safra1

Hi all, I am in the early stages of booking a trip to Seoul & Tokyo (from New York) from May 20-30, 2016. I am traveling in a group of 6 or so and we are in are upper 20s. Given that I have not been to either Korea or Japan, wanted to get your thoughts on the following:

-How many days should we plan to devote to each city?
-Which order should we do the trip?
-Which airlines should we consider & how should we arrange it (e.g., RT JFK or ICN?)
-How early should we plan to book?
-What hotel(s) should we consider in each city (looking at a price range of $200-300 in each city; would prefer centrally located near tourist & gay-friendly bar areas)

mikesaidyes

Safra, I'm happy to help. I've lived here for three years, am in my early 30s and know exactly where you should go. I've got just the scoop you need. Now, I'm at working drowning out kids on my break, so I'll reply in full, full detail a little later.

nme7

Lots of time to plan for a wonderful trip. I have no doubt mikesaidyes will have some excellent tips and advice.

I would just add my own thoughts on the differences between Japan and Korea. In general, Japan is much cleaner than Korea. Just try to find a trash can in Korea. In terms of politeness, I would say the Japanese are more polite. In Korea, you will probably get bumped around in crowded areas. Personal space is hard to come by in both countries, just go with the flow. Party-wise, I would say it is tie. Food, both are equally amazing and delicious. One thing you should be aware of is yellow dust, or Asian Dust that happens around April to May.

mikesaidyes

Seoul is THE BEST city for nightlife. Particularly of the homo variety. I was really unimpressed with Tokyo (and many other Asian cities I've visited).

I would split them down the middle. With regards to how you plan your flight, I would just look at either Korean Air, Asiana, ANA or JL for your choices. With these airlines, you can generally include a stopover as part of your ticket.

Or, another option would be to fly to one place and out of another. Bridge your ticket with a CHEAP ticket on a budget airline. Seriously, I saw a sale on Jeju Air from ICN-NRT for 10,000W ALL IN on a weekday.

As far as buying a ticket now, I think it's waaaaaaaaaay too early. From where will you depart? I can kind of guesstimate the lowest you can get a ticket to ICN. NRT, I'm no specialist.

mikesaidyes

Also, that is a good time for both Korea and Japan. Not too hot, it won't be cold anymore, everything is in bloom. More important? There are no holidays in either country that time next year to interfere with your trip.

safra1

Appreciate that Mike.

safra1

JFK or EWR

mikesaidyes

I just did a dummy search for mid week September trip. I pulled 960 on Delta - KE nonstop to ICN, then NRT to JFK on Delta. That's an AMAZING deal. Especially with DL and KE codeshare. Normally, when they do that, it jacks the fare up A TON.

Like I said, you can get a flight to Tokyo for 100 or less one way.

mikesaidyes

With regards to Tokyo, I've been twice and am hopping over again next month for a long weekend. While I love the city, the food, the efficiency and cleanliness, I was very unimpressed with their nightlife. It was very quiet, and a lot of places felt hidden inside all of the buildings. You could've walked right by it and never known. That being said, I did go during a holiday weekend. I would've assumed that everyone stayed, BUT I guess they just went out of town, too.

The 'mo bars are in Shinjuku Ni-Chome. As it's Northeast Asia, and just Asia in general, there's no gayborhood. Just bars in an otherwise normal area.

If I were you, I'd look into an AirBnB. Our expectations for a normal, clean hotel will actually run MORE than an AirBnB. There are, perhaps, really large apartments. Also, most AirBnB are in Rappongi, which is convenient to several locations (aka late night if you need to take a taxi home without being too expensive). With six, however, it might be a tight squeeze or simply annoying to have everyone in the same room.

In five days in Tokyo, you can see all the major areas. You MIGHT have time for a day trip to Hakone, but if I were you, I'd just stick to Tokyo.

**This is just my casual opinion of TYO. You can get real, detailed answers in the Japan forum.**

Aventine

How many days should we plan to devote to each city?

you could just an even split or more Tokyo than Seoul. I think 3 days in Seoul would be enough but I'm biased since I live here.

-Which order should we do the trip?
I'd do Seoul then Tokyo.

-Which airlines should we consider & how should we arrange it (e.g., RT JFK or ICN?)
I like JAL, ANA, Asiana, Korean Air, Singapore, Cathay, etc. Find the direct flight with the best deals.

-How early should we plan to book?
-What hotel(s) should we consider in each city (looking at a price range of $200-300 in each city).

Tokyo rooms can be expensive but Hyatt Regency Tokyo to be in Shinjuku, Ginza Associ.

Seoul: Shilla's business hotel in Gangnam, Lotte Mapo city hotel, Lotte Myeongdong itself, Oakwood near COEX, Grand Hyatt Seoul for the ultimate location. No subway immediately there but taxis and the green town bus can help your sightseeing. Also an easy walk down to Itaewon for eating or Kyunglidan, a new foodie neighborhood.

yul36

I have a connection to make at ICN to SFO in June.
From KIX on OZ Arr at 14:30 apx, connecting to the UA 744 at 16:35.
Am I safe with 2 hrs connecting time.
Tickets are separate itns, USA to Korea are bought J class. ICN-KIX are award
through MP.

mikesaidyes

Two hours is more than enough time, unless of course you're like crazily delayed.

Aventine

You should be fine. Star Alliance partners (OZ and UA) should see your bags all the way through hopefully.

TravelingPeanut

My fiancee and I just got back from a trip to Seoul and Tokyo 3 weeks ago. We flew SAN-SFO-ICN on UA because he had a serious excess of miles. It's a 12 hour flight, so pick comfy arrangements. We stayed at the Grand Hyatt in Seoul on a club floor which... It's a nice hotel. The service was great. The little perks were nice, but the location was a little bit difficult. I'd find a hotel closer to the very middle of Seoul. On the bright side, car ride are pretty cheap. We didn't end up doing much as far as nightlife, so I can't help you there. If you happen to like to eat and want a guide to Seoul's best eats, I can totally hook you up. We flew ICN-NRT on ANA. It's just over 2 hours and pretty easily doable. If we had it to do over again, we'd fly into HND. Non-public transportation in Japan is expensive and NRT is a bit far out. We stayed at the Grand Hyatt in Tokyo is is pricey, but very nice, so I am a bit hesitant to recommend it, but the neighborhood that it's in (Roppongi Hills) is where you want to be for nightlife. My biggest tip for Tokyo is: learn the subway map and get a rechargeable card. It'll ensure that you can get most anywhere you want for cheap. We flew UA back home, but out of HND which was a lot less of a headache. We saw near no security/customs lines the whole trip and ended up spending short layovers in lounges. We did 6 days in each city and I would also recommend splitting your time in half between Seoul and Tokyo.