Korean Job Discussion Forums

[whatisinmyhead]

I want to travel to Japan in about a month, and I'd like to see Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Hiroshima, and Fukuoka. Im planning on spending about 2 weeks there. My two options seem to be: (1) fly from Busan to Tokyo, then travel south to Fukuoka, stopping at the aforementioned places and taking the beetle ferry thing back to Busan or (2) taking the beetle both ways (so traveling from Fukuoka to Tokyo and then taking the train all the way back to Fukuoka). Regardless of what I do I will need to buy a two week JRAIL pass.

Basically, these are my questions:

1. Does this plan seem reasonable? 5 cities in 14ish days... too much? I don't care much about Fukuoka.

2. How much will this cost? I know it depends on a lot of factors. I'm thinking about 1000 USD for travel (500 USD for 2 week JRAIL pass + 300 USD for beetle + I don't know), 500 USD for accommodations, and maybe 500-1000 USD for food and other stuff. Is this wildly inaccurate?

3. I'm assuming I should make hostel reservations ahead of time...? Any recommendations for these various cities? I usually just use hostelworld.com...

4. I've read that you must buy the JRAIL pass before entering Japan... I live outside of Busan. Should I just buy it from a standard travel agent? At the port?

I have no idea what I'm doing. Any advice is welcome. Thanks!

[iselynjenniep]

stayed here in kyoto and highly recommend it... very clean, spacious, and near the train station:
http://kshouse.jp/kyoto-e/index.html

stayed here in tokyo and it was only ok, kind of cramped and hot as hell in july, although i guess you wouldn't have that problem now:
http://www.khaosan-tokyo.com/en/original/

[Caffeinated]

Might be cheaper to take the Beetle both ways rather than flying one-way + Beetle. With the rail pass you can take the shinkansen (bullet train) Tokyo-Fukuoka in 6 hours.

5 cities in 14 days isn't bad. Spend most of your time in Kyoto and Tokyo, maybe 4 days Kyoto / 4 days Tokyo / 4 days everything else / 2 days commuting. Definitely reserve accommodations