Hi all,
I'm starting to plan for a holiday in Japan this November. I've never been there so I have zero experience and therefore wanting to get some tips to help me plan the trip better.
To start with, there's a few questions I hope to get an answer to:
For Perth residence, what is the average return flight ticket between Perth/Tokyo in November for both budget AND full serviced airline? What I want to know is, at what prices are they considered 'cheap'.. at the moment I find AirAsia $750pp and JAL $850pp
Where is the best point of arrival and departure? Narita airport or Haneda airport or it doesn't matter? I'm thinking of arriving and departing from either of the Tokyo's airport.. is this a good idea?
I am planning on going 12-26 November. Is this a good time of the month to be travelling? We can't go on October because of work commitment
Places to visit/things to do OR avoid with a 3.5 year old? I'd imagine we'd still be bringing a stroller for the trip
Any tips with accommodation? How much should we budget per night for a decent place to stay (eg. 3.5 stars equivalent perhaps)
Of course there's plenty of information in the internet. And I will be making further research. But some tips and guide here as a start can really help point me to the right direction.
Cheers!
I think Narita and Haneda are both inconvenient in different ways. Narita is 1 hour by fast train outside Tokyo city centre. Haneda is probably 45 min, but you do have to change trains to get into Tokyo. I pick based on airline… JAL economy has more legroom and flies into Narita.
November sounds lovely. It'll be cool, but not cold. If you want snow you can head north or west. There should still be plenty of autumn colour around in from Tokyo south.
I guess it depends on how lively your kid is? Disneyland is always popular. There's a Legoland in Odaiba (in Tokyo on the bay), which I couldn't get into because I was too old. If your child likes walking Japan is stuffed full of beautiful gardens. If they like animals try a cat cafe (or rabbit). There's also lots of aquariums and zoos… if you're heading to Osaka then Osaka Aquarium is quite popular. Most places will have an entrance fee (gardens, zoos, museums) but it's a lot lower than in Australia (typically ¥500).
I've stayed in hotels, one riyokan (traditional inn) and AirBnB… I would recommend AirBnB! Hotels are pretty much the same anywhere, although a western chain will be more expensive than a Japanese one, and it's pretty much luck of the draw if they have English speaking staff. I paid about $350/night for a whole house for 3 adults this December in Kyoto… might sound expensive but it was warm and huge and really convenient and comfortable. You can easily pay $250 or less.
One tip: pick your accommodation near a train station! Ideally on a line with things you want to visit on it, or at least a line that goes direct to the main station (Kyoto, Tokyo etc). Last time I went I had a horrible time getting from where I was staying to Disneyland because I picked a subway line that didn't link well. We had to take a train a bus and a train… took over an hour. This time we stayed on the same line as Disney and it took ~20 min door to door.
Final tip: get a local SIM card at the airport, one of the data-only ones. Google maps knows all about Japan's public transport, and it's so much easier to just pull out your phone and ask google how to get back to your hotel. Even 100mb a day is plenty for browsing looking for lunch spots and catching trains. Free public wifi isn't common in Japan, most "free wifi" is only free if you have a contract with one of their big telcos.