Travel: Japan - General

[mckenzy]

Hi Angelight... Japan is really nice...


1. How old is your child?
2. Japan is nice in Autumn and Spring where the weather is more comfortable to walk around to explore
3. Which part of Japan to visit depends on :
- your experience as travelers (do you usually follow tour or F&E?)
- If Free & Easy (F&E), do you drive?
4. Which countries have you traveled to?

Angelight:

Hi all, I'm planning a family vacation to either Tokyo or Hokkaido. Never been to Japan so not sure if we should go free and easy or packaged tour? Appreciate some advice from those who have been there.

Which is more interesting as a family holiday with a young child? And when is a good time to go? Any advice is most welcome!

[tiffany42]

Angelight:

Hi all, I'm planning a family vacation to either Tokyo or Hokkaido. Never been to Japan so not sure if we should go free and easy or packaged tour? Appreciate some advice from those who have been there.


Which is more interesting as a family holiday with a young child? And when is a good time to go? Any advice is most welcome!

Hi Angellight,

If you are planning to travel with a yound child, it may be more advisable to go on a package tour and also depends on which season u going. especially in winter, getting transport in hokkaido may be a problem but goinf free and easy in tokyo is defintely easier.
I have also wanted to go free and easy to hokkaido and tokyo but in the end booked a package tour to hokkaido and tokyo departing this mid dec for our family of 3 including my boy.

[3Boys]

Angelight:

Hi all, I'm planning a family vacation to either Tokyo or Hokkaido. Never been to Japan so not sure if we should go free and easy or packaged tour? Appreciate some advice from those who have been there.


Which is more interesting as a family holiday with a young child? And when is a good time to go? Any advice is most welcome!

Depends how adventurous you are. F&E in Tokyo/Osaka is definitely do-able, but be prepared for a ton of walking. Me, DW, DS(6 y.o.), DS(4y.o.) did 10 days last year by subway, shinkansen and limited taxi. Was a real hoot! But the kids did suffer initially, much more walking than they were used to.

[Angelight]

Hi Mckenzy,


My child is 3. When is autumn and spring in Japan? We are undecided whether to go to Tokyo or Hokkaido as both seem nice. is it possible to travel to Hokkaido from Tokyo by bullet train?

mckenzy:

Hi Angelight... Japan is really nice...

1. How old is your child?
2. Japan is nice in Autumn and Spring where the weather is more comfortable to walk around to explore
3. Which part of Japan to visit depends on :
- your experience as travelers (do you usually follow tour or F&E?)
- If Free & Easy (F&E), do you drive?
4. Which countries have you traveled to?

Angelight:

Hi all, I'm planning a family vacation to either Tokyo or Hokkaido. Never been to Japan so not sure if we should go free and easy or packaged tour? Appreciate some advice from those who have been there.

Which is more interesting as a family holiday with a young child? And when is a good time to go? Any advice is most welcome!

[mckenzy]

Hi Angelight


Autumn ends somewhere mid to end december. if you're looking for Autumn foliage, mid nov - mid dec will be nice. spring somewhere mid march onwards... if you want to see Sakura then you need to go on a specific week to see the full bloom... if your kids are in school then you can forget it... it usually happens during school term...

but 3 years old can go most places (with stroller)

...first trip to japan take it easy, do F&E... spread out your itinerary to max 2 attractions a day... otherwise you'll be too tired-out.

I've never been to hokkaido... but from my research for a trip there, i've come to the conclusion that there is not much to see in one particular place. So to set 'home base' in one particular location would not maximise your dollar.

Hokkaido is probably best seen area by area... so you need to plan a route.

1 location 1 day... next day move on to next hotel etc... can be quite ex... thats why most people take a tour for Hokkaido

there was a post recently from someone who did the same thing the tour did but they self-drove instead...

http://1place1dream.blogspot.com/


..


we've booked out tix to Osaka for Dec this year... now big headache finding place to stay...

..

[Dinah]

Hi Bekithia,


I sent you a PM to seek your advice on Tokyo free & easy trip.

Hope you can help me.

Thanks,
Dinah

[mckenzy]

From our initial planning for Free and Easy Osaka region, we’ve realised that its a little trickier than Tokyo side…


First off, most of the websites for Ryokans there don’t have any English version/translation… having a little difficulty finding one…

Also, this region seems like got a lot more to see and do… there are places like ports, deer park, gardens, more rustic… even mountain hiking… abit of a dilema now on activities… transportation also a little different… hmm…

[Joy]

We did a free and easy trip to tokyo and osaka.I think its ok, not hard to move around.


However, for this dec hokkaido trip, we are taking a tour package.Reason is being winter and has to move from place to place and I think its quite hassle if I move on with the kids.Moreover, its winter, the day is short and so worried what If I got lost…so, to be on the safe side, we give up going free and easy during the winter.I guess, during summer, its ok to do self drive in hokkaido, esp gps is so accessible.

Cheers

[carebear]

Angelight:

Hi all, I'm planning a family vacation to either Tokyo or Hokkaido. Never been to Japan so not sure if we should go free and easy or packaged tour? Appreciate some advice from those who have been there.


Which is more interesting as a family holiday with a young child? And when is a good time to go? Any advice is most welcome!

Hi you may like to check this out.
http://forums.sgclub.com/singapore/japan_12d_itinerary_91065.html

[chergaby]

Hi all,


We are planning for a family trip to Tokyo/Osaka this Nov. After 2 wks of research on hotel rates & accessibility, finally firm up the accommodations. Here's th eoutline of our itinerary:

Day 1: Arr Tokyo am
Day 2: Tokyo
Day 3: Hakone, stay one night
Day 4: Back to Tokyo
Day 5: DisneySea
Day 6: Disneyland
Day 7: Leave Disneyland for Osaka
Day 8: Day trip to Kyoto or Nara
Day 9: Osaka
Day 10: Leave Osaka @ 6pm

Now filling in the activities, hope to share some tips here.

Can anyone advise where else can we visit around Puroland Sanrio? Reckon that the journey there is quite long, not worth the travelling time just to go to the theme park. DH will be bored Hahaha...