Tokyo/Kyoto trip

ivrytwr3

ivrytwr3

ivrytwr3

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Son and friend (19yr olds) have just informed me they want to do a week in Japan..............er ok! The are looking at 1 week, a couple of days in Tokyo and the remainder in Kyoto; next month. They have never booked a holiday before and never traveled without their parents. Neither parents have been to Japan either.

Anybody want to offer some good hints and tips from flights/airports, to transport, hotels, things to do/see, currency, apps? Or even just a link to a site that may cover such a thing?

Nothing like last minute plans :(
 
sanaxe1 said:
My tip would be to go longer than 7 days. The flight will wipe them out.
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This. The flight is a day either way. Which leaves them 5 days.

Considering the expense of flying to Japan/accommodation it works out a very expensive holiday.

Will they fly home from kyoto? Otherwise they'll have to spend the last day travelling back to Tokyo too. Ultimately giving them 4.5 days on holiday costing £1000s.

Probably not what they want to hear, but I'd recommend somewhere in Europe for their first holiday. Yes it's not the same, but it'll be considerably cheaper and get them used to travelling alone, with much much more time to see things without rushing about. They could even country/city hop easily with trains.
 
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Begbie said:
This. The flight is a day either way. Which leaves them 5 days.

Considering the expense of flying to Japan/accommodation it works out a very expensive holiday.

Will they fly home from kyoto? Otherwise they'll have to spend the last day travelling back to Tokyo too. Ultimately giving them 4.5 days on holiday costing £1000s.

Probably not what they want to hear, but I'd recommend somewhere in Europe for their first holiday. Yes it's not the same, but it'll be considerably cheaper and get them used to travelling alone, with much much more time to see things without rushing about. They could even country/city hop easily with trains.
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This is good advice, I'd also suggest something a bit more practical for their first trip. Japan is one hell of a job, as @sanaxe1 says the jet lag will wipe them out for the first couple of days.
 
Diddums said:
This is good advice, I'd also suggest something a bit more practical for their first trip. Japan is one hell of a job, as @sanaxe1 says the jet lag will wipe them out for the first couple of days.
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Yep, there's also just far too much to fit into 4~ days.

I'd get them to workout the price. And divide it up per day. And your probably close to £500 per day. Nothing is really cheap there.

Flights £1000, hotels probably £1-150 per night. They'll be £1500+ before food, drink and excursions.

Add food in @ £40 per day (if they eat cheaply, ramen/bento boxes etc) then your close to £2000 with drinks. Then train tickets/metro. That's without really doing any excursions, weird whacky Tokyo stuff, temple visits.

If they want to do kyoto then flight prices back will probably be more expensive too.

Though if money is absolutely no issue, I'd spend my four days in Tokyo. There's loads to do in Tokyo for four days!
 
Feek said:
Totally irrelevant and I apologise in advance for not answering your question but I only just noticed that Tokyo and Kyoto are anagrams.
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The word means capital. Kyoto used to be the capital and Tokyo now is. I read there was never a decree that the capital city was transferred from Kyoto so there’s technically 2 capitals in Japan.
 
With a bit of planning you can get around a fair bit of europe by train in a week.

Fly to somewhere, train it to somewhere else, and go on from there. End up somewhere you can fly back from.
 
It's a hell of a trip just to go for a week, jetlag will wipe them out too thus knocking more time off for doing stuff.

2 weeks is the minimum, just.
3weeks is preferable.
 
7 days for Tokyo and Kyoto is…erm, doable if you’ve been before, know what you are doing, where to go and not waste time faffing around.

I’ve once went to Kyoto and Osaka for 4 days total before going to Korea for a week. I’ve also went to Tokyo for 9 nights once but as a first trip, with prices the ways things are now. You should really go for longer for better value for money.

If you are immune to jet lag then you can land in the morning, and have a full day, if you can get a late flight back then you can have another day. But you will still lose 1 day going there due to time difference.
 
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Raymond Lin said:
7 days for Tokyo and Kyoto is…erm, doable if you’ve been before, know what you are doing, where to go and not waste time faffing around.

I’ve once went to Kyoto and Osaka for 4 days total before going to Korea for a week. I’ve also went to Tokyo for 9 days but as a first trip, with prices the ways things are now. You should really go for longer for better value for money.

If you are immune to jet lag then you can land in the morning, and have a full day, if you can get a late flight back then you can have another day. But you will still lose 1 day going there due to time difference.
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We've explained this - but it seems they are set on it!

