Japan in October

[Sundayagain27]

In the early stages of booking a two week trip to Japan in October with Dh and Two DS 22.
plan is 3 nights Tokyo, 1 hakone 3 Kyoto 2 Hiroshima and 4 Osaka and final night Tokyo,. It’s cheaper to go 3-18 rather and than 9-24th by a hefty chunk but will it be better to go later in October for “autumn” colours, will it make much difference ?
its seems cheaper to go BA than Japan airways too, any thoughts ? 🙏

Later is better if you want to see autumn at its most beautiful. I have been last week in October and first week in November and it was lovely then, especially around Fuji. Your itinerary sounds good. I haven't been on Japan Air but BA is fine. The nicest by far was Emirates.
Whenever you go, I'm sure you'll love Japan. It's a wonderful country to visit.

Japan is so wonderful that a week here or there won't matter. And a quick google suggests that November is the best month for autumn leaves. With climate change, seasonal changes are increasingly hard to predict anyway.

A week probably won't make loads of difference. We got back on 11 Oct last year and didn't see any autumn leaves at all. Route similar to yours. Weather was extremely hot and humid - much hotter than expected. I'd go as late as possible.

@Fingalscave @RogueFemale @Tina46
thank you really helpful
would you mind sharing areas of Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto that you stayed ?
I had been advised by a friend that Agasaka in Tokyo and Gion in Kyoto and dotonburi in Osaka were good options
I was trying to avoid half term as that’s last week of October and I’m not travelling with school aged kids but seems that may be a mistake ?

Tokyo - we stayed in Asakusa and it was fabulous.

Gion / Dotonbori are the central most touristy spots in their respective cities but you could stay in many other areas. We stayed in Gion and it was fine but many other areas would be too. In Osaka we stayed in Abeno which was fine. Public transport and taxis are so easy so any central area will work.

why are you avoiding half term in particular?

We went for two weeks in October, now more than thirty years ago, and there was little autumn colour. But it was the start of typhoon season so we couldn't do much travel for a few days. We stayed with friends in Kobe.

@Tina46 thought flights would be more pricey and areas busy but tbh Japan seems pretty busy as a tourist destination anytime ! Thks for advice particularly re Tokyo ! Did you book everything yourself or go through an agent ? My main concern is understanding transport system ! After a long flight in economy !

We were there cherry blossom season last year (omg has it been a year???). We stayed in Ueno in an airbnb as we're not tourist strip travellers and it was fantastic & local. Locals at the shrine right next to our accommodation showed us how they pray as no other travellers around there! Amazing culture & people.

Stayed in namba in Osaka which was fantastic for access to stroll around Dotonburi or trains but a pain to navigate the station every day.

Kyoto we stayed near the station, on a major bus route & it made getting around simple. It also made food cheaper as being away from the tourist strip meant skipping price gouging at restaurants.

I suggest going to temples or attractions early (attractions open 9-10am). Arishyiama go by 7am. We were there at 8am & it wasn't crowded but walked back around 9am to visit the temple and eek.....

Definitely visit the Umeda sky building in Osaka, and if you want something different there's a museum of old farmhouses on the outskirts of Tokyo. We went from the cat temple to there. It's quite a hike, though. But incredible and much quieter & the volunteers invited us to sit with them in one of the old farmhouses with the fire lit. Amazing.

Himeji is also amazing.

Japan is very busy in the main cities / tourist sites - I don't think UK half term will make any real difference to that. Hakone and surrounded is fabulous! The outdoor art museum is wonderful.

We went to Japan in mid October a few years ago. In terms of "autumn colours" it was fine, but that was not the purpose of our trip. We were tying it into F1 dates! We stayed in Tokyo for 1 week and did a lot of day trips to places 100s of miles away but only took around 90 minutes on the bullet train. We went to Fuji, Nikko, Hakone etc from Tokyo. We stayed around Shinjuku in an apart hotel as it was the best location for travel. We also went to Kyoto for 3 nights - Osaka is around 20 minutes on the train (you don't need to overnight there too) and we ate there every night as it was cheaper/better than in Kyoto. We also went to Nara from here very easily.

Do A LOT of research into the trains (the JR Pass is a bargain!) as you do not need to move locations as much as in other countries due to how quick you can get around. Also, in Japan "posting" suitcases/bags is a thing instead of taking them on the train you. You can meet your bags at your hotel, and you can also get a larger bag sent two stops ahead (for example) on a specified day if you only need a small bag for a night or two. It is very inexpensive. I believe we travelled with Qatar but tbh I would travel with any airline that had the best price/flight times/frequent flier memberships etc. I have done a lot of 11-13 hour flights (as do my parents in their 70s) and they are more than doable.

Definitely don't need an agent.
Google maps works brilliantly for public transport.

Thing is now with world the way it is those with agents are getting more help travelling back ! Trailfinders have always been good for me for multi stop holidays feeling more swayed than ever this time !

Even if you book with an agent, they arent going to help you understand transport or offer support after a long haul flight in economy (which you said are your main concerns) and if you fly direct with BA or Japan Airlines (or use an Asian carrier like Singapore/Thai) then you wouldnt even be flying over (let alone transitting) the areas that I assume is your main concern right now? It isn't as though you are considering booking a holiday to the Gulf departing in the next week.

