Yvette

What would Hotels would you recommend for a family consisting of two children ages 3 and 8 visiting Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka? Any other cities our family should consider visiting?<BR><BR>Thanks,

lcuy

In Kyoto, we liked the Central Inn. It is on a very convenient corner downtown. the busses north south and the east west all go within 50 yards of the hotel, or you can take taxis. It is walking distance to Gion. There is a little rail station underneath, so you can cut acroos the street to Takashimaya Dept store.<BR>The western rooms (at any hotel in japan) are always tiny and have 2 teeny tiny beds, so with our 2 girls we always do better in Japan style rooms. You pay per person in many Japan inns so tell them the ages of your kids up front so you'll know the worst price. <BR>We loved the town of Takayama. It is up in the mountains North from Nagano. Really interesting museums, a park with restored farm houses, and a section of town with several street of old merchant houses. They still are open as stores. You'll feel like you're in 18th<BR>century japan. What time of year are you going?

lcuy

Oops...Takayama is north from Nagoya. also, in Kyoto, you can buy one day bus passes in the train station from the magazine vendor. For the price of 2 trips, you can ride all day. do you have a specific reason for visiting Osaka? It is really big and industrial and doesn't have as much to offer a family as most places in Japan. I'd go to Nara (your kids will love the deer) or Himeji with the incredible castle.

Florence

Bonjour Yvette,<BR><BR>Since you don't say when you go or how long you intend to stay , it is a little difficult to advise on where. Like the previous poster, I think you'd better skip Osaka unless you really have to go there. You should plan on buying railpasses if you intend to travel much (Tokyo-Kyoto and back already makes the 7-days pass worth it).<BR><BR>Takayama is beautiful and fascinating, but a good 5 hours+ train from Kyoto or Tokyo, with a change in Nagoya. It would therefore only be worth it if you have enough time to stay at least 1-2 nights there.<BR><BR>I'd rather suggest Kurashiki, on the coast of the inland sea (near Okayama), that has some of the charms of Takayama but is only 2 h from Osaka/Kyoto. A nice daytrip would be Kyoto/Osaka - Kurashiki - boat under the Ohashi bridge to Kojima - train back to Okayama - bullet train back to Kyoto/Osaka. Or you could stay the night in Kurashiki and explore the small islands between Honshu and Shikoku. Those places are beautiful and should appeal to the kids too.<BR><BR>For hotels and ryokans, check <BR>Intl Tourist Center Japan - Welcome Inns reservation center: http://www.itcj.or.jp/index.html<BR><BR>You will find an amazing list of hotels and ryokans at affordable rates. Many offer reduced rates for children.<BR><BR>In Kyoto, take your children for an afternoon to the Botanical gardens, a wonderful park to wander and play in, with fascinating displays in the conservatory. your 8 years old should like Eiga Mura (movie village), where Samurai movies are shot(and maybe you too). The Nishiki food market is a must. All those places can be easily reached by bus, starting in front of the main train station.<BR><BR>I also second a daytrip to Nara and Himeji castle.<BR><BR>Have a wonderful trip.

Conni

Hi, I have just posted my family vacation to Japan -"Family rts from 8 nts in Japan". <BR>Hope it is helpful.<BR><BR>My daughter is older than you children -11, but for her we added the Ueno Zoo -giant panda, toy stores and Disneyland to the trip for her birthday. At Asakusa in Tokyo, we meet school age children ready to practice their English. We had fun exchanging names, ages and where we lived with them in broken English/Japanese and hand signals.<BR> <BR>Her favorite expierence was spent on Mijayama Island - 40 minutes from Hiroshima. The wild deer are so tame, they are like big sheep dogs. You can feed them, pet them and hug them. They do not jump all over you and are very calm. Her most touching moments came at the Hiroshima Children's Peace Memorial, where hundreds of thousands of folded cranes were donated by school age children. Some kids were there bringing memorials and singing songs for peace when we were there.<BR><BR>In Kyoto we went to the Kyoto Handicraft Center where she made her own blockprint. They have other 1 hour workshops for children and adults - 1,500 yen.<BR><BR>In Takayama we visited old floats and the Folk village with it's old buildings and farm houses. They also have a Lion masks and Toy museum in town. The city has a nice morning market and it was calm and peaceful after Tokyo. <BR><BR>The bullet trains are also very exciting. They are built for speed and fun to ride with very little rocking or tilting.<BR><BR>Hotels with 2 double beds were hard to come by when I started researching, so I moved to staying in ryokans for most of the trip. In Japan they charge you by the beds, assuming by a certain age that they will not fit in a twin bed with you. Also some hotel rooms are so small, a cot would not fit. In ryokans, they are sized by the number of mats, and a lot more people can fit in one room comfortably. <BR><BR>

Yvette

Thank you all for your feedback. I appreciated the itinerary and will begin my research on some of the fabulous suggestions on cities and ryokans. <BR>Flo,<BR>I was unable to log onto to your website suggestions. Could you please verify their accuracy.<BR><BR>Thanks,

Florence

Bonjour Yvette,<BR><BR>I've just checked the address and it works for me. You can also do a search (www.google.com) with "Welcome Inn Japan":<BR>http://www.itcj.or.jp/index.html<BR><BR>You can also look at http://www.jnto.go.jp (Japan National Tourist organisation)<BR><BR>http://www.kyotoguide.com/e-whatson/index.html (Kyoto Visitor's Guide - get a paper copy at the Tourist Information Center in front of the station in Kyoto)<BR><BR>http://www.tourism.city.osaka.jp/en/ (Osaka tourism guide)<BR><BR>And www.jinjapan.org (Japan information network of the Ministry of foreign affairs), especially the "Virtual Museum" and "Kid Web Japan".<BR><BR>

Florence

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