Does anyone know any weekend trip/locations with travel costs starting from 5,000 JPY but not more than 15,000?
That criteria is to eliminate Hakone, Kamakura, Nikko and Enoshima. I tried googling weekend trips but every site seems to be just recommending day trips to such locations but I want to branch out and get further from Tokyo.
I don’t mind sitting on a train for a few hours if need be but I do plan to stay the night at wherever it is I decide. Anything involving forests and mountains is a bonus.
25 comments
Below ¥5000 one way or roundtrip?
I don’t remember how much it cost because I went there 4-5 years ago but I really enjoyed Hachijojima.
Also Yamanashi is nice to visit too.
Karuizawa is only an hour from Ueno by Shinkansen.
Matsumoto can be reached from Tokyo in a couple of hours on the Azusa Express, and has a lot of history, museums, and fun things to do. I’d reccomend staying a night but a day trip wouldn’t be impossible.
Fujikawaguchiko
Okutama
Chibafornia
I went to Choshi, Chiba and saw a cool white lighthouse (Inubōsaki Lighthouse), a very long series of cliffs (Byōbugaura) and an observatory that gives you a nice view of that entire area (Horizon Observatory):
https://imgur.com/a/h9WvRTd
https://imgur.com/a/TdRt0sF
https://imgur.com/a/t32NnzG
It was about a 2.5 hour train ride from Shinjuku and was a very laid back visit.
Maybe out to Izu/Shimoda area in Shizuoka.
Niijima
Do you have a driving license? Most places involving “forests and mountains” require a car to make worthwhile. A day car rental is within your price range (7000 yen-ish a day).
But if you like hiking, Oyama in Kanagawa has decent enough public transport links.
Up to 15,000 just for travel costs or does it also include hotels etc?
Nikko, you may want to rent a car tho because the best stuff is hidden.
My day trip suggestions:
– Hitachi Kaihin Koen, Ibaraki
-Jigoku Nozoki, Chiba
– Utsunomiya and Nasu Kogen for a weekend, Tochigi
– Shosenkyo gorge at Kofu, Yamanashi
– Skiing at Echigo Yuzawa, Niigata
– Cycling the rinrin road at Tsuchiura, Ibaraki
Some of these trips would be cheap on their own.
However for those requiring shinkansen or limited express ones, I recommend buying the Tokyo Wide Pass. Assuming you hold a foreign passport, all your trips in and around Kanto will never cost move than the 10180 JPY for the pass.
3 days of unlimited use of JR trains in the huge zone around Tokyo. (Also available for foreign residents).
Kusatsu or Shimoda.
One of the Tokyo islands? Ooshima is cheap to go to, and beautiful. You need to rent a car or electric bicycle to get around though.
Maybe not the usual trip but this weekend I went from Tokyo to Sado Island in Niigata and had a blast!!! I took a night bus to Niigata on friday night (cheaper option, if you get a train you can do it much faster), and the Sado Ferry in the morning, spent around 30 hours on the island, and came back to Niigata on the evening, getting another night bus to Tokyo. Transport (Bus, ferry, local buses) + Stay was around 14.000 JPY. They currently have a promotion where you get a pass that grants you access to pretty much any activity you’d want in the island just by buying the ferry tickets + a small (500 JPY) fee. I went to Aikawa, the Gold Mine, Shukunegi, Ogi, the Toki Forest park, and a couple local museums, it was great! Can’t recommend it enough!
Southern Chiba has some great coastlines and cheap Air Bnbs.
The Yatsugadake area in Yamanashi is quite nice, doable on the Chuo Main Line stopping trains via Takao if you want to save on the express fare.
Kofu and Shosenkyo Gorge. If you’re into mountains and nature you will love it.
I went to a place called 鵜原理想郷 (Ubara Utopia, South-Eastern Chiba) earlier this year and it was really nice. The area around Katsuura seems to have a lot of nice coastlines.
Minakami in gunma has rafting and canyoning if you’re into that. It’ll put the price up a bit though.
Jogashima is nice 🙂
https://maps.app.goo.gl/fWyVQX1bJ7nftnZU6
You could look into Matsumoto in Nagano Prefecture. The lovely Kamikochi National Park is accessible from there by train/bus. (Actually it looks like there is also a direct bus from Tokyo.)
https://www.kamikochi.org/plan/access#transport
Kamikochi
Senjojiki cirque
Yatsugatake region, can consider staying at one of the mountain huts.
A drive along venus line and short easy hikes around Utsushigahara and Kirigamine
Camping – Fumottopara, Motosuko (Yamanashi)
Kusatsu! If you like onsens
Skip a trip then head on the shinkansen down to kansai for a weekend. I love nabbing a 2k a night hostel with bunk beds and walking the town and shrines in Nara. Nightlife in Osaka is… interesting most days. Spend a day and a night, sleep it off until 11 am and hop on the train home.
It’d be 32,000 or so, but overall a nice weekend.