kvnn

Hi Everyone,

My girlfriend and I will be travelling to Tokyo for the first time in October for 13 nights and will be staying in Roppongi. We have somewhat planned out our trip and will be going to the places below. We are foodies and adventurous, love sushi and will try new food. In Toronto, we always eat at Ramen restaurants, AYCE sushi places and also a la carte Japanese bistros and Izakaya. I guess we are quite familiar with the food Tokyo has to offer! We are down to try any other different food in the Japanese culture.

If there are anything different or must sees that I do not have on the list, please recommend!!

Unfortunately, I do not think I can visit Osaka/ Kyoto because I have already booked my hotel for all 13 nights. Would a 1 day trip be doable? I feel like that will be very rushed and tiring.

• Disneyland or Disneysea?
• Hakone for Onsen (Hot Springs)
• Tsukiji Fish Market
• Enoshima - is it worth going here? What are some sightseeing that could be done here?
• Some famous Japanese Tuning car companies
• Skytree/ Tokyo Tower
• Temples / Gardens
• Shopping - Shibuya/ Shinjuku/ Harajuku/ Akihabara/ Ginza

ksandness

A day trip would be doable, but you'd be spending about four hours on the train.

If you want to see some of the temples and shrines, go to Kamakura, which was the shogun's capital from 1185 to 1334. It has enough temples to satisfy the average visitor, and you can see the famous Great Buddha. Trains leave from Tokyo Station three to four times an hour.

There's a lot to see within daytrip distance of Tokyo. Hakone is doable, especially if you follow the standard tourist circuit with a Hakone Free Pass.

I've done Chichibu, Nagano, Mito, Aizu-Wakamatsu, Nikko (recommended for the scenery on the way there and for its temples and shrines), and Sendai/Matsushima as day trips.

Do you have a guidebook for Tokyo? Every major travel publisher has one. Most of the ones I know have suggestions for day trips in the back.

I like settling in one place and taking day trips better than going from place to place all the time. It's nice to come back to a familiar hotel room after a day out.

abmj-jr

Go north and/or uphill. October will be the start of fall color in the hills. Day trips are quite doable from Tokyo to Kamakura and Nikko as noted above. Also, Matsumoto, Sendai+Matsushima and further north would be good.

I can't imagine being stuck in Tokyo for 13 straight days! I'd be homicidal. Get a JR East Rail Pass, good for any 5 days, consecutive or not, and see some of the areas outside the city.

http://www.jreast.co.jp/e/pass/index.html

txflyer77

I'll second Matsumoto. Cute town, good food. Fall colors in Nikko are also beautiful:


IMG_6398 by ryan.tanner, on Flickr

With 13 days I'd do both.

abmj-jr

Nice. Matsushima is good for that sort of thing as well.

txflyer77

I was trying to decide if I wanted to go north or south for my next extended trip to Japan. I had been leaning towards Kyushu but maybe a Tohoku+Hokkaido trip is in order!

cwerdna

Agreed.

Yeah, if one were to go to Kyoto, you'd probably want to spend at least an entire day or two there and thus stay overnight.
I've gone to Kamakura, Nikko and Hakone (via their typical loop and "Free Pass") as day trips before. http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e5200.html mentions the ropeway's closed right now.
I personally like ones from Frommer's. I don't like the DK ones except for the pictures. They're otherwise quite heavy and don't have that much info.

13 nights in Tokyo (to me) is a long time. I can't think of any of my trips to Japan (been there 4x so far) where I spent 13 nights in Tokyo. IIRC, I think I've done some 10 day trips.

shuigao

What are the cancellation t&c's for your booking? I'll echo other posters in this thread that say 13 nights in Tokyo can be a little too long. Unless you're going to be super relaxed / super free n easy.

kvnn

Thanks everyone for the advice. I booked my accommodation via AirBnB and the cancellations are strict. It does seem 13 days seem quite excessive. If there are budget transportation (fastest and cheapest) and accomodation to Osaka / Kyoto it could be considered.

I also have more questions:

- I don't think the Canadian banks carry Yen. Would the best exchange rate be at Tokyo, I read somewhere it could be done in the airport for best rate. Can anyone shed some light?

- Arriving at Narita at 3:30PM on a Thursday, I am planning to take the express train, are there the tourist tickets that are cheaper than the normal rate?

txflyer77

ATMs typically offer the best rate when withdrawing from US banks but a Canadian will need to chime in to confirm.

This covers all the various ways to get from Narita to Tokyo: http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2027.html

If you can't spend a few nights in Kyoto, I'd just stay up near Tokyo and take day trips. Nikko, Matsumoto, Kamakura, Hakone, Izu Peninsula, etc.

manneca

There is IIRC a Citi ATM outside security. Unless it's changed, you can get yen from non Japanese ATMs and from 7/11s and post offices. So, make sure you get yen on arrival at the airport. And yes, that will give you the best rates.

IMHO, 13 days in Tokyo is way, way too much. I love Nikko and it's possible as a day trip.

You may want to consider a rail pass if you will do lots of day trips. Japan is expensive, so think about how many day trips you might take (and to where) and compare the cost of a rail pass and individual tickets.

There are lots of Japan travel threads here. Reading them might be helpful.

Could you deal directly with you AirBnB host about canceling a few days in the middle so you could go to Kyoto or perhaps even as far south as Hiroshima?

kvnn

I wish I could, but I negotiated the price with the AirBnB host and I don't think we'll be able to get away with a cancellation in the middle of the weeks. I will definitely consider more local trips that doesn't take long such as Nikko. What is there to see there?

kvnn

So at the ATM, I can use my Canadian debit card and withdraw Yen? I assume there would be a fee to process this transaction?

txflyer77

http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3800.html

manneca

Yes. There may or may not be a fee, I can't remember. Your bank may or may not charge a fee.