Hey folks! Would love some feedback on our travel plan, this trip wont be very adventurous as we’re not going for that long. It’s my third time going, but my fiancees first time, and we’ll be going for our honeymoon. Some days don’t have anything set because we have a bunch of things down but, I’d love some input on the JR Pass too.
1. So With the travel we have listed, I HAVE checked multiple JRpass calculators and they currently say we save about $30-ish if we get the pass, but it’s close. Still unsure whether we’ll be getting one.
2. A BIG thing that will determine about the JR pass is the travel from Haneda to Universal. Two options being A. Bullet Train or B. Fly. Current plan below goes with A.
3. We’d be flying with Japan Airlines, I’ve heard great things about their Economy Class? Especialy as Premium Economy is double the price ($1.5k > $3k). Any comments on their Economy class would be a nice input too!
The travel dates that are listed are heavily subject to change, it was just to make things easier to plan. Obviously with the virus we HIGHLY doubt we’ll be travelling on the dates selected, our current plan is to check in August for the selected dates, if not, check in october for December, if not, check in December for Feb/ etc.
***Travel Dates:***
**10th – Head to the airport and fly out to Haneda Airport**
**11th – HANEDA TO UNIVERSAL STUDIOS.**
Arrive in Japan. According to the flight we checked, we will arrive in Japan at around 3-4am. From there we will take the airport line to Shinigawa Station > Bullet Train to Shin-Osaka > Osaka Station > Universal- City Station.
This would get us to Universal City around 10am at the latest. From there we would leave our luggage in the hotel until we can check in, and head over to Osaka Aquarium to force us to stay awake to avoid that horrible Jetlag. After that we’ll just grab some food and head to the hotel for the night and get an early. Night.
**12th – KYOTO**
We will travel from Universal City to Kyoto, less than an hour travel. From there we’ll go to Arashiyama Bamboo forest, walk around for an hour or two, and then head to the train to go to Fushimi Inari Shrine. We WONT be going all the way to the top, as much as it would be cool, it’s just not something we’re too big on doing, we’ll be going about halfway/ quarter way. After that we’ll go down the Fushimi Shrine markets and get some evening food at the Gion market street. By that time I imagine it’ll get late so we’ll head back to Osaka Universal City.
**13th – UNIVERSAL STUDIOS**
Not really much needed on this, just going Universal Studios.
**14th – UNIVERSAL STUDIOS**
Again, Day 2 of Universal. This one is subject to the Nintendo world being open though. We think with the fastpass we could get everything we want to ride done in a day, but if Nintendo world is open we’d want to relax.
**15th – OSAKA > TOKYO**
\*\*This date can also be the 14th, depending on if we did one or two days in Universal. This travel plan would be the return from the 11th. From there we would check into our hotel in Tokyo and then wander around the area and relax
**16th – TOKYO DISNEY**
This date is subject to change with all the dates below, this is just because on this specific month, this date falls on a Friday so we avoid the weekend.
**17TH – 21ST TOKYO**
Basically just going around Tokyo doing stuff we want to do. Shinjuku, Skytree, Shibuya, Sunshine City, Palette Town, Arcades, Shrines, Shopping. Basically just relaxing/ stuff we can do in and around Tokyo as its my partners first time.
**22nd HANEDA AIRPORT – BACK TO NYC.**
**Other Information**
\- If we only do one day of Universal, we’d do two days at Disney and do both parks. Again it just depends on if Nintendo World is open by the time we get to go (Whether that be Oct, Dec, Feb, etc.)
\- We’d have 5 full days and 1 day for when we get back from Osaka. So about 5 and a half days in Tokyo. We have a list of things we’d want to do (examples are above) We’re sure that could definitely fill out 5 days.
\- Anything else we wanted to do we feel is far too far away. Like the Zao Fox Village. We just dont want to be travelling the whole trip, hence why we put down 5 days in Tokyo, so we’re enjoying the area without being stuck on a train, and gives us opportunity to have a really slow and lazy day if we need it. As the Fox Village for example would take away 2 days for travelling, and would mean we go into yet another hotel.
