Japan! - 3 questions

Calfuray

blindman wrote: »

Yes, far better as you do not need the RP until Day 3 which will then last until you leave Tokyo.

As has been said you can get the Bullet train from Kyoto to the Himeji get off-walk around castle then get back on going to Hiroshima
(We did not do this due to building works-Finishing March 2015)

We spent about 4 hrs in Hiroshima-You must NOT miss the museum

The Iconic Bomb Dome sent shivers down my spine

Kyoto + Osaka need 3-4 days TBHO and you can get around on the local buses-metro.
The Japanese are very friendly and helpful.

Don't have my Japan itin (hard disk broke ) but we did something similar to this itin + the Japanese GP at Suzuka, 2 years ago,
Had already done a stop over in Tokyo a few years back so were not bothered this time.

Used Virgin FF miles but IIRC around £500-600 may be a good deal.

Dang it

Thanks for all the information, will need to have a look. Checking for flights just now and will need to price up what makes more sense. How was the GP? My husband loves Formula 1, he'll be jealous.

Thanks for the flight info, think I will finalise plans and dates, then can book flights once we make sure OH gets the holidays

SW17

glitterpuss wrote: »

I'm also currently planning a trip to Japan - possibly during Cherry Blossom season 2015. I've been looking at flights from Heathrow and they do seem pretty low at the moment. Your £500pp from Edinburgh sounds OK. I think the prices won't go much lower, at the moment premium economy is about £100 more than economy. I'm guessing it is worth the extra £400 total for the 2 of us?

Whether it's "worth it" or not is highly subjective, only you can decide. Not sure if you're looking at BA or other airlines, but it's extra legroom, better seat recline, slightly wider seats and a separate cabin. Depending on airline, maybe separate check-in, better food or free champagne. What I could say fairly objectively is that if you are willing to pay extra for this, £200 extra per person return is about as cheap as it's likely to get, and it could go a lot higher. [Edit: the extra APD alone is £85pp return for Premium Econ vs Econ on BA, so at £200 the airline is only charging £115pp themselves]

I'd take it in a heartbeat on a flight that long and for that price, but that's me - for some people, either they can't afford it or the money is better spent on other things.

FWIW, if you are flying in/out of Tokyo, I much prefer Haneda airport to Narita, as it's much nearer to the city centre. BA flies to both, though not every day to Haneda.

lika_86

I recently flew ANA to and from Japan and came back premium economy, definitely upgrade if you can, especially on the way out there if you're going overnight. I suffered most from jet lag going out there (coming back was fine) and the extra sleep and comfort would be a definite advantage.

agrinnall

I had 2 weeks for my trip to Japan, I flew to Narita (with Lufthansa), had the first 5 nights in Tokyo then got the train to Hiroshima where I saw the city and a day trip to Miyajima, ferry to Shikoku where I stayed in Matsuyama and Takamatsu and finally flew back from Osaka.

blindman

Calfuray wrote: »

Dang it

Thanks for all the information, will need to have a look. Checking for flights just now and will need to price up what makes more sense. How was the GP? My husband loves Formula 1, he'll be jealous.

Thanks for the flight info, think I will finalise plans and dates, then can book flights once we make sure OH gets the holidays

GP was super-DIY'd all of it -mostly easy:cool:

I remember now-Flew in from Seoul into Osaka, spent 2 days there, then 4 days in Kyoto.
Used local trains\buses and tickets to get around both.
Picked up JRP after 3 days in Kyoto for day trips to Hiroshima and then finally back to Tokyo
Flew out of Haneda as -has been said- it's closer to the city than Narita
Flew BA Business class on a "sale" fare-£1K IIRC

Calfuray

blindman wrote: »

GP was super-DIY'd all of it -mostly easy:cool:

I remember now-Flew in from Seoul into Osaka, spent 2 days there, then 4 days in Kyoto.
Used local trains\buses and tickets to get around both.
Picked up JRP after 3 days in Kyoto for day trips to Hiroshima and then finally back to Tokyo
Flew out of Haneda as -has been said- it's closer to the city than Narita
Flew BA Business class on a "sale" fare-£1K IIRC

Excellent, thank you! OH has decided he can take 14 days off of work so we have more days to play with!

Thank you everyone for your help

kerri_gt

lika_86 wrote: »

I recently flew ANA to and from Japan and came back premium economy, definitely upgrade if you can, especially on the way out there if you're going overnight. I suffered most from jet lag going out there (coming back was fine) and the extra sleep and comfort would be a definite advantage.

Oddly enough I found it was the other way, fine going, suffered badly coming back. Even a flight coming back once where I got home in the evening (normally got home in the morning and there was no way I was going to mange staying awak all day) thought I'd beaten jet lag going to bed at normal time, then three days later it hit me still. Perhaps i didn't suffer so much going out as I was on business so had to be up and in meetings even if my laptop still said 4am :eek:

Just a thought, not sure how you're thinking of getting to your hotel but we've used the limousine bus service before

https://www.limousinebus.co.jp/en/bus_services/narita/shinjuku.html

We also used Tokyo airporer cars to go direct to Yokohama althogih I can't recall the price off the top of my head (few years ago) - again it was for business so we needed a most direct rather than necessarily the cheapest travel to Yokohama

http://www.tokyoairporter.com

clairus

Have a look for 'Goodwill Guides' (http://www.jnto.go.jp/eng/arrange/travel/guide/list_volunteerGuides.php) in the cities that you are planning to visit - local volunteers who will take tourists on a personalised tour of their city in return for lunch/travel costs. We used them in Kyoto and Osaka and had a wonderful day each time, seeing the cities from a more local point of view.