shuigao

Well, they do have a $3k budget, so I presume it's either budget honeymoon or no honeymoon at all.

$75/person/night in business hotels --> $75 x 2 people x 20 nights = all their budget gone :P

abmj-jr

In that case, I'd just suggest trimming the trip to 14 days and enjoying it. But, that is just me. Others' MMV.

kaka

Is it just me but cant they spend 2/3 of their time in sth cheaper than 75/night for the both of them (even in osaka you can stay in apa/toyoko inn for less than that) and splurge(or simply, spend) their money elsewhere? Another option would be sample once a japanese love hotel for a “night”.

ps dont forget toyoko inn serves a bottomless breakfast. If ure sneaky u can fill up urself and sneak out an onigiri or 2.

invisible

Thanks everyone for replies.
$150/night is too much for accommodation, they'd rather go with AirBnB (yes, know the risks involved) but if it cuts lodging price from $150/night to $70/night it is no brainer for them.

All other recommendations are welcome.

Aventine

I'd rather do business hotel than AirBnB. Legitimate accommodation vs. grey area ones. Business hotel can be the same price or even a bit cheaper depending.

s0ssos

Not everybody has money. Even for a honeymoon.

I also thought about regional passes, as they are a great value cause you can use a few days over a long period of time. But they are regional and don't cover all these areas. If they are going through all these areas might as well get a JR pass, but that would blow the budget.

Honeymoons should be memorable. Just because you are not spending loads of money doesn't mean it is memorable. People may have a memorable trip taking an overnight bus, just as memorable as spending time on the beach in the Maldives.

s0ssos

Yea, save then spend, every now and then? I found the Minami Sanriku Hotel Kanyo was a great deal at $180, including shuttle from Sendai station and a kaiseki dinner (for 2).
Ramen is easily 500yen nowadays (they have specials, even in Tokyo) and that can easily last for half the day (depending on how much you eat).
If you did have a railpass you could stay somewhere outside the center and commute in (like never staying in Kyoto, just taking the train in from nearby, like Osaka).

evergrn

I agree with abmj's rec to cut down the trip.
If your budget is only $3000, and I presume they'd like to avoid hosteling on their honeymoon, then it's too ambitious to plan a 3-week trip in Jpn.
If you really want to rough it, sure anything is possible.
But I think it's important for them to enjoy the trip, have security of reliable accommodations, and try good-looking food when they see it instead of having to pinch pennies all throughout the trip.

In a 14-day trip, if they really want to do Nagasaki to Sapporo and back down to Tokyo, they can actually do it. I wouldn't recommend that type of trip to some or probably most. However, if they're young and want to take in as much of Jpn as possible, they can do it. I've certainly done that in the past in Jpn and Europe, and those were some of the more memorable trips of mine.

I would get the 14-day Japan Rail pass.
* Try to fly into Nagasaki (or FUK), out of TYO. Open-jaw.
* If can't find good fare for above, then round-trip to TYO. Forget adding the 10,000yen foreigner airfare for TYO-Nagasaki portion, since saving $ is of the essence for this couple.

Assuming, flying into & out of TYO:
day 0: stay near Tokyo.
day 1: activate JR Pass; Tokyo to Nagasaki; stay in Nagasaki
day 2-4: Nagasaki area (some good day trips in the area); stay in Nagasaki
day 5: travel to Hiroshima; see Hiroshima and stay there.
day 6: Miyajima, then onto Kyoto; stay in/near Kyoto.
day 7: another day in Kyoto; stay in/near Kyoto.
day 8: Kyoto until mid/late afternoon; travel to Sendai; stay in Sendai.
day 9: travel to Hakodate; stay in Hakodate.
day 8: Hakodate until early afternoon; travel to Sapporo; stay in Sapporo.
day 9-10: Sapporo; stay in Sapporo.
day 11: Sapporo-Tokyo; stay near Tokyo.
day 12-13: Tokyo.
day 14: fly out.

Budget:
JR Pass x2: 93,000
Breakfast: included w/ hotel
Dinner: 24,000 daily
Snacks/lunch: 32,000 daily
Attractions/misc: 3,000 daily
Hotel: 9,500 daily (in places like Nagasaki and Sendai, can be ~7000; but in Tokyo and Hakodate, expect ~12,000; For Kyoto, I'd forget about staying in Kyoto but rather somewhere nearby.)

For a 14-day trip, that comes out to 346,000 yen. Just a hair over $3000. Is that doable for them?

Some might say you don't have to pay so much for meals or hotels in Jpn. Well, yes if you're just doing Yoshinoya and food court and konbini bentos, you can probably get by for as little as 2,000 daily for 2 on top of the free hotel breakfast. But then usually you will come across at least a half-dozen small bite type things or awesome drinks/dessert that could cost anywhere from 200~1000yen which you feel like you must try. Are you going to deny yourself the chance every time? Likewise with hotels, can you be happy staying in a 10m2 cubbyhole room at Toyoko every night?

I'd avoid April since it may still be too cold up in Hokkaido. Definitely avoid Golden Week.
Maybe May (before tsuyu season) or mid-late Oct (around the time typhoons become less frequent) might be the best.

JamesBigglesworth

Yeah, but not Nagoya. No one should ever go to Nagoya. They just shouldn't.

jib71

I'm not sure why you quoted me. My normal instinct is to steer tourists away from Nagoya, but I don't think that we're debating the merits of one city or another here. OP is trying to gauge what compromises the couple needs to make to have the honeymoon that they want. The costed itineraries and estimates above should help them to answer that question.

Dublin_rfk

Not having any info on the age or travel experience or adventurism of the newlyweds.

ksandness

It occurred to me that choosing a region to concentrate on and renting a "weekly mansion" (a small studio apartment) might be a huge money saver. I have never stayed in one, but I have visited people who have, and they are tiny apartments with tiny kitchenettes, allowing residents to make simple meals or heat up take-out.

I also suggest doing lodging searches on Booking.com. You can arrange to have the available properties listed in order of price, lowest to highest. A very low-budget friend who works for a non-profit but wanted to attend an international convention used this approach successfully.

5khours

You can definitely economize.I've done Tokyo to Kagoshima and back in a week for under 20,000. The biggest expense will be lodging so if they want to economize that's where they need to focus. There are plenty of options for under 5k a night.