Travel: Japan - General
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Kevinlu:
I did not get JR pass in the end. U gotta do your calculations how many train trips u plan to do and see which costs less, the pass or pay-per-trip. We did the latter. Troublesome to buy one-way ticket every ride but the machines have English and not long Q so no worries. Also because some stations we went to were not under JR line. There are different train companies and non-JR don’t accept JR pass.
1 question i have.. if im not travelling to osaka, kyoto....
And just go to mt fuji, neighboring town, ski resort.... do i still need to get the JR pass? or no need to at all?
One big tip for you: my DS was very petite for his age so never had to pay for any train ticket. They just allowed him to slip in at the fare gantry before the parent. Anyway <5 or <6 years don’t need ticket I think. Save u some money heehee. -
Just to share a bit of details:
For our 14days trip,
We bought 7days JR pass..& only activated it on the day we travel from tokyo to Osaka..
Stayed in hotel just 4-5min walk to Shin-osaka station,& had day trips to different places as we did not want to waste time on changing hotels..
Because it is SO convenient to travel from Shin-osaka station,with JR pass,eg. 13-14min to reach Kyoto via Shinkansen Hikari with reserved seats(no need to worry about crowd/need to stand through journey..)& this is faster than traveling from Hillview station to Steven station!!
(Confirm with NO breakdowns/delay!! :rotflmao: )
& 30min to Himeji via Shinkansen whereas my cousin who did not buy JR pass & took local trains from Namba took 1.5hr!! & after Himeji,we went KOBE Sanda Premium outlet(going 2 places in a day to maximize JR pass:)...
& yes..because we decided to buy JR pass,so we also travelled to less-ventured areas like Hiroshima+Miyajima(which JR pass can be used for the ferry..)
& just to share: my kids 12 yr+8yr old,enjoyed USJ much more than the 2 disneyland+Sea, coz of the new Harry Porter ride & Minions Ride!
The 4-D effects are really fantastic!!
(uSJ was included last minute,1week before we flew there,as my gal started reading Harry Porter & requested to go USJ,so i last minute had to scramble to think of how to re-schedule itinerary & end up sacrifice 1day of kyoto which might have bored the kids anyway..& NO regrets!!)
Hope the sharing helps:) -
cool_hi:
Hi, could you share your detailed itinerary. I have been to Tokyo and Osaka twice and would like to visit other areas. What you have done sounds good. What are the places worth visiting if based in Osaka. I too disliked hotel changing. Thanks.Just to share a bit of details:
For our 14days trip,
We bought 7days JR pass..& only activated it on the day we travel from tokyo to Osaka..
Stayed in hotel just 4-5min walk to Shin-osaka station,& had day trips to different places as we did not want to waste time on changing hotels..
Because it is SO convenient to travel from Shin-osaka station,with JR pass,eg. 13-14min to reach Kyoto via Shinkansen Hikari with reserved seats(no need to worry about crowd/need to stand through journey..)
& 30min to Himeji via Shinkansen whereas my cousin who did not buy JR pass & took local trains from Namba took 1.5hr!! & after Himeji,we went KOBE Sanda Premium outlet(going 2 places in a day to maximize JR pass:)...
& yes..because we decided to buy JR pass,so we also travelled to less-ventured areas like Hiroshima+Miyajima(which JR pass can be used for the ferry..)
& just to share: my kids 12 yr+8yr old,enjoyed USJ much more than the 2 disneyland+Sea, coz of the new Harry Porter ride & Minions Ride!
The 4-D effects are really fantastic!!
(uSJ was included last minute,1week before we flew there,as my gal started reading Harry Porter & requested to go USJ,so i last minute had to scramble to think of how to re-schedule itinerary & end up sacrifice 1day of kyoto which might have bored the kids anyway..& NO regrets!!)
Hope the sharing helps:) -
MyPillow:
Estemma , how may days u spend in total then ?
Am doing/reading up whenever I have time, thinking yr end on osaka/Nagoya & Hokkaido - usually we include in hokkaido cos of yr end ski trip . i just came back fr tokyo/kawaguchiko/hokkaido -always domestic flight & local train. -this yr was my 2nd tokyo/hokkaido visit (based in tokyo longer this time, my last 2 trips i already spent longer in hokkaido)
So sorry had been extremely busy & also curious why no KSP email alert. Only read your enquiry now.
