pass plus 8,000yen each for accommodation - that's over 50,000yen each instead of the 33,500yen I quoted you).
The train ride between Osaka and Miyajimaguchi takes 2hours 15 minutes, so that's another 4 and a half hours (almost half a day) bitten out of your itinerary - the cost is 10,070yen (20,140yen return) so going there by train ONLY makes sense if you have the JR pass.
If you're attracted to Miyajima by the idea of the deer that roam there, bear in mind that you'll see a great many of them in Nara.
jessieh - did you look into getting the Sheraton Miyako on Cash & Points yet?