\- Again, travel dates are heavily subject to change as we just wanted an IDEA down. We highly doubt October will be possible. Especially has we also saw that Disney Florida cancelled their halloween event. Which was one thing we really wanted to do in Japan, granted I havent seen anything about cancelling any other countries but it’s still disappointing.
\- If we went in December it would probably fall to Early december to avoid the late/ christmas traffic. If we went in Jan it would be the later month, to again avoid traffic. Feb ive heard is quiet anytime so we dont mind any date.
\- We’re not bothered about having a day in Osaka. My first trip was just Osaka and it was great! But we’d rather just see Tokyo.
Anyway! I think that’s everything, any feedback or advice would be greatly appreciated. The other two times I went was with someone who lived in Japan so it wasn’t much on me to head the operations, but now im the one planning so I want to make sure im taking everything into account.
Edit: I thought of another question, can suica cards be used for travel in Tokyo and Osaka/ Kyoto or will I need to get the Osaka variant?
6 comments
Haneda to Osaka: if you arrive before 6am: flying will be faster and more convenient. You can exchange your JR Pass voucher after 6:45am at Terminal 3 (International Terminal) or you need to go to Terminal 2 (where travel centre opens at 6am). This means that the first train you realistically can catch is 7:10 train from Shinagawa (which comes with additional coveat that you will need Keikyu line, not covered by JR Pass to get there in time), if you switch terminals (you need to buy tickets for train/shuttles), or 7:40, if you don’t, which puts you around 11am in Universal City with three transfers (at Shinagawa to shinkansen, at Shin-Osaka to a local JR train heading to Osaka, and at Osaka to another local JR train).
> head over to Osaka Aquarium to force us to stay awake to avoid that horrible Jetlag
I don’t think Kaiyukan is necessarily the best place to force yourself to stay awake with its dim, artificial lighting.
> We will travel from Universal City to Kyoto, less than an hour travel.
It takes over an hour to get from Universal City to Kyoto, unless you are using shinkansen. Note that most convenient route from Universal City to Arashiyama is via switching to Hankyu at Osaka/Umeda station (and that it is minimum of three tranfers in the morning).
> Zao Fox Village
Zao Fox Village is a day trip from Tokyo (about 2½ hours each way, but you need to take a cab from Shiroishi Zao station). I do not recommend visiting it, unless you support animal cruelty (most of the foxes are kept in small cages and in fairly bad conditions).
I flew JAL Economy as there was awesome deals from my home city to Japan, bought tickets trough AA as I have to fly to a city in the US that is connected to Japan with AA or JAL anyways. Have nothing to complain about, but actually I would have nothing to complain about AA or Delta when I used them either. I paid 725$ Canadian to fly on JAL, from where I am, I would consider that 1500$ is a bad price. Also surprised there is options to get that early in the morning in Japan, I usually got to Japan in afternoon, also from the East coast.
For JR Pass, considering your trips, there is actually no to little savings to be done. You will also run into the inconvenience of having to use JR to make it worth, when it’s actually not always the best option, for example, returning to Osaka from Gion is a simple ride on the Keihan line up to Osaka, while JR would require to take a bus to go back to Kyoto station. I would also absolutely check to have a multi-city (open jaw) ticket to go in Osaka and out of Tokyo, as long as the difference with a round trip ticket is lower than one shinkansen ride, is make sense financially.
Arashiyama, Fushimi-inari and Gion are in quite different part of the city, Gion and Fushmi-Inari are relatively close to each other, but you’ll have to count almost an hour between Arashiyama and fushimi inari. If your only interest in Arashiyama is the bamboo forest, I would do some research on the bamboo groove around Fushimi inari instead.
It’s easy to fill 5 days in Tokyo, don’t worry about that, worst case, add some options if you run out of places to visit. There is always several easy day trips options around Tokyo.
