Japan planning thread

[Takoneko]

I’ve just booked the hotels for my third trip to Japan next year and about to start planning the itinerary in earnest.

Japan threads pop up here quite a bit and I think people spend a lot of time on planning for Japan trips. I thought it might be nice to have a shared thread where we can pool questions, tips and share research for anyone who has a trip coming up.

All budgets and styles of trip are welcome, whether you’re going hiking, temple-hopping, skiing or visiting theme parks, maid cafes and arcades and whether you’re going to hostels or 5 star hotels. I don’t think there’s a right or wrong way to enjoy Japan. It has something for everyone.

We’re a couple in our late 30s and our trip will be mid-budget, probably up to about £3.4k per person with food and spends. We’ve splashed out a bit on direct JAL flights and have upgraded all our hotel rooms to at least king size beds in hotels that are in really well connected locations. They are all mid-range Japanese business hotel chains rather than luxury hotels though. (Candeo, Daiwa Roynet and Sotetsu Fresa). We like Japanese food but we’re definitely more likely to be eating eat in mom and pop restaurants and mid-range Japanese chains than in fancy kaiseki places. Any recommendations for mid range restaurants with relaxed atmospheres would be very welcome.

We plan to use the Sanyo-San’in rail pass in the second half of our trip and would be really interested to share ideas for places to visit with anyone else who is planning on using that pass (or who has used it in the past). At the moment we are thinking Iwakuni, Miyajima, Kurashiki and Onomichi from Hiroshima and Himeji and Uji from Osaka, but we are open to other ideas. I speak passable tourist Japanese and we are ok with going to places that don’t cater to English speakers and muddling through with broken Japanese and Google translate.

Hi @Brycare!

I agree with everything @Waffles21 has said. Your plan is really sensible and you can see loads from Kyoto, Tokyo and Hiroshima. You can’t see everything in two weeks and like you, I prefer to keep the number of hotels to no more than about three. I also like the flexibility that day trips from a base city give you to move your itinerary around depending on the weather. We’d considered booking a night near Mount Fuji in between Osaka and Tokyo, but if we’d done that we would have missed out on seeing the mountain as it was not visible on those days.

Just be aware that I think the PP meant to suggest Himeji as a stop between Hiroshima and Kyoto rather than Tokyo and Kyoto. Himeji is in between those two cities on the Shinkansen.

thanks @Takoneko exactky what I meant 🫣

We popped into Himeji (castle) en route from Tokyo to Hiroshima and can recommend it. As usual there were lots of different sized lockers in the train station, so we just dumped the bags for the day and wandered up the road to the castle.

@Brycare watching with interest for replies to your post. I've been following this thread for a while now as we plan October this year for 2 weeks with similar aged kids. We had a travel agent quote with too many hotel changes so we're thinking similarly to you. Definitely starting in Tokyo, ending in Osaka/Kyoto due to flights. Debating either takayama or Kanazawa but just researching then think I'll post our plan here for any pointers / things we may have got wrong!

@Takoneko thanks so much for the stamps mention and all other info you've shared in this thread. I'd not heard of the stamps before and our kids would love this. And me!

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jan/03/japan-urges-australians-to-head-off-the-beaten-track-as-record-numbers-flood-tourist-hotspots

New article in the guardian. The Japanese tourism board are doing a big push to try to get people to try other destinations.

@Plan2025 One thing that might be worth considering when choosing between Takayama and Kanazawa is that Kanazawa is in Ishikawa prefecture, which was very badly affected by an earthquake this time last year. Kanazawa was not badly affected but the cost to the local economy was huge. Your £££ there would be supporting a region that needs it.

We plan to visit the area in 2026.

Thanks very much for the replies.
one other quick question… I realise Japan is not going to be a relaxing holiday - it will be all go (and I’m good with that).
Was just wondering though - if we wanted to spend 2-3 days just chilling out and relaxing with no sightseeing per se where would be a good place to do so?
Somewhere within easy reach of Tokyo or Kyoto (or even a nice resort within either city itself)?
Am just thinking of this for the kids benefit as a recharge the batteries type thing.
I can add another 2 nights to the holiday no problem if needs be.
Thanks again for all advice.
It is much appreciated.
Japan has never been on my radar as it seemed so expensive but that seems to have changed in the last ten years between the exchange rate and lack of inflation compared to elsewhere in the world.
America seems extortionate in comprising these days.

