Older couple, starting planning
 

My husband and I are in our early 70s, and have used these forums for many years (I enjoyed looking at some of our older trip reports!). I have some health issues, and need to pace myself (nice lunches are always a good idea!). The only decision I've made so far is that we'll do best staying in Tokyo and Kyoto and doing day trips. I'm thinking about 2 weeks. We'll hire private guides when appropriate, Maybe find some group tours (like we do in Europe) and use public transportation or Uber (or equivalent). After doing some research, it seems like October would be a good time to travel.
So, start in Tokyo, go to Kyoto, back to Tokyo for a bit before going home. Bare bones of a trip.
Generally, I come up with an itinerary, get airfare (a day or two can make a BIG difference), and then book hotels, and then see what else I need to book ahead.
I have to say, it is very frustrating not to be able to keep up the pace we used to do that truly doesn't seem that long ago. This spring we stayed 4 nights in Bayeux and then went to Paris for 5 nights. In January we went to Mexico City for a bit. This spring we'll be taking a river cruise (my husband REALLY wants to take a river cruise). Last year, we went to Crete and Rhodes (it was wonderful). The year before we went to Portugal, but only stayed in Lisbon and Porto.
Okay start? Just start reading trip reports at this point? The few I've looked at move around more than I think we'll enjoy. I thought perhaps we could take our time going between cities, and maybe stop one night somewhere, if that seems best.
Thanks as always,
Alice

I urge you to spend lots of time with Japan-guide.com – it is, IMO, the single best source of information about travel in Japan. FAR better than even the best of trip reports. :)

Consider flying into Tokyo (Narita or Haneda) and out of Osaka/Kyoto (Kansai or Itami) or vice versa. No reason to backtrack if you can avoid it!

No need to hire private guides unless you want to. If you do want a guide, consider a “goodwill guide”: The Japanese National Tourism Organization coordinates free volunteer guides throughout Japan. These “Goodwill guides” are generally knowledgeable and happy to guide you in return for practicing their English – which can be excellent, but it is a bit of a luck-of-the-draw.
http://www.jnto.go.jp/eng/arrange/tr...deservice.html

You pay any entrance fees and his/her meal if your time with the guide includes one. Do NOT tip these guides, or anyone else in Japan.

October can be very special in Japan – and quite busy, as people go to see autumn leaves, “koyo.” Plan accordingly!
https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2014.html

Japan can be delightful at any pace – it’s your trip, do it the way that brings you joy!

Hope that helps!

Like you, my wife I and I have booked japan in September/October for a month, including a side trip to Soeul for one week.
Enjoy yours.

@ whirladventures: If you haven't seen it, you might find some useful information about Seoul in my trip report. The sections on that city start with posts # 11 and 100.
https://www.fodors.com/community/asi...korea-1018842/
(I didn't write a trip report on my time in Japan.)

@Alice9, my husband and I are in a similar situation. on the one hand, at this stage in our lives and in our travels together we have a pretty good understanding of what works best for us and how we like to plan our days. the tougher part is recognizing and accepting our limitations!

The temples, shrines,and gardens of Kyoto are jaw-dropping. And of course it is a city so you can take advantage of city life as well.

Certainly stay in Tokyo if you really want to. I've been there three times, and I 'd gladly go back. But I don't think it's for everyone. Tokyo heaves with people. There may be more spectacular places in October where you can immerse yourself for a few days. Don't assume you have you stay in Tokyo.

The advantage of traveling how you suggest is that you can spend more time in a wonderful place where most people will only spend a night, simply because they have so much rushing around to do. You have the luxury of not doing that. It's a gift!

I also think that, if you can squeeze a few more days out of the vacation, you will not regret it. It's a long, long plane flight!

We went in October 2024. We had Kensington plan the trip and used private guides. I recommend the bullet train between Tokyo and Kyoto and staying in The Thousand Hotel in Kyoto.

There are also some good you tubers with practical information about Japan.

For my own planning for next year I am enjoying

and

https://www.youtube.com/@AbroadinJapan

kja, excellent suggestions! I had just signed up for Japan-guide.com, and it does look to be excellent. I think I'll be spending a lot of time there. And you know, I don't know why I figured we'd need round trip. We've done lots of trips where we don't do it. You're right, we'll fly into Tokyo and out of Kyoto.

VERY interesting to hear about the goodwill guides! I had NO ideal.. It's a great arrangement for everyone. (Also good to learn about tipping, I also check before we go anywhere).

Thanks so much for your help!