Use Trailfinders itineraries if you want but particularly with somewhere like Japan, it is very easy to plan it all yourself. If you really want the "security" of a package then book flights plus your first hotel (as an example) through BA then you will get the ATOL protection. Or just pay for everything on a credit card (assuming you have the funds to pay it off when you get the bill) and you will also be fine.

@Sundayagain27
In Tokyo, we like Shinjuku because everything is nearby and you can get to anywhere from Shinjuku station. If you do decide on Shinjuku, avoid the Kabukicho area as it's so noisy. A nice hotel is the Keio Plaza.
Shibuya, Ginza and Asakusa are also good places to stay.
Dotonburi in Osaka is a great place to stay. I'm sorry but it's a while since I was in Kyoto and I can't remember where we stayed.
I don't think it would make much difference if you are there in school holiday time, unless flights are more expensive of course.
If you like Kitkats you will be in your element- they have a fantastic range of flavours! We always brings lots home!

I went end Oct beg Nov and it was glorious . Nice sunshine but not so hot you couldn’t move and perfect for sightseeing.

The @Fingalscave love a Kit Kat !!

The weather is likely to be better a bit later in the month, but I think you’d still be a bit early for autumn colours based on the last couple of years.

The JR pass will absolutely not save you any money on that itinerary. The individual journeys add up to a little over ¥50,000 and a pass would cost ¥80,000 yen, plus you’d also have to pay a surcharge if you wanted to use the fastest trains.

A JR West Kansai-Hiroshima pass would save you money on the Kyoto-Hiroshima-Osaka section though and the fastest trains are included in that pass. You’d just need to buy tickets for the other journeys.

When things go wrong, the conventional wisdom is generally that it’s better to be booked directly with an airline so that you aren’t having to go through a middle man to get things rebooked and can deal directly with the airline staff.

I lived in Tokyo for a year from April 1985, then visited twice again after that in my late twenties. I can only say that Japan is the most wonderful country I've visited, the culture is sublime, it's just extraordinary. And if you like sushi, you have a very big treat in store.

We (2x adults and 2 x teens) went 8-25 October last year - it was much hotter than we had thought it would be - no need for a jacket at all, just umbrellas (from Family Mart) and hoodies (from Gu).

We did 6 nights Tokyo, 3 nights Hiroshima, 5 nights Osaka and last night in Tokyo.

We arrived at Narita after a long flight and were a bit bewildered by the ways to get into town. Someone offered to help us - but it turned out that that person was a taxi driver (we were very tired and a bit stressed by it all) - so we ended up getting a (maybe dodgy) taxi from narita to our Tokyo apartment - but we were driven straight to the door and we didn’t need to humpff luggage about Tokyo, so I think it worked out OK (it was about £100 for the 4 of us).

We stayed between Ueno and asakusa in Tokyo - it was quiet, felt really safe and walkable to tube/train stations or a 10 min walk to Ueno station (which seemed huge when we went to get the girls Suica cards (no iPhones) but you quickly get used to it!).

i can’t remember the area we stayed in in Hiroshima but it was a Nest Hotel close to a tram line. It was handy but a bit out the way, so quite quiet - but the rooms came with hotel pyjamas that the children liked.

We stayed in the OMO 7 hotel in Osaka - it was a bit out the way too - but right next to the train/tube. The hotel had lovely gardens - even in the rain. There was a shopping mall about 10 mins walk away - had all the usual shops but not as busy as the centre of Tokyo. We did day trips to Kyoto and Nara from Osaka rather than stay in Kyoto just to reduce moving all our stuff (though we didn’t get to Kobe unfortunately).

We spent our last night at a hotel at the airport (narita) which was fine (had a pool!) but in hindsight I wish we had just flown home from Osaka rather than traipsing back to Tokyo for a night to catch a flight home (we flew over Osaka on the way back home).

We only used the Shinkansen once - between Hiroshima and Osaka - mostly due to cost tbh. Internal flights are very efficient and cheaper than Shinkansen tickets but on balance - Shinkansen is probably quicker and less fussy but the differences in prices for us meant the teens could spend even more money on skincare and anime models….

You will have a great time regardless of the weather - don’t over plan - it’s a holiday!

We stayed here in Osaka:
https://en.hoteltheflag.jp/
excellent location for restaurants, shopping and transport.

Like @Fingalscave, I've also stayed at the Keio Plaza in Shinjuku. It’s a big hotel, perfectly fine, in a very convenient central area. You're extremely handy for Shinjuku station (which is massive - you soon come to grasp the layout, though) and the many shops and dining options round and about. Japanese train stations are more like small towns unto themselves tbh. But it’s a very, very busy (and buzzy) part of town.

I've also stayed in the Shimbashi/Shiodome area of Tokyo which is perhaps marginally less hectic. Asakusa we found a rather refined area and on checking I’ve just discovered that the huge and rather expensive multi-storey hotel we stayed in was demolished in 2011 🫤