Japan experts, please help

[Gorgonemilezola]

Longed for bucket list trip which we're finally in the early stages of planning. We're not keen on organised tours, but do see the advantages.

What would be your most recommended resources for planning a self guided trip, and any recommendations for must see places, restaurants, experiences - on a fairly tight budget. We aren't looking at luxury accommodation or Michelin restaurants, just ways we can see and experience as much of the country as possible, but not rushing from place to place in a 'If it's Thursday it must be Paris' kind of way, without taking out a second mortgage.

That's an enormous question, and although not an expert but any means, I will try to start answering.

I've been to Japan twice: once for a stay in Tokyo and then for a tour of several cities. Much depends on what you normally like to do as a family - city, country, history, technology etc. For me the highlights were as follows:

• Hakodate: a port city with tremendous history, multicultural influences and incredibly beautiful scenery and buildings
• Kagoshima: the Hawaii of Japan with a cool surf vibe and a volcano Sakurajima which is very active (blowing from its vent two days in every three) and you can take a quick ferry crossing to walk up the lower slopes. Big aquarium if that's your thing.
• Hiroshima: the Peace Park is sobering and beautiful, and we met so many friendly people there. Also the tram itself is an event... conductor in white gloves and a polished leather satchel as the line weaves its way through the tightly packed houses.

Plus Kyoto, Nala for the deer...the list is massive. If you want the Japan Rail Pass, you need to sort it before you go. We found public transport navigation easy. If you want to try the ferries, have a look at Solo Travel Japan on YouTube. He will give you a good idea of the routes and what to expect.

Huge question indeed . We have all sorts of travel guides (I've had some for 20 years - this is how long the trip's been on the list!) and have been looking at the specialist travel agencies and online fora, but find them, especially Reddit, really muddling.

I think it's just going to be one of those trips that will forever leave us wanting more.

Thank you for the recommendations, Hakodate sounds amazing.

Hakodate was incredible, and I absolutely want to return. Memories include:

• the historic bonded warehouses for trade, all covered in red leaves under bright sunshine while little particles of snow hit our lips
• the Slopes, where houses were built at intervals to allow occupants to have vistas of both the sea and the mountains. The pavements are half steps and half slope so you don't fall over in snow
• looking at the local craft cottons (bought a pencil case which brings back memories every day)
• working our way around the historic buildings relating to the governance of the city
• roadworks with barriers made up of helpful knee-high squirrels holding poles. As they do.
• loads of dairy and ice cream. I'm allergic, so can't vouch personally, but DH was very happy.

The planning is so much of the fun. Enjoy!

If you don't want to join a group, but you could do with help planning itineraries, booking experiences and so on, you could try using one of the travel companies that puts together self-guided tours?

I know InsideJapan does this, and there are probably others out there too: https://www.insidejapantours.com/self-guided-japan-holidays/

Hi, another recommendation for Inside Japan. We did a trip to Japan last summer (Tokyo, Hakone, Kyoto/Osaka, Kanazawa, another stop the name of which currently eludes me...) but felt similarly daunted planning everything ourselves.

We gave a few ideas and parameters - places we definitely wanted to include, dates, length of trip - and they suggested an itinerary. We were able to go back and ask for a few tweaks (e.g. they would have had us moving accommodation a lot more and fitting in more stops - we decided we wanted to manage the pace a bit more).

Really useful info packs from them which made the trip itself much easier, and advice on travel between locations etc. I would definitely use them again!

Following, as we've just decided to go to Japan next year too. Also a bucket list trip for us and we're doing it for our 20th anniversary with our kids in tow. We're all massively excited!!

One thing that we've already noticed is that flying indirect halves the price of airline tickets. So, for instance, BA direct is around £2k and Etihad via Abu Dhabi is less than £1k. The travel time is obviously longer, so that's a downside, but with a 14-hour flight time I'm quite happy to get off halfway and have a wander around.

We have heard good things about Inside Japan - I have a brochure but it's about 5 years old so will revisit.

Good tip about splitting the flight.

K's House hostels are really good value: kshouse.jp/index_e.html I have used them in cities across Japan.

We just flew with China Eastern to Shanghai and then on to Osaka. It was the cheapest way we could find to do it.

Looking at prices for next spring, Air China is coming up as the cheapest (via Shanghai). Has anyone flown with them? I know nothing about them.