Alice

whirladventures, I have to see if I can get my husband to go for longer, we USED to. When we were in Seoul, we were with a good friend FROM Korea, an ex-boss in fact. My most memorable evening was the 2 of us going with him, his brother, his nephew to a sashimi place that a tourist would NEVER find. We ate and ate and they drank a LOT of soju (well, everyone but me). The highlight was lobster sashimi. When we were done, they took the shells and made soup out of it for us!

We also got to go to Panmunjeom, a rather scary experience. Enjoy your trip to Seoul AND to Japan.

Alice

adlmllr - you know, most of our friends travel in groups and a surprising number of them only go on cruises. We've had our routine down for years. But you're right - the hardest thing is to realize we're not 40 anymore (much less 65), but we can still travel, just a little differently.

Maybe we should write a book about traveling independently when you're...a little older.

Alice

shelemm, I'm working on the few more days part, especially because of the very long flight. I'm prepared for Tokyo to be mobbed, but I want to experience that. But I also want to experience the fall colors. And I look forward to the beauty of Kyoto.

It's interesting. One of my long time friends, who only cruises, says she's been to Rome. Now as we know, there is no port in Rome. So she got on a bus, spent some hours in Rome and hopped back on the bus. That is not my idea of seeing Rome. Our best experiences have been things we didn't plan, we just happened upon.

Thanks so much for your input.

Alice

laurie-ann - you know, I hadn't even thought about YouTube as a source! Thanks for the reminder that there are so many sources of information now.

Alice

NYCMOM50 - Thanks for the recommendations. We've use a company to plan a trip for us a few times, when pressed for time, and it's worked out beautifully. I feel like I have plenty of time right now, but that's always an option if I need it. On the other hand, there's so much good information here and we've got some friends who can help steer us in the right direction too.

Alice

Have fun with your planning! Let us know when you have more questions. :)

Hello @whirladventures
It's great to know that you will go to Japan for a month. Unlike the rest of Japan, autumn arrives early in Hokkaido — usually from late September to mid-October. If you want to experience the autumn foliage in Japan in October, Hokkaido is the right place to go.
https://www.kyuhoshi.com/7-days-in-h...umn-itinerary/

Fall colors won't get to Tokyo or Kyoto before ~mid-November. You would need to go north for that, as tkjapan suggested, or up in elevation (e.g. Japan Alps west of Tokyo). Autumn leaves (koyo) in Japan

Tokyo and Kyoto, ok. Japan has beautiful country outside of the cities.

An easy place to experience some nature is Hakone, in Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park. Easy because it is near Tokyo and has good transportation. Hakone Travel Guide - What to do in Hakone

Japan has ryokan, traditional inns, with kaiseki dinners.
Ryokan - traditional Japanese inns
Kaiseki Ryori - Japanese haute cuisine course meals

Onsen, hot springs baths, offer another uniquely Japanese experience.
Onsen - Beginner's Guide to Japanese hot springs

You might enjoy a stay at a traditional onsen ryokan in Hakone or in plenty of other locations in Japan. In the last several years many ryokan started offering Japanese-Western rooms with beds and part of the flooring is tatami and part is wood. Japanese rooms have futons to sleep on and tatami mat floors. Both room types have similar traditional ryokan features. Some places offer private hot spring baths in the room or shared baths which can be reserved for private use. Otherwise, more common and the default, are public, gender-segregated, baths.

Prices are per person and include kaiseki dinner and breakfast. It is fairly common to arrange to have ryokan staff pick you up at the station.

Here are some examples in Hakone: Hakone Ryokans | Ryokan Experts, Reviews, Personalized Service | Japanese Guest Houses

I'm sorry if I misled anyone -- it seems I looked at the japan-guide.com map too quickly! (At least I included the same link mrwunrfl included!)

Even on a more careful glance, it seems that leaves would likely be turning in Nikko -- an easy day-trip from Tokyo. (Nikko is worth a night or two IMO, but I have the impression that the OP prefers to avoid relocating with any frequency. I could be wrong!)

Quick question - someone I was speaking with about this trip said that I'm very late to be planning a trip for October - is that true? She said hotels are booking up and I'd better move fast. She got me very worried. No one who's replied to my original inquiry mentioned being too late to plan. I was hoping I had a little more time to look at all the great websites and trip reports.

Thanks!
a nervous Alice

I trust that experts will chime in, but FWIW, I don't think you need to worry. Actually, I think your planning timeframe is quite reasonable! If in any doubt, you might enter some "test" dates into booking.com, just to see if your options are more limited than you would like.

