Honeymoon Advice - October - Japan

Zola.

Hi folks

Myself and the good lady plan to get married next October.

Yesterday we began to casually look into the honeymoon. We both want to see Japan, and take a tour through the country.

We went to Trail Finders, who could offer this:

Leaving from London....3/4 nights in Kuala Lumpur, followed by 9 nights in Japan, on a group tour going through the country and staying at various hotels, a temple for one night etc. All food and travel included

£8700.

I thought that was rather high. I plan to go to STA travel for advice, and will of course look online and also with independent travel companies.

Have any of you honeymooned in Japan and can offer any advice?

Can anyone offer any advice in general?

agrinnall

Whether it's high or not depends to a big extent on the quality of the hotels to be used. If you're looking at high end hotels or exclusive Ryokans then it might be acceptable, although personally not an amount I'd be prepared to pay.

I'd look first and foremost at independent travel, you have nearly a year to arrange things and I'd be amazed if you can't organise something similar (and quite possibly better) in that time for a considerably lower cost.

donglemouse

I spent three weeks in Japan last Sep/Oct and my thoughts are you could certainly do it a lot cheaper than that - albeit it depends as the other poster suggested on what sort of hotels Trailfinders are quoting

I'd second the suggestion you look at putting it together yourself booking your own flights, hotels and rail pass etc.

You can also fly direct to Japan, so if you don't have a specific interest in KL, you might want consider more time in Japan

dm

Zola.

Did you do any organised tours in Japan, donglemouse?

We'd be looking to see the country and stay at different places throughout.

donglemouse

across the three weeks I stayed in:

Tokyo (with day trips to Kamakura, Nikko & Hakone being a lover of sports also went to sumo and baseball in Tokyo whilst we were there)

Nagoya (but only as it coincided with the F1 Grand Prix)

Hiroshima (with day trip to Miyajima)

Kyoto (with day trip to Nara)

Matsumoto (as a base for Japanese Alps and a visit to see Snow Monkeys in Shibu Onsen)

then back to Tokyo

I don't think we actually took any organised tours as it's very easy to get around and the language barrier you might perceive really isn't an issue given a lot of signage for trains etc. is in english as well as japanese and signage is generally good/logical

If you are travelling about look into the Japan Rail Pass as it offers unlimited rail travel - you need to buy it before you arrive in Japan though as it's only for non-residents

One of my favourite countries, absolutely loved it

If I can be any help with thoughts or ideas just let me know

Zola.

Cheers! I may have to take you up on that !

Was there anything you wouldn't recommend doing or seeing whilst you were there?

donglemouse

it depends perhaps on whether you have any particular interests but personally from the stuff I did we particularly enjoyed:

- mooching round Tokyo in particular the crazy neon lights of Shinjuku and Shibuya after dark

- gazing out from high rise buildings at the Tokyo skyline

- browsing weird and wonderful shops

- the people who are the most polite folks you can imagine

- seeing Mount Fuji on a clear day

- going to the baseball, if you have even the slightest interest in sport it's worth going as the crowd are most definitely into it

- Hiroshima for the peace park and associated stuff

- mooching the temples of Kyoto, there's millions so pick some that are particularly interesting to you, I personally liked the Golden Pavillion and Fushimi Inari

- riding the bullet trains

- walking in the Alps (autumn leaf colours and all that)

- seeing snow monkeys in their hot tub

- castles like Himeji and Matusomoto

I didn't really have a bad experience - it's possible some might get templed out after a while if you went to Kyoto, Nikko, Nara etc. but depends on how keen you are on that kind of thing

I'd also add I don't think it's as expensive for things like food as some might perceive

Just remember if you do only end up with 9 days it's not too long so you can't do everything

Zola.

Thanks! That 9 day thing was mainly due to that organised tour, but I would like to stay longer to explore more.

Are hotels pretty expensive ? I guess with the honeymoon we'd have to push the boat out a bit more!

For us if we booked it all ourselves we'd need to do a lot of planning to minimise stress! Cant be starting off marriage on the wrong foot :rotfl:

tocsin

The wife and I were in Tokyo for a few days in June before starting a cruise. Hotels can be expensive, and with space at a premium in the cities the room sizes tend to be smaller than Western standards.

Likewise food can be from station stall (hearty and cheap) to Kaiseki banquet (multi-course works of art with prices to match).

Don't be put off by the number of people wearing face masks - the locals do that to protect others from any coughs and sneezes they are having.

I found a lot of useful info on https://www.Flyertalk.com - particularly the Trip Reports and Asia - Japan forums.

If travelling from the UK/ Europe, make sure you allow at least a first day of nothing planned to adjust for jet-lag.

Hope that helps!

donglemouse

If you use expedia or similar and punch in some random dates that will give you an idea on hotel prices

for reference when I went (and at that time it was about 180 yen to the £) I think the most expensive hotel we stayed in was in the Shinjuku area of Tokyo from memory Century Southern Tower was about £150/night down to the cheaper hotels being about £75/night for a Sheraton mid-week in Hiroshima

tocsin is right the rooms tend to be a bit more compact, but sure you don't go on hols to hang out in the room all day

I seem to remember quite a few hotels don't let you book until 3-6 months before, so if you search for next September now you might only get a limited selection

Exchange rate is now about 130 yen so I assume prices will have gone up accordingly from those I suggested, there's a lot of choice though in the big cities so you will find something at every price range

as tocsin says you can eat from prices on a par with the UK if you are in a convenience store in Tokyo and at food courts which are everywhere, to money is no object high end dining

japan-guide.com was a useful resource alongside the usual suspects like tripadvisor

ustupidwoman

hi - i'm planning to go to japan in a couple of months time - thinking of using RT holidays - their tours are extremely reasonable.... have a look at their site.