hawaiiantraveler please respond
 

Your itinerary help to Hai KimJapan sounded ideal for us. Considering fall trip - we are open to dates what month would you recommend?

IF I choose to add 4 days or so to this itinerary what would you suggest? Are the trains easy to use - English written any where? Just nervous about this mode of transportation.

Thanks for all your great information on this site!~

Your welcome. Always glad when someone finds my trip reports useful.

If you are talking about filmwill's spring trip where I wrote "Hai KimJapan", well that itinerary is specifically for his needs during the springtime.

Are you wanting an itinerary to spend 20 nights in Japan during the koyo(fall colors)season?

The timing depends on the areas you want to visit. You can use this site as a guideline for your timing in the areas you want to visit.

http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2014.html

Let us know the amount of days you want to visit on ground and the places you are interested in seeing with your budget and all of us here will come up with some sort of itinerary you can use I am sure.

Aloha!

Oh and yes trains are very easy to use. Signs are in English and Japanese. Links below saves me tons of writing ;)

http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2016.html

http://www.japanrailtravel.com/index.cfm

Aloha!

I'm still working on an itinerary to share with you and get your ideas BUT am at a standstill - my first area after arriving in Tokyo night before was train to Hakone region then on to Kyoto BUT having problem with a place in Hakone - everything I am finding for 10/9 and 10/10 is around $500 - is there a better place to stay and do the day trips or other suggestions???? I did see the Fujya Hotel around $250 but dinner appears to add way over $125 as there is no other place around there but the hotel as reviewers are stating. Please help. Barb

Hakone is lovely, but one of the reasons that it's so popular (and also so expensive) is that it's so convenient to Tokyo. Given the length of your trip (as outlined in your other thread), you've got time tp take advantage of more remote locations, and were I you that's precisely what I'd do. You can skip Hakone entirely and avoid the expense.

Take a deeeeeeep breath and relaaaaaaaxxxxx.

Use these sites for hotel and room information within the Hakone region. You can compare pricing this way.

http://www.japanican.com/index.aspx

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

http://hakone.syuriken.jp/hakone/

http://www.odakyu-travel.co.jp/engli...etsu_mein.html

http://www.hakonenavi.jp/english/

these are a few good sites for cheaper lodgings in Hiroshima and other areas of Japan besides Hakone

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

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

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

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

http://www.jcha.or.jp/english/

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

Your itinerary is coming together very well imho. Focus now on what you want to see and what is available to you with your timing.

Aloha!

The problem with Hakone is that it's really only worth the trip if it's good weather. I know you want to get everything booked before you leave but I would wait until I get to Tokyo then check out the weather. The concierge at your hotel will book the train and hotels for you. Just give him your budget for the hotel.

HT, check out boberg's other thread, where she's got a first stab at an itinerary. I've given her a very different alternate route that does away with trying to get lodging in either Hakone or Kyoto on her first weekend in Japan, and gives her some time in Kanazawa and Shirakawa-go. I'm sure she'd appreciate your input there.