Actually, there may be some truth. Last year,this time, when we were planning, Kensington Travel said they could not get private guides for Kyoto or Osaka! Eventually, like September, they were able to. But last year was a big year for Japan travel. I do not know if this year is.

Kensington, which has better contacts than I, could not get their first choice hotel for us in Tokyo. They found a back up.

I plan lots of travel on my own, but wouldn’t attempt
Japan on my own.

if transportation were refundable, I’d say book it now. But I agree with the poster who said to plug in some test dates.

Hotels on booking.com can be reserved on a refundable basis and you may want to book those now. If you have hotels and flights, you’ll be set. More detailed planning, such as what to do each day, can be done much later. So you may just want to be sure you set a number of days per city and think about jet lag. I would say a minimum of 4 if you start in Tokyo and 5 if you want to do Kyoto and perhaps 1-2 side trips from there.

weflew into Haneda and out through Osaka, stopping in Haneda. Osaka and Kyoto are very close together with two airports there. I do not think it makes a major difference if you fly into Haneda or Narita, by the way.

Kensington booked the bullet train for us and got perfect seats, facing Mt. Fuji and the ones we could put our suitcases right behind us. We travel carry on and I did not want to ship ahead.

Now free tours by foot May be available and the free greeters, too. A Context tour of Gion and a ramen tour on Airbnb experiences even I booked on my own and they were terrific.

I spent more on this trip than any other we have taken…a bucket list trip…but it definitely can be done more cheaply. The subway is safe. I didn’t figure it out til about Day 5, but there is plenty of English, but you may speak, read Japanese and I don’t. Subway info booth staff spoke English. Cab drivers don’t but do take credit cards. 7/11 has wonderful food to eat back in your room. Very reasonable. Totally unlike US 7/11s. It is wonderful to experience and I did not want to wait until I was too old.

ovtober last year had great weather..no fall leaves yet.

I'm in Japan now and have been reading articles about record number of tourists....I think you can book hotels now on booking.com with no advance payment required and cancel if you change your dates or find something you like better. I don't know if you mentioned your hotel room budget but you can find a wide range. I'm your age and have always traveled on my own. It is nice to get guides, I guess, not really necessary. I have used the free guides here and there over the years. It is easy to get around both Tokyo and Kyoto - but buses can be crowded. Whatever...enjoy your planning.

We each need to do what works for us, but FWIW, I found planning a trip to Japan on my own incredibly easy. Some guidebooks, japan-guide.com ... voila!

It is not "very late", but it is time, especially for Kyoto.

Virtually all of the OTAs (booking, agoda) and the hotel/ryokan websites have refundable options. I prefer to book with the hotel/ryokan directly online.

kja, you're the expert! I wonder if this is more for people who are very particular about where they stay and want to book Michelin restaurants. But I also want to see what others say, I do NOT like planning in a rush.

Alice

Hotel Mume in Kyoto seems to be very much loved by Fodorites. You could check out the availability for October. I just took a brief look, and I am not even sure they are taking reservations yet for after August. Maybe others know more about it.

You don't need a guide for Japan, and you can plan everything by yourself. I can't guarantee you won't run into a language barrier, but it will probably result in a comic misunderstanding more than a serious one.

I am not going to put down the idea of having a guide. They can be tremendously informative. But I wouldn't treat Japan any differently than Europe in that regard.

Thank you, but I am most decidedly NOT an expert. mrwunrful is an expert on Japan. Mara is an expert on Japan. I just had a successful, and very well researched, trip to Japan many moons (too many!) ago.

If you can nail down the time you will be in Japan, you could then (as others have suggested) book a completely cancellable hotel for a week in Kyoto and a week in Japan. That might give you a bit of breathing room.

I do not think you are too late for an October visit to Honshu. October weather is generally good although it seems to be getting warmer and warmer every year. Also you are almost out of Tyhoon season.

shelemm, this is all excellent to hear. I've been known to book hotels and cancel later myself (last year, I changed our hotel in Bayeux about 3 days before we GOT there).

And it's very helpful to hear that I can treat Japan like Europe. I make plans, they get changed sometimes, we go on those free walking tours sometimes, and lately, we pay for a private guide once in a while. Sometimes things go wrong, but you're right, in a comical way (we were in Mexico City in early Feb, and let's just say I had quite the experience dealing with a public W/C).

I will definitely check out Hotel Mume.

Thanks! Alice

kja, thanks for the correction and I will check out the posters you mentioned.