So they could fly into Tokyo and back from kyoto?

Any recommendations on what to do in tokyo/kyoto? Hotels? How does the bullet train work for booking?

I think there will be a lot of faffing around and wasting time - so just trying to do a bit of research on their behalf.
 
As others have said Imagine 12-16 hour flight. each way.

Then you have time difference of 9 hours (thats another day gone).

Then you travel time to Kyoto (on the train its around 3 hours).

Finding the hotels, navigating the public transport as not many people speak English (that will eat into the time).

So in 7 days all they going to be doing is seeing the insides of public transport a lot. Not worth it for 7 days.
 
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ivrytwr3 said:
We've explained this - but it seems they are set on it!

So they could fly into Tokyo and back from kyoto?

Any recommendations on what to do in tokyo/kyoto? Hotels? How does the bullet train work for booking?

I think there will be a lot of faffing around and wasting time - so just trying to do a bit of research on their behalf.
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If you are set on going, then I would rather concentrate the 1st trip to Tokyo, or Osaka and Kyoto. Rather than Tokyo + Kyoto. The reason being that to do your original plan, you are really best fly into one and out of the other. That can push costs up even further, not to mention a 1 way trip on the Shinkansen is like £100 per person.

If you are landing in Tokyo, pick Haneda, NOT Narita. Narita is about 90min train via the NEX Narita Express and cost like £30. So if the flight to Haneda is like £50 more...it's worth it. Haneda is in the city, it is connected by a monorail, close enough for a £20 taxi to the hotel.

If you are flying into Kansai Airport then it's about an hour to Kyoto from there.

As for getting train tickets, you can get it from the machines, which has English, or go to one of the counters, and they have English speaker there. Prepare to give yourself like 20mins though to get tickets to find the platform if you buy it on the day, and you won't be able to book a seat on the day. So you will need to go to the unreserved carriages. If you book ahead you can reserve a seat. Try to pack light, as LARGE suitcases are only allowed if you book a space, but overhead storage can fit a medium size suitcase. Don't be one of those people who put a suitcase in front of the seats...the locals will hate you.

Hotels right now is crazy, so just pick somewhere close to the main station in Kyoto. Kyoto transport is erm....crowded...well, the buses are, I hate Kyoto buses, I rather walk 2 miles than take the bus in the day time at least. So many tourists .... i am part of the problem so i walk. The trains and subway are not bad but they don't go everywhere in the city so some places, especially on the East side, where Kiyomizu Dera is are bus access only. 30mins on foot from the station...I just walk it. If they have iPhones then get the Suica app in the wallet, just top it up and tap tap tap on buses, trains all over the country. If not, then you need to get the travel Suica card...they have currently suspended selling the normal Suica card due to Chip shortages.

As for what to do....just temples and temples really. The place is full of history and old Japan, so if you like then it's amazing but also...a lot of tourists kinda ruins that a bit. There are other smaller less famous places that has the same feel, without the crowds.

In Tokyo, stay on any of the station on the Yamanote line, I suggest either west side (Shibuya, Shinjuku up to Ikebukuro) or East side, from Shimbashi up to Uneo, Akihabara. Avoid staying in the North or South area, not much main attractions around those. If you are on the Yamanote Line then everything wil be quicke to get to.

I went to Singapore for a week during the pandemic, but my flight was also like £500...so much better value. I guess you can go to Japan for a week but I feel like, unlike Singapore, you barely scratch the surface or even get used to the customs in that time. Not to mention right now it is like a sauna, i hope they like sweating...but at least they will get a chance to try Pocari Sweat.
 
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You can also get to hiroshoma pretty easily from kyoto/osaka. We done 3 days in kyoto and done a trip from there during it.

I found the metro/public transport very easy really. Google maps/lens makes things very easy.

If I had to go back, I'd probably spend all my time eating ramen and tuna :p

I'd highly recommended going to an onsen. We went to Oedo Onsen Monogatari. Weird experience, but very different to our culture thay makes it quite unique.
 
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ivrytwr3 said:
We've explained this - but it seems they are set on it!

So they could fly into Tokyo and back from kyoto?

Any recommendations on what to do in tokyo/kyoto? Hotels? How does the bullet train work for booking?

I think there will be a lot of faffing around and wasting time - so just trying to do a bit of research on their behalf.
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Sounds like they're big boys and know what they're doing (not). Perhaps daddy should take a step back and let them prove themselves or have them learn a fairly expensive lesson.
 
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