Hello! First time Redditor but obviously long time lurker!
Partner (25F) and I (35M) are travelling to Japan from January 3 – 14 where we land in Tokyo. I’ve narrowed down my hotel choices to Sotesa Fresa Inn Higashi Shinjuku and APA Hotel Nishishinjuku Gochome Eki Tower. Was wondering if any of you have an opinion which of the two is a better area to stay in. On one hand I love the idea of being walking distance from the hustle and bustle of Kabukicho, on the other APA Hotel (shitty policies notwithstanding) is a bit cheaper, a bit more convenient to our itinerary, and has an in-house onsen which is awesome.
It will be my second time in Japan and first for my GF. I’ve planned out a rough itinerary. Interests include food, temples/Japan culture, nature; not so much anime and kawaii stuff. My girlfriend wants to do some shopping:
Day 1 – Land at Narita around 1:30pm (flight time is around 3 hours so no jetlag to worry about). Do some shopping in Shinjuku or Ginza, probably check out Tokyo Tower, and then have dinner near Shinjuku area, probably at Omoide Yokocho or Uogashi Nihon Ichi.
Day 2 – Travel to Nikko using Spacia X, get back to Asakusa Station around 5pm. check out Asakusa at night
Day 3 – Wait in line early for Nakiryu Ramen, explore Shibuya area, and go to Shibuya Sky (hopefully we’re able to book a spot close to sunset).
Day 4 – Tsukiji market and Hamarikyu Gardans. Probably Ginza after? Meiji Shrine then Harajuku? Open to suggestions
Day 5 – Send our bags to our next hotel in Osaka, overnight stay in Hakone Ryokan. Do the Hakone loop
Day 6 – Hakone Open Air Museum in the morning and then take Shinkansen to Osaka. Arrive in Osaka around 5pm, so maybe just Dotonbori for dinner
Day 7 – Universal Studios Japan
Day 8 – Osaka Castle, Shinsaibashi shopping, short trip to Nara
Day 9 – Check out of Osaka hotel, leave bags with hotel or at train station, travel to Kobe in time for lunch to have some Kobe beef, proceed to Himeji Castle, back to Osaka for TeamLabs at the Botanical Garden, travel to Kyoto and check in to our hotel
Day 10 – Kinkakuji then Arashiyama area for the rest of the day.
Day 11 – Kiyomizudera, Starbucks tatami mat, stroll along Gojo dori to Hokanji Pagoda, lunch at Sushitetsu, then Silver Pavillion and Philosopher’s path
Day 12 – Fushimi Inari early in the morning, then back to the hotel and shower, check out and catch our flight out in Kansai airport
Questions:
\- Are many restaurants still closed from January 4 – 7? I read that most are definitely closed from January 1 – 3, but I’ve had friends say that many shops are closed until Jan 7…
\- Is it feasible to do the Osaka-Kobe-Himeji-Osaka-Kyoto trip on Day 9?
\- Am I underestimating the cold/lack of daylight in early January? We’re from a tropical country where 15 degrees C is pretty damn cold. My fear is we won’t be able to do a lot of the outdoor stuff in the itinerary if it gets too cold for us..
Anyway if you’ve made it this far thanks for reading! Really appreciate it! Browsing though trip reports and itinerary checks in this subreddit really helped me plan our trip.
5 comments
Feasible? Yes. Ideal? Maybe not.
Himeji is around 30-40 mins away from Osaka by Shinkansen, with Kyoto being an extra 20-30 mins or so. So you’re looking at 15 mins from Osaka to Kobe, 20 mins from Kobe to Himeji and then 50-60 mins from Himeji to Kyoto via Osaka. By way of comparison, Osaka-Nara will be about 60-70 mins one way and Osaka-Hiroshima 90 mins one way. Speaking simply from a time perspective, it’s very doable.
Looked at another way, I’m not so sure. The main appeal of Kobe is its vibe: it has a unique, cosmopolitan, pseudo-Victorian feel to it that you’re not going to find anywhere else in Japan outside of Nagasaki. Kobe was an afterthought on my first trip: I rushed through it and by the time I started to get a feel for the place it was time to move on. Kitano (the “Victorian Quarter”) is quite a hilly place, it can’t be navigated quickly. To not visit Kitano at all however would be to miss out on what makes Kobe so special.
Himeji likewise is a fantastic daytrip destination with the best castle in Japan, but it’s also more than that. You have the Kokoen gardens next door. You have Hamamoto, my favourite cafe in all of Japan. You have an awesome mountaintop temple that you can visit via cable car (this admittedly mightn’t be doable in early Jan, check beforehand if it interests you just in case.) So you could just go and spend an hour at the castle and leave, OR you can spend a few extra hours in Himeji, do *all* these things and still have a few extra hours left over for shopping, lunch/dinner, etc.
I would ask both you and your girlfriend a simple question: *why* do you want to visit Kobe and Himeji? Are you going more to experience the unique vibe of each place, or to check off destinations on a checklist? You can after all get perfectly good yakiniku in Osaka, among other places: does the extra value you would gain from having Kobe beef *in Kobe* outweigh the value you would gain from taking that 2-3 hours and spending it in Himeji?
Conversely, you may be so pressed for time that not seeing Kobe and Himeji on the same day would mean not seeing one of Kobe or Himeji at all. Both are worthwhile destinations and it would be a shame to miss out on visiting either. Is it *essential* that you do TeamLabs on that day, and if so, would you rather visit it over Kobe and/or Himeji?
These are questions only the two of you can answer.
Just want to say that I stayed in Sotetsu Fresa Inn Higashi Shinjuku and it was soooo close to the station. It is a local train station and not a JR line, but it wasn’t a big deal for me. Very convinient.
Stayed two weeks back at APA Hotel Nishishinjuku Gochome Eki Tower. Rooms were small as expected, but certainly manageable, and the hotel facilities are great (i.e., onsen, large laundry etc), but the morning buffet was a real disaster. The space cannot handle the number of visitors in the hotel. Would recommend you just visit the Lawson’s (100m away) or other breakfast spots.
Toei Oedo line is also right there. Easy access right down to Shinjuku / Shibuya. Just factor in travel time if you hitting the East of the city – 40-55min.
In terms of Kyoto, stay at Hotel Forza – if APA Eki is in your budget, then this is your spot for Kyoto. Its a brand new hotel, fantastic facilities, brilliant breakfast, larger rooms, very professional staff etc.
I’m going to be near when we go finally our first trip to Asia Just booked the tickets a couple hours ago
I stayed at Sotetsu Fresa Inn Higashi-Shinjuku on my recent trip to Tokyo. It was a very convenient location, right next to the station and 3 convenience stores nearby. They also hold on to luggage after toy check out, which was great for me when I had a later flight and wanted to do some last minute exploring.