HawaiiO

Thanks for the info!

I have two carryon bags.
ill check the bus schedule n see if it works out.

ne0ven0m

If anyone else has been watching, they finally released standard award blocks for latter half of Sep and first half of Oct.

Jerry Vandesic

I would suggest talking the bus from the airport to the hotel. It's cheap and easy and you don't really need to know anything about your location (it might be a challenge finding the Hilton shuttle at Shinjuku station -- it's very congested and lots of people and trying to do this while jet lagged might not be fun). The bus price is about 3000yen per person, but at least one bus company offers 4 tickets for 8000yen (supposed for round trips, but you can use all four at once if you want) which lowers the cost if you have three or four people traveling.

On the other hand, going from the hotel to to the airport works well going by train. Take the hotel shuttle to Shinjuku station, walk ten minutes to the station for the Narita Express, and then you are soon at the airport. Also, by the time you are leaving you will probably have a better lay of the land around Shinjuku station so making your way to the train could be easier.

One thing that might impact your decision is having a JR pass. The JR pass includes travel on the Narita Express, so you will save some money over taking the bus. But the JR pass is only offered in 1-week increments, so you might want to plan ahead. In my case we were in Japan for 9 days, so the JR pass wasn't good for our entire trip. We chose to take the bus to the hotel, then a couple days later we activated the JR pass so that it would be good until we left Japan, allowing us to use the JR pass on the Narita Express on our last day.

zombietooth

They also finally made a bunch of nights from SEP-DEC avail. for Yen 21,600- per night with the "Amazing Asia Pacific Sale". DEC has the most cheap nights avail. Link here:

https://discover.hilton.com/en_ap/offers/apac-sale/

The cheapest rates had been around Yen 34,000- with the sale discount since June (I check several times a week since I spend so much time at this property), so this is an opportunity to save big. Sale ends 6 SEP and must be prepaid with no changes or cancellations allowed.

zombietooth

In addition to the hassle of moving luggage in Shinjuku station through the "salmon run crowds", the station itself can be very confusing to newcomers. My brother, a physician, ignored my advice to take the Limousine Bus and instead took the NEX. He ended-up arriving around two hours late to the hotel because he got lost in the underground maze of shops and train lines, etc.

Once you know the station, it's a cake walk. It takes me exactly 10 mins to walk from the front door of the Hilton to boarding the JR Yamanote line train everyday. And the trains are always on time to the minute.

smithrh

There's much to be said about doing the easy, no-stress thing (Limo bus) when you arrive, and then once you've been in Japan for a while and navigated trains and stations a few times, considering taking the train/NEX back to the airport.

kmandrew

gvaughn

The _Banking_Scot

Hi.

There may be more advice on the Japan forum

Where are you staying in osaka the hilton or conrad?

Regards
​​​​​​Tbs

rustykettel

Second the Japan forum! They regularly amaze me with the depth of knowledge and expertise (coming up with the name & new location of a closed restaurant based on a vague-ish description, for example)

kmandrew

The _Banking_Scot

Hi,

Both hotels will fit the bill ( I loved the Conrad which has wonderful city views from the lobby level on the 40th floor- so it is worth at least a visit) and would consider the conrad a better hotel ( unless you are saving the points savings for another stay in the future)

Regards

TBS

kmandrew

Isochronous

61,000 points a night this weekend.
Is it worth it? Otherwise low 30k range JPY for cash rates.

The _Banking_Scot

Hi.

It is not bad especially if the cash rates do not include the 13% service charge and the 8%(10%from 1st Oct) tax

Regards
Tbs