Family spent 16 days covering Osaka, Kyoto, Kinosakionsen, Tokyo, Nagoya, Hakone & back to Osaka in Oct.
My g'frd family was in Hokkaido last week & the snow was very heavy. Hope it's not overly heavy during your trip. We love Hokkaido. Will do that leh on JR next time like the family we met fr Tokyo.
Hope u hv a good trip. -
Kevinlu:
Think 6 yo may go along with your trips for Japanese food if they've their fill of kiddo fun.Thanks for sharing...
may i ask if there is anything interesting in Osaka for your 6yo DS?
Another option i might take is that if there is nothing too interesting for kids, i will just stay in toyko and explore the neighboring towns.
We covered following whilst in Osaka:-
Kuromon Ichiba Market :love:
Nakanoshima Park :love:
Osaka Science Museum
Tstenkaku Tower :love:
Osaka Castle
HEP Five Ferris Wheel :love:
Umeda Shopping/Umeda Sky Bldg
Hankyu Dept Store
Osaka Aquarium :love:
Santa Maria Day Cruise :love:
Ferris Wheel :love:
Lego land Discovery Center :love:
Osaka Tennoji Zoo :love:
Universal Studio Japan :love:
Tokyo covered :-
Ginza District Shopping
Taukiji Fish Market
Akihabara Digital Street
Tokyo Tower
Roppongi Hills & Tokyo City View
Observation Deck
DisneySea, Chiba :love:
Imperial Palace Plaza
Shinjuku - Mitsukoshi Shopping & entertainment
Nagano Snow Monkeys :love:
Nagoya may be interesting :-
1. SCMaglev & Railway Park :love:
2. Shinkansen Museum :love:
3. Nagoya City Tram & Subway Museum
4. Nagoya City Science Museum
5. Port of Nagoya Aquarium :love:
6. Toyota Innovation museum / Toyota Techno Museum :love:
7. Nagoya Castle
8. Koma (Spinning Tops) Museum :love:
Those in icon your 6/8 yo may appreciate. As you can see, there more variety for 6/8 yo kids in Osaka. But the older kids wld enjoy Nagoya much more, whilst in Tokyo the older kids will explore the gadgets shopping!
I don't recommend onsen with 6/8 yo as they may be uncomfortable with hot spa. For Kyoto, it'll be fun in Summer, Spring or Autumn but it shld be tough to do any rafting or boating (suitable & fun for young kids). We thoroughly enjoyed our rafting & Bamboo Groove with older kids.
Osaka accommodation is generally cheaper than Tokyo city, tho u may still find gems. We bought SQ as tickets during our Oct trip was cheaper than flying into Tokyo then. I cannot comment on other travel period. A frd who tried to travel out mid-Dec cld not get air-tic so hv to fly to LA & find open-jaw tic to Tokyo then back SG. It was fully booked for accommodation so they had to try airbnb.
Hope not too late to give u some ideas. I didn't get KSP alerts at all. -
Kevinlu:
If u're staying within Tokyo, then don't need to get the JR Pass if not traveling out to other major cities such as Osaka, Kyoto. Might be easier to visit Nagoya.
So i guess my plan for now maybe is to stick to toyko, for now....zac's mum:
Nothing interesting in Osaka as far as I know. So save the costly bullet train fare & stay in Tokyo. There’s plenty to occupy u for even 7-10 days in Tokyo, don’t need to rush. With kids, it’s sufficient to do 1-2 activities/places per day max. Otherwise cue the tantrums lol. Best u ask your DW for her input btw! To prevent arguments/unhappiness
Mt Fuji area u can find some day tours by bus which include lunch & hot spring. I didn’t research too much into those because DH is a gourmet snob and always wants to choose the best restaurants for meals
1 question i have.. if im not travelling to osaka, kyoto....
And just go to mt fuji, neighboring town, ski resort.... do i still need to get the JR pass? or no need to at all? -
cool_hi:
Just to share a bit of details:
For our 14days trip,
We bought 7days JR pass..& only activated it on the day we travel from tokyo to Osaka..
Stayed in hotel just 4-5min walk to Shin-osaka station,& had day trips to different places as we did not want to waste time on changing hotels..