Beware the Japan Rail Pass! It's increased by a huge amount and you need to take long rail journeys every day to make it worth the money now. Until this year you would cover the cost taking one trip on the bullet train. (Lots about it on YouTube by people who live or travel in Japan, Facebook and independent advice sites for travellers.)

Close-ish to Tokyo -- Mt Fuji and Hakone tour. Highly recommend cruise on Lake Ashi (it's so so so nice, even if it's raining), and a nice cable car ride & Owakudani valley. Tokyo DisneySea mighy be fun if you like that Tokyo Skytree is very overrated. Ginza and Hiroo if you like shopping.

Avoid visiting during Japan's Golden Week (29th of April 5th of May). Best time to visit is Spring (April/May, cherry blossom so pretty) and Autumn. Summer is very hot and humid so perhaps not so nice.

My Lonely Planet Japan has just arrived. Our 2-week trip won't even scratch the surface. I'm already planning our second trip 😆

Cornishmumofone, those hostels look amazing for the price.

cassia twenty, I think we're looking at late September early October. Was Mt Fuji covered in cloud? I've read so much about visitors never seeing the summit...

SleepingisanArt, disappointing about rail pass. If we're staying several days in each place probably cheaper to buy individual tickets when we move on?

@Cornishmumofone Dunno, didn't visit in September or October. But no worries, you will have plenty of things to do.

Tokyo is one of world's megacities and is absolutely packed with people which I'm sure you know.

If crowds of people stress you out (they stress me out) it's something to keep in mind. Other smaller towns as PP suggested are worth visiting. It's also important that you see and do things but also get to relax whilst there.

@CrepuscularCritter Those Nara deer eat just about anything, including paper and maps, so cute

Just got back from Japan- went to Tokyo, Hakone, Osaka and Kyoto. It was wonderful. Agree that planning is part of the fun. We went as a family of 5, with a 6, 8 and 11 year old.

Scotstots, did you do an organised trip through an agent, self guided through an agent , or sort it yourselves?

I have been to Japan several times, but used to live in China so my trips were quite short. I have used this website www.selectiveasia.com for ideas and they have good weather info.
we didn’t get rail passes as not good value for money for our length of stay. We used bus transfer from airports to cities, good value and frequent departures. Kyoto is great and very easy to take the train to Nara.
stayed in this hotel in Osaka
https://en.hoteltheflag.jp/ excellent location, rooms small, but laundry on site which was useful. Lots of reasonably priced restaurants in the area.
I have also been to Disney and Disney Sea in Tokyo - great fun.

DD is there at the moment and had her phone and purse pickpocketed first night in Tokyo.

She is having a good time but it's has soured it a bit so be a bit on your guard. Police told her it's a growing problem with foreigners targeting tourists.

.

Useful thread. I want to go but was a bit put off travelling via Beijing on China Airlines and flights were double to fly Emirates via dubai.

I am also put off that my 10yo would be exhausted and grumpy due to jet lag after spending about £20k!

We got back 3weeks ago, family of 4, adult DC.
We flew in to Tokyo and stayed 5 nights in Ginza region, 1 in Hakone, 1 in Hiroshima (arrived late morning on bullet train and left mid evening the following day after going to Miyajima) than 7 nights Kyoto/Osaka before flying home from Osaka.
Tip for a hotel in the cities is to stay near the train station, they are huge and this helps cut down on walking time before you even get to the subway.
The stations have English signs, as did all the trains/buses we used and unless you are booked on a particular Shinkansen, trains run frequently so no real need to rush.
If you are planning USJ it is well worth it to get express pass tickets, the queues were really long. Mario Land was great as was Harry Potter World.

@FeltCarrot can I ask a couple of questions about trains? We were going to get a Japan Rail Pass, but apparently they are only good value if you are going to do lots of rail travel (which we aren't). Therefore, we're planning to just buy single tickets for the Shinkansen/local railways as needed. We plan to go at Easter, as you did, so would we need to buy tickets and reserve seats on the Shinkansen in advance, do you think (we are a family of four and would like to sit together)? And when you say the trains are very regular, how regular are they and were they busy when you were there? TIA

There are regional travel passes as well as the main Japan Rail pass, that may be better value if you're mostly staying in 1 region.

Hyperdia is good for planning your rail travel.

Tickets can be a bit complicated because there are multiple rail companies, so passes don't always cover everything you want. And in the big stations there may be multiple ticket offices depending which train you want to catch (and even what valie of ticket you're buying). So allow plenty of station time in your plans.

Kyoto is wonderful, and well placed for day trips.