11 days in Japan for our honeymoon - please help with our itinerary!

I don't have a great recommendation for a hotel but the closer to Gion Center the better. The Geisha, the cobblestone streets. It is quintessentially Japan. It is also walking distance from the main crafts outlet.

I stayed at the Hyatt Regency nearby. It was a little pricey but reliable.

You might also want to take a look at Koyasan, which is sort of a mountain top spiritual center. I think there are 40 monasteries, most take overnight visitors.

Good luck.
devin

You can just as easily get to Kyoto from KIX as Osaka, and I would recommend you do just that. From KIX, you can take train, limo bus or MK Taxi shuttle.

http://www.kansai-airport.or.jp/en/access/train/index.html
http://www.mk-group.co.jp/english/shuttle/

Once you have a concrete itinerary, you can price out your journeys on www.hyperdia.com to see if a pass would be good value for you. JR Passes are of limited value in Tokyo as JR lines are limited and fares within the city are not expensive anyway.

There are lots of no frills business hotel chains. Foreigner friendly ones include APA, Villa Fontaine, Toyoko Inn, Tokyu.

As far as ryokan go, cheap does not equal authentic. The majority will never have hosted a foreign guest, but you will also not find them anywhere online in English. ¥3000 or ¥6000 per person will get you a futon on tatami, a shared bath and possibly a simple breakfast. Pay 10 or more times that price and you will get a gorgeous futon on pristine tatami in a huge room with a view, a private bath and maybe even a private outdoor bath, a gourmet dinner and breakfast served in your room and incredible service. The two experiences are like night and day. Neither is more authentic than the other, neither is a rip off.

Rethink this and spend a bit. You should base yourself out of Kyoto for the first week.

First, Kyoto is just that much nicer than Osaka and the more time you have there, the more time you can experience and enjoy it instead of just scampering around looking at the sites. Second, it is convenient to local attractions. With a JR pass, it's 15 minutes from Osaka. Third, Himeji is a 1/2 day trip and far easier to reach by Shinkansen. The Shinkansens (even the Kodama) are 2-3 times faster than regional trains and the Kansai pass doesn't even let you take a limited express, other than basically the airport train. You can go to Kobe and Himeji quickly from Kyoto on a shinkansen, faster than from Osaka on a regional train.

Osaka itself is another 1/2 day or, max, full day trip.

From Kyoto you can reach Gifu too, which may be worth a visit depending upon your interests.

And if you want to ride Shinkansen while in the Osaka area portion of your trip, you'd have to buy a separate ticket or a Sanyo pass, which costs 20,000Y minimum -- that's more than the difference between the 7 and 14 day JR passes.

I agree with the opinions above that suggest staying in Kyoto. In fact on this trip I would take Osaka totally out of the picture except to arrive and depart from. Use KimJapan's suggestions on transportation

Check your train schedules on hyperdia as Kim suggests....maybe you could use the Sanyo pass but if staying in Kyoto, you'd have to pay a small supplement from Shin-Osaka to Kyoto

I am a Comfort member and they are nice places to stay in Japan. I will stay at the Comfort Inn in Toyama in out upcoming visit this fall. As Kim says, Toyoko Inn, Tokyu Inns and Hotels, APA, Villa Fontaine, Sunroute Hotels and Inns, etc. are nice inexpensive places to stay. Here are some of their and other sites:

http://www.tokyuhotelsjapan.com/en/index.html

http://www.toyoko-inn.com/eng/

http://www.sunroute.jp/SunrouteTopHLE.html

http://www.kid97.co.jp/~jeh-group/jeh-group.html

http://www.j-hotel.or.jp/en/index.html

A nice site for ryokan stay in JapanI have used many times with great success.

http://www.japaneseguesthouses.com/index.htm

Aloha!

We stayed at the Comfort Inn Gojo in Kyoto. It was a bit out of the way but once you figure out the bus system getting around will be easy (or you can walk to the sites). Check out tripadvisor for generally positive reviews, including ours.

Thank you very much everyone for your help! We are definitely going to bypass Osaka altogether now and base ourselves in Kyoto for the first week.

We will then travel to Tokyo on the Saturday, then have Sunday, Monday and Tuesday in Tokyo, then on our way home, we will spend some time in Hakone.
Do you think that it would be better to arrive and depart Hakone on the same day (ie leave Tokyo on Thursday early and spend the day on Thursday) or to leave Tokyo wednesday morning, spend Wednesday afternoon and night in Hakone and then Thursday for most of the day?