@Brycare Okinawa looks amazing for chilling.

Supposedly you can fly for basically nothing (like 30 quid) from Osaka in 2 hours to Okinawa.Has anyone done that?

Yes Okinawa looks beautiful, we considered it for July but by the time we factored in tile at airport etc it ate up too much of our holiday for a few days. We’d love to go back and do Kyushu and Okinawa at some point. Flights I saw were more than £30 though!
@brycare how about adding a couple of days at Miyajima? There is also Kamakura near Tokyo or look here www.timeout.com/tokyo/things-to-do/four-best-beaches-near-tokyo

@Brycare We’re thinking about having a couple of days in Shirahama in Wakayama prefecture on our 2026 trip. It could be the sort of place you’re after. It has a beach and it’s an onsen town.

@Waffles21 I'm looking at a flight company called Peach, which seems to be the Japanese equivalent of Easyjet/Ryanair and offers local flights at a cheaper point than train tickets. I just booked Osaka-Okinawa and Okinawa - Tokyo at £30/£32 each.

I'm booked to fly direct to Tokyo on BA, staying the night before at Sofitel Terminal5 Heathrow, then 2 nights in a traditional ryokan with onsen in Asakusa, then 2 nights at a Disney park hotel resort, then train to Osaka via Kyoto for day of sightseeing, 2 nights at Universal (the main aim of the trip), 1 night in central Osaka, then flight from Osaka to Okinawa, hotel shuttle transfer to beach resort, stay 3 nights, then flight back to Tokyo for 3 nights in Shinjuku and Tokyo airport hotel for final night. This is obviously an itinerary aimed at my 9 year old. All in for the 2 of us it's just slightly over 4k for flights, 15 nights in hotels, local flights and train and entrance to the parks. The entrance to Universal with the fast passes to Nintendo World is the biggest expense, at 700 pounds. Without the park tickets for Disney and Universal, we'd be looking at just over 3k for flights and accommodation for 2 weeks, with all accommodation in the 4 to 5 star bracket with every hotel having a pool/onsen/spa to end the day in. So I'm impressed by the current value Japan offers. We wouldn't be able to do the Orlando parks with a trip to the Florida Keys and with staying at the more luxurious park hotels for that kind of money. With a 9 year old I don't expect my food bill to be enormous either, as he will want to eat mostly at 'Makudonarudo' and the hotel breakfast buffets all look as if they can feed you enough calories for a year. We are going end of May during half term.

@NellyBarney This looks like an incredible itinerary! Would you mind sharing the hotels you're staying in?

@NellyBarney That sounds like an amazing trip for a 9 year old. He will remember that forever.

I agree with you about value for money in Japan. They don’t price gouge at the theme parks either. Snacks, drinks and meals at the theme parks are reasonable and often really brilliantly themed.

Has anyone done a day trip from Kyoto to Lake Biwa by public transport? I'm going on my 4th trip to Japan in about 6 weeks, and although this time I'm going to be mainly focused on Shikoku I also have a couple of days in Kyoto. It will be my 3rd time there and I'm trying to come up with some off the beaten path ideas to avoid the crowds.

Wow @NellyBarney that sounds amazing! I’m very jealous of the Okinawa trip! As pp said the park is really reasonable when you’re there so hopefully that will slightly compensate for price of tickets! It’s an amazing place. What a brilliant holiday for your 9 year old!!
@Solotravelleragain we are doing a trip to Lake Biwa in July, doing an e-bike tour and cooking in a local farmhouse, it looks gorgeous! Also looking at Uji from Kyoto.

