In October, my wife, daughter and her husband, my mother and I will be visiting Japan. Except for my mother (second generation Japanese American), it will be our first trip to Japan. We will be staying a total of ten nights and desire to make it a very special vacation.

I have booked three nights in Tokyo at the Keio Plaza Hotel. I am arranging tours in and around Tokyo with Junko Matsuda per previous postings.

Will someone please recommend a nice, quaint ryokan in Nikko for one or two nights (would two be too many)?

After Nikko, we will be traveling to Kyoto and spending three or four nights. Please indicate your preference between the Granvia Hotel and Hyatt Regency in Kyoto.

Before departing, shall we spend one night in Yokohama and one in Tokyo (or both nights at one location)? Any hotel recommendations?

I will appreciate your input to guide us on this special trip. Thank you.

Bruce

We stayed at Senhime Monogatari Ryokan in Nikko and loved it. It is a modern ryokan but very nice. Take a look

http://www.japaneseguesthouses.com/db/nikko/senhime.htm

Aloha!

Staying in two hotels for the last two nights means traveling with some luggage for at least some of each of the last three days: 1) from Kyoto, 2) between Tokyo & Yokohama, 3) to the airport. A good reason to do that would be if you had specific plans for the two cities for those two days that makes it convenient.

Hi, bruces!

I traveled to Japan last year, and enjoyed myself enormously! However, my one recommendation would be to bring money ... plenty of it.

Although I live comfortably in New York, where Manahttan prices are fairly high, I really felt poor in Tokyo! Bring money.

IMHO one night in Nikko should suffice so long as you have a whole day to spend there. October should be a nice season for autumnal colours. I'm more tempted to spend that extra night in Kyoto.

I would skip Yokohama--it's quite urbane city, looked more like an extension of Tokyo albeit with a nice park along the harbour. Whether to stay a night in Tokyo before departure would depend on what time your flight is. Bullet trains are very reliable, but it's a lot of travelling in one day if you do Kyoto-Tokyo-Narita then a long-haul flght.

Though you didn't ask about this but you can forward suitcases and bulky luggages directly from Tokyo to Kyoto through takkyu-bin. It usually takes one day so all you need is an overnight bag for Nikko.

Thanks to all for your assistance.

easywalker, I honestly don't understand why you found Tokyo to be more expensive than NYC but perhaps you travel more luxuriously than I do.

bruces,

If this were up to me, I'd skip Nikko and head to Ise instead but that's just me.

I can't comment on Hyatt Regency but my friends stayed at Granvia last April and I thought the room was quite spacious. One major advantage of choosing Granvia is that the Kyoto station as well as the tourist information office, Ramen village, Isetan department store with wonderful food basement floors are only a few steps away.

If you are planning on taking day trips to Nara, Himeji, and so on, it certainly makes sense to be staying at Granvia.

As for Yokoyama, I'd skip it. IMHO, if you have an extra day in Japan, it's always better to head to an onsen.