I think it might be an idea to spend the last night in a hotel very close to KIX airport, and travel straight there from Hakone since we will need to be at the airport quite early in the morning. Does this sound like a better plan??

BigRuss - I think I need to do a lot more research on the trains! It sounds like you are right that a 14 day pass might be easier and better value. I didn't realise that the Kansai region pass was so limited.

Thanks again everyone!

Oh and thank you Kimjapan and Hawaiiantraveller for suggesting the Toyoko Inn chain - they look perfect for us.

A couple of notes:

(1) Kyoto is 15 minutes from Osaka by shinkansen train. It's about 3-5 minutes from Shin-Osaka (north of central Osaka) to Osaka station. Unlike Kyoto station, Osaka station does not have shinkansen trains so you need to transfer to a local JR line.

(2) Osaka Castle is worth a look. It is near a station on the JR Osaka loop line, so your JR pass will work. It is primarily a museum inside that describes the Tokugawa shogunate history, with artifacts, etc.

(3) The observatory at the Umeda building is pretty cool too. We went there at dusk and looked out over Osaka.

(4) Himeji station does service shinkansen trains and is only about 700m from the castle, so it's an easy trip.

It would be ideal if you could spend the night in Hakone and maybe spend a night in a ryokan there to get the experience. You could drop off your bags at your ryokan and sight see using a Hakone Free Pass if you buy one, see here for transport details:

http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2358_008.html

See here for things to do in Hakone

http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e5200.html

http://www.jnto.go.jp/eng/ttp/ptg/
press the Hakone button

There are some ryokans listed here in a range of price options:

http://www.japaneseguesthouses.com/db/hakone/index.htm

http://www.ryokan.or.jp/index_en.html

http://www.jpinn.com/

Your plan to stay next to KIX upir last night is a good one. Yes you can travel from Hakone to Osaka easily the day before your departure.

Let us know if you have any other questions

Aloha!

BigRuss maybe we should check out Osaka castle etc on the last day after we travel back from Hakone?

Do you mean it would be equally convenient to get to the airport from Kyoto as from Osaka on our morning of departure?

Thanks for all those great links hawaiiantraveller!

It is easy to take the Limited Express Haruka train to KIX from either Kyoto or SHIN Osaka. From Osaka you have to either get to Shin Osaka or take a slower less baggage friendly train to KIX. From either Kyoto or Osaka, there are limo buses that run from the station and also many of the better hotels. MK taxi's Skygate shuttle service is only from Kyoto.

If you take the Shinkansen from Odawara to Osaka, note that shinkansens do not stop at Osaka station but at Shin Osaka,s ame as the airport train.

I'd stay in Kyoto, though. Osaka castle is not all that much to see. I like Osaka for food and shopping, but I live in a smaller Japanese city. As a tourist, Kyoto is hands down a more interesting city.

Osaka castle is worth a look. It's not in original form, it has been rebuilt (that's why it has an elevator). Its primary purpose is as a museum of the Tokugawa shogunate and it gives a lot of information about the establishment of the Tokugawa shogunate and Osaka castle's fall in the early 1600s, and we liked it for that. If it's out of your way in general, you can easily skip it.

I'm getting really confused about the best option for the last night. I have looked up hotels in Kyoto and in Osaka, and I am not sure I have the full picture. KIX is only 20km from Osaka but the train takes 45 mins? Is that correct? I am thinking about booking a hotel close to Shin-Osaka station, and taking a train directly to the airport first thing in the morning. Is that a good idea?
I had a look at the MK group bus from Kyoto and that looks like a good option too, but has anyone used this service? How long does it take to get from Kyoto to the airport on the bus? We need to be at the airport at 9am.
Thank you!

Osaka is 50km away from Kansai International Airport(KIX).

As long as you are in the Osaka,Namba,Kobe,Nara, Kyoto areas you should be fine. Just an early morning

There are limo buses, buses, trains,taxis, private taxis and high speed ferries to get you to KIX from these areas. All with their varying amount of transit times. If you are staying in central Osaka, the train might not be your best option as there are limo buses and buses that leave from Osaka Station or the Kintetsu Station that are direct to KIX.
See this link for a more comprehensive breakdown of your transport options:

http://www.kansai-airport.or.jp/en/access/index.html

If you want to stay at KIX there is a Hotel Nikko connected to the terminal and a three minute walk to the departure area but at a price.....

If you tell us the places you are thinking of staying at we can probably give you better advice on how to get to KIX from there.

Aloha!