For this trip, I am going to try...again, to get my husband involved in the planning. I'm really tired of him saying AFTER the trip, 'look how well everything turned out, you worry too much'.

Alice

I can imagine a lot of things that would be even worse to hear!

You don't need to rush. Assuming you have booked your flights, it is time to start figuring out where you want to stay. Booking sooner means getting more options but not necessarily the best price, so cancellable reservations are (to me) necessary.

Western hotel chains (thinking Marriott, Hilton) can be booked now. Some Japanese lodgings don't show availability for October yet. When you expressed interest in Hotel Mume you were getting particular. As of a few days ago they only showed availability through July. You can keep an eye on it (or ask them) to find out when bookings can be made for October.

What do you think about my advice for staying in Hakone (or somewhere with more nature than Tokyo and Kyoto)?

if you go to Tokyo in the fall make sure to plan a day trip to Nikko. Take a tour bus plan the day you will not be disappointed,

Update on Trip to Japan
 

Well, I thought I owed all you helpful people an update.

A few years ago I was diagnosed with heart failure. At this point, I figured I had things pretty much under control and so far travel hasn't been an issue.

However, my cardiologist is recommending AGAINST such a long flight. Well, she said IF I walk a lot, and IF I take medication A, B, and C with me just in case... enough to make me rethink this trip.

It is a GREAT disappointment to me, this is one of my bucket list trips, but you know what? I want to be able to get to the other bucket list trips too, and plenty of them don't require such a long flight. I haven't figured out what to do instead in October, mostly because I'm pretending I'm still going to Japan, but I'll get over that and find something else on the list.

Thanks so much for all the good information, as always, Fodor's users are always amazing. Anyway, I'll let you know what I figure out.

Again, thanks so much, wish I was using all this good information!

Alice

Oh, Alice, I'm so sorry to hear of your disappointment! But I would hate even more for a trip to Japan to be the end of you.

If visiting Japan remains a priority, you might explore options for a trip that includes multiple short(er) stops. I don't know your home location (and if you mentioned it above, I'm too lazy to find it), but you could, for example, consider a few days in Honolulu before heading to Japan, and if necessary, a few days somewhere along the western coast of the US before Honolulu.... I realize even those flights might be too long ... I'm just throwing the idea out in case it would be an option.

IMO, the world is full of places that are well worth seeing. Thank goodness your current heart condition allows you to explore some of those other places!

Best wishes Alice9. Thanks for coming back. Adjusting a bucket list does help to focus.

There are only two places in the world that I have been to that I think everybody should consider putting at/near the top of their list. You could move them up on your list if still on it. Maybe you'd think I would say Japan, but no. The two places might be easier for you to get to: Yellowstone National Park and Jerusalem

Alice9, kudos to you for making this tough decision and having a positive perspective on all of the other places you'd love to visit. Would you consider updating this thread again when you decide where to go in October, so we can follow along? it's true that every time we say "yes" to something, we say "no" to something else (unless or until we can be in 2 or more places at once!).....well the reverse is true as well: saying "no" to something opens up all sorts of possibilities for saying "yes" to something else.

I dislike the term 'bucket list' and it's too bad it has become so popular. I have no such list. I always focus on where to go next, and that changes depending on factors well beyond my control. I have planned many trips that didn't come to fruition for one reason or another. Sometimes I get to them, and some may never happen.

But then again, I am a big believer in serendipity. If Japan is out, then it's out. Not that big a deal.

Go whichever way the wind blows. Then you can't say you lack for direction.

If you cannot fly, take a ship
 

October is the time when cruise ships migrate from the West Coast to
Asia. There are usually a couple that do LA/San
Diego/Seattle/Vancouver to Tokyo/Yokohama and, like most
repositionings, they are inexpensive.

For example: Holland America Westerdam Seattle 28 Sept to Yokohama 12
October for $1049 pp oceanview.

The reverse journey is typically in April and I prefer those.

You'd need to find a way to get back and as suggested above, breaking
the journey in Hawaii is one way. Would a flatbed help? If so,
checkout zipair.

More details: https://adumbrate.org/pics/traveltips.html#cruises

Alice9, I think that someotherguy has a fabulous solution to your long flight issue!! I am older than you and have various medical issues but evidently not so serious that any of my numerous docs have advised me not to travel....fingers crossed. I was thinking about how long the trip from NYC to Tokyo is - going in March I did do premium economy which was more comfortable than regular economy which I did to return....but I also wondered about going to LA for a day or so and then leaving from there to Tokyo...I guess it would be more expensive but maybe worth it....
Anyway, good luck to you whatever your decision is....