I booked: Prostyle Ryokan Asakusa, Grand Nikko Tokyo Bay Maihama, The Singulary Hotel&Skispa at Universal, Candeo Hotels The Tower Osaka, ANA InterContinental Manza Beach Okinawa, The Knot Tokyo Shinjuku, Villa Fontain Grand Haneda Airport.

I could have saved a bit more by using different booking sites but I did it all via Booking.com, so it's all chronologically listed in the same app and I can't forget where to go next!

@NellyBarney Thank you so much for taking the time to reply and share - it's a bit overwhelming looking at hotel options so it's great to have this list as inspiration!

The exchange rate is so good right now and Japan is very reasonable generally on ticket prices. Case in point, I'm going to Ueno zoo on my trip (8 days to go now!). Adult entrance, approx £3.50. A ticket for London zoo is around £25. At Ueno zoo kids under 12 go free, teens around £1 per ticket. I live quite close to London zoo but never go as it feels like such a rip off.

I've booked a couple of things in advance. Immersive Fort was the most expensive at £35, but they have an Alice in Borderland experience that sounds like a lot of fun. You wear a shock collar and get a real electric shock if you lose a game 😂 An evening ticket to Disney Sea (5pm -9pm) was £15. A day ticket to Hello kitty Land, £15.

I think i mentioned upthread, that I've done numerous cities around Japan so this trip is just Tokyo and a handful of days trips. As I'm only there for just over 2 weeks. Even then I'm having to cram massively to fit in all I want to do.

There's a Ninja/Samurai museum near my hotel, where you can do 2hr Ninja training! So I'll probably do that at some point, as it sounds fun.

Having done the research I've decided to skip Borderless. I've been to a couple of immersive art experiences in London these past couple of years and I feel like it's quite similar. Have also heard it can be a bit crowded/frustrating with everyone going for Instagram shots.

I'm also a big squid game fan and there's a couple of things going on while I'm there. An exhibit/experience thing in Ginza and a pop up shop which looks to have some cool merchandise in Harajuku so I'll be checking those out.

For me personally, while I love Japan as a whole, my heart lies in Tokyo. I don't think I will ever tire of it.

For those interested in internal flights, we flew from Osaka (KIX) to New Chitose in Hokkaido and it was a breeze. We had hold luggage so we had to get there earlier for that but check in was quick, security was empty (and they scanned our water bottles that we had fogotten were in our hand luggage, with a device and a smile), the departure area was quiet and calm. We had to get to the gate just 15 mins before departure. It was a full JAL flight and I have never been on a flight so civilised and calm, bags were away and everyone seated within 10 mins and we pushed back on time. My point being in my experience it really is not a hassle to fly internally.

@DancingLions We were also struck by just how cheap Ueno zoo was. I’m fairly certain that the ¥600 ticket price hasn’t changed since we first went in 2008. A standard weekend ticket for London zoo is over £30 quid now, more than 10 times the price of Ueno. If you’re taking a family those savings really add up.

We’re taking an internal JAL flight connecting to our international flight on our way back home. Glad to hear you had a good experience.

@nellybarry what hotel are you staying in in Okinawa do you mind me asking?

@Sockmate123

She listed her hotels a bit uptread. The Okinawa one was “InterContinental Manza Beach Okinawa”.

I am still planning my trip, I had a couple of qs (29 March - 12 April)
We have 4 nights in Tokyo at the beginning (no advice needed there as we have hotel and dd and her bf are living there so are organising us!)
Then we are going to see a friend for a night on the Izu peninsula, then we were going to go to Kyoto, but friends who go to Japan a lot said it will be hell on a stick there at the beginning of April as it's such a busy time, so we thought we might stay in Osaka instead and get the train in to Kyoto for the day and do an ebike tour.

Then to Hiroshima and we were going to go to an Onsen by Miyajima island for a couple of nights, but I have been rather put off by tales of starving deer 😢

Then back to Tokyo

so my Qs are

• Should we stay in Osaka or will Kyoto be ok?
• Is there somewhere really lovely in the country/on the sea which is beautiful and not too busy instead of Miyajima (could be near Osaka/Kyoto or Hiroshima

We will have a Japanese speaker with us so can be off the beaten track