I’ve heard that the fox village was disappointing for the amount of time it require to reach, so probably better to stay in Tokyo for these two days.
I don’t think there is much extra traffic for Christmas. In general, people do not really celebrate it or if they do, it’s more with friends and family, while on the other hand, new year is a big thing and people go back to visit their family, so probably quite the opposite of what a north american would do.
February is still a bit cold, but as a bonus you have chance to see plum blossom!
1. One day for Kyoto is a joke. I generally recommend 3 full days just for the highlights. It’s a city that benefits immensely from having time to do things at a relaxed pace and extra time to explore–if you rush through it, you might as well not even bother. I generally recommend most or all of a full day for Arashiyama and at least 2 full days for the highlights of Higashiyama and downtown.
2. On a trip of this length if you’re set on going to Kansai, I would JUST do Kansai and cut Tokyo altogether. There are massive, amazing things you’re skipping entirely within a very short distance….Nara, Himeji, basically all of Kyoto, and most of Osaka. I generally recommend around a full week just for the highlights of Kansai, and that doesn’t generally include USJ. Which leads me to my next point…
3. A huge portion of your trip is spent at American theme parks and even without them you would be rushing everything by trying to cram both Kanto and Kansai into one trip. I would, at the very most, do one day of theme parks. You absolutely do not need 2 days at USJ. Every day you spend at American theme parks is a day not spent seeing the country you’re traveling half-way around the world to see.
4. Do not stay in Universal City. Stay somewhere more centrally located with access to more locations and nightlife. If you’re really set on doing everything from one hotel and you’re doing USJ, Umeda would probably be the most convenient, although I think Namba is more interesting and I generally recommend staying in Kyoto (e.g. around Gion-Shijo/Kawaramachi) during your time there.
5. A JR Pass is completely unnecessary for this itinerary. If you get one, you might end up having to make some really weird transit choices in order to make it pay off (e.g., taking JR to Arashiyama instead of just taking the direct Hankyu Line).
6. How are you determining these dates? Like, are you necessarily going from the 10th to the 22nd of a given month? Have you considered seasonal events? Late-December/early-January, for example, can be very busy with domestic travel, but it’s also really festive and has a lot of traditional events that can make a trip more interesting. Going earlier in December (like the first 10 days) would mean places like Kyoto will still have excellent fall foliage in many areas..
7. You say you don’t want to be traveling the whole trip–all the more reason to stick to one region.
Are you able to fly directly into Osaka instead of Tokyo? Then you’re only up for the cost of a one way Shinkansen trip instead of a return trip. I’ve been doing this for my last couple of trips there and it’s a huge stress saver too.
With Covid19, I rather not go to theme parks but out towards nature or a less touristy areas. That’s just me.
Universal Studios is overrated for two days while it is a waste to see a Kyoto for one day.
If you both have been to Kansai before, why not concentrate on the Kanto region? Nikko in Tochigi. Sawara merchant town in Chiba. Mount Tsukuba. Temples in Kamakura. Odawara castle in Kanagawa. Onsen in Hakone with Mount Fuji in full view. (And yucks – Tokyo Disneyland in Tokyo – Last place I would think of as a romantic honeymoon spot along with Universal)
Skip Haneda. Fly into Kansai. It will not be enjoyable traveling a couple more hours after an exhausting flight.
Kyoto is not the easiest place to get around. And Arashiyama for the bamboo forest? On your first trip? No. You can see bamboo at Fushimi, and they are on opposite sides of the city. I think if it were my first trip, I’d want to see the Golden Pavilion ahead or Arashiyama.
Make your trip romantic and spend more time in Kyoto. The souvenir shops are great. By the way, there are some excellent youth hostels to check out if you want to save some money.
USJ is your own choice. I wouldn’t do two days there, but you and your fiancée might want to. That’s cool.
Disney is the same, but I could see spending two days there because they have the two resorts.
You’re plan for Tokyo looks awful ambitious too.