Because it is SO convenient to travel from Shin-osaka station,with JR pass,eg. 13-14min to reach Kyoto via Shinkansen Hikari with reserved seats(no need to worry about crowd/need to stand through journey..)& this is faster than traveling from Hillview station to Steven station!!
(Confirm with NO breakdowns/delay!! :rotflmao: )
& 30min to Himeji via Shinkansen whereas my cousin who did not buy JR pass & took local trains from Namba took 1.5hr!! & after Himeji,we went KOBE Sanda Premium outlet(going 2 places in a day to maximize JR pass:)...
& yes..because we decided to buy JR pass,so we also travelled to less-ventured areas like Hiroshima+Miyajima(which JR pass can be used for the ferry..)
& just to share: my kids 12 yr+8yr old,enjoyed USJ much more than the 2 disneyland+Sea, coz of the new Harry Porter ride & Minions Ride!
The 4-D effects are really fantastic!!
(uSJ was included last minute,1week before we flew there,as my gal started reading Harry Porter & requested to go USJ,so i last minute had to scramble to think of how to re-schedule itinerary & end up sacrifice 1day of kyoto which might have bored the kids anyway..& NO regrets!!)
Hope the sharing helps:)
cool_hi,
Your trip very similar to ours except we got the 14-day JR & saved up on expensive hotels in Tokyo & travel so freely out to different cities on super-fast high speed trains.
Our Osaka hotels just above Namba walk. Tokyo is a glittery city. Older kids may enjoy but a lot of high end shopping centres. This is one city that the rooms are so squeezy and we had to book 2 separate rooms & yet too small to spread out our luggages. We planned to stsybonly a day to be closer to Disney do that we maximize time there. -
To see beautiful, scenic autumn foliage in Kyoto or Kyushu at its peak, with awesome yellow and red maple leaves , which is the best month of the year to travel ? Is it mid October, end October or mid November ? Thanks, for advice.
Any good travel agency tour package, to recommend ? -
early to mid-Nov is the best time our autumn tour.
No idea tour agency. We always go DIY travel. IMHO more fun to plan itinerary & routing. -
Dear Experts i need some help on my upcming Tokyo trip. Is my first trip as a family of 3 with my girl turing 3 this march 18.
She wanted to go see Mickey and Minnie so we decided Tokyo as our destination. As is my first time trip, i am abit worried if my itineary works anot. I am scare that it will be too rush. And with the moving of luggage to another hotel will it be too troublesome since we be having two large luggage, 1 cabin size lugggae , a light weight stroller and a 15 kg tollder who might to be carry if she is tired from walking. Hence appreciate if you can provide me some inputs. Thanks.
Day 1 - Arrive in Tokyo near to evening time.
Just roam aroud in Shinjuku, Shibuya and/or Harajuku area for some cheap shopping and street food
Day 2 - Visit Tokyo City Dome (To tired my girl so we can do shopping when she nap)
\t Ginza - Shopping
Day 3 - Rent a car and self drive to Mother Farm + Tokyo German Village if got the time
Day 4 - Rent a car and self drive to Gunma Safari Park (Gunma Prefecture)
*I check google map and it show that the driving is almost 2hrs. Not sure if this is consider super far. Wiorth to just drive there and back again?
Day 5 - Asakusa - Temple and shopping
\t Sensiji
\t Tokyo Skytree (Will try to visit near dusk time)
Day 6 - Free shuttle bus to Disney land
Day 7 - Free shuttle bus to Disney sea
Day 8 - Free shuttle bus to MT Fuji
Lake Kawaguchiko resort area
Thomas Land
*Plan to do one night overstay at Slow Hotel. My plan is to lug the luggage just for one night stay and leave the rest at the hotel conceirge and take the free shuttle bus to MT Fuji then check in Slow HOtel first. Then proceed to the place i wanna go.
Day 9 - Check out from slow hotel and take free shuttle bus back to Tokyo
Day 10 - ????
Day 11 - Fly back from Henada airport
Also i am considering SQ, JAL and ANA. Anyone know which arlines has the most leg room space. When i research it say JAL wor. Not sure if this is true.
I be staying at Keio hotel as they providing free shuttle bus to Disney and MT Fuji so i thought i might save on the transport thou i pay abit higher for the hotel. Is it worth it? :scratchhead: :scratchhead: :thankyou:
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