16 days in Japan
 

We are spending 16 days in late April/early May and have Japan as part of our tround the world trip and have just realised how busy it is at this time of year so we are trying to get our hotels booked asap. I confess to being a total Japan virgin and have started reading the LP Guidebook, but so much to consider, so ANY help would be greatly appreciated. We are looking, as far as possible for budget type ryokans etc.

Specific questions include:

1. What to include? Initial thoughts are - 3/4 days Tokyo, 5/6 days Kyoto, 1 day Kobe and then ???
2. The 14 Japan Rail pass seems a good deal but is it worth it?
3 Which are the best sites for booking accomodation?
4. Is a homestay worth considering for say a week?
5. Any tips for specific restaurants. places to stay or sights not to be missed?
6. Finally any cost saving tips?

Thanks in advance

1) That is about right for Tokyo and Kyoto. You could spend more in either or both. No real good reason to stay in Kobe. But, Hiroshima and Miyajima could be added to your destinations. I have read about a good budget place on Miyajima but don't have time right now to look it up. But also you could go north of Tokyo to find some cherry blossoms. You can find budget lodging in the big cities, but in other parts of Japan you can get more room for the same price.

2) Yes the 14-day JR Pass is worth it, depending on your itinerary. Depending on how you spend your time (i.e. where you go and for how long), though, you might be able to get by on a 7-day pass and one or two purchased tickets.

What are your air reservations? Into and out of Tokyo?

3) I've booked directly with the hotel/ryokan.

4) Only home visits I know of are for an evening. Maybe one night. Never heard of a weeklong homestay in Japan.

5) I actually got quoted in the Tokyo Fodor's book by advising to look for a small place with a bunch of young guys chowing down and go there. There you will find good inexpensive food.

6) Go to jnto.go.jp and search for "practical travel guides". There is a guide for Kyoto Walks. Another for Tokyo. There is also a Japan for Free guide (or maybe it is Tokyo for Free). Also, japan-guide.com and gojapan.about.com both have good info. I suggest using the jnto website also to get familiar with other regions of Japan (outside of Tokyo/Kyoto) to see where else you might be interested in going.

Thanks mrwunrfl,
This is really helpful. Excellent websites - they will keep me occupied for the rest of the afternoon!

We are flying into Tokyo from Singapore and out of Tokyo to Cairns - unfortunately our RTW ticket did not allow flights from Kyoto to Australia which would have made life simpler. Good point re the railpass. I will check out the cost of 7 + single journeys versus 14 day rail pass

Hi, crellston -

I second mrwunrfl's suggestions, and add the following:

In addition to searching on-line (especially japan-guide.com), I found the guidebook "Japan Solo" particularly useful. It has great maps!

For booking ryokans, check out:

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

For booking other accomodations, check out:

http://travel.rakuten.co.jp/en/

Hope that helps!

The japaneseguesthouses site is amazing! So much information. Based on the guidance found their we are looking at staying in a hotel in Kyoto (it is a national holiday when wea r ethere and every ryokan appears fully booked) we will save our ryokan stay for somewhere more rural.

How many of you are there?
We stayed at a guest house (not quite a ryokan) that was in central Kyoto. I loved it.
We also stayed in The Green Morris Hotel in Saijo. It's about 30 minutes from Hiroshima. It was a wonderful hotel, and only a half hour from the action. I'm only suggesting it if you cannot get Hiroshima accomodation. We paid less than $100 a night for a nice two person room. The walk to the train station was about 4 blocks.

angethereader,

There are 2 of us travelling. The olace in Kyoto sounds interesting as does The Green Morris. It is really diifcult to get accomodation at the time we have booked flights for - 23 April - 9 May as this is the "golden week"in Japan when therer are lots of bank holidays, so we are trying to chnage our flights.

PS I meant to add - do you have the name of the guest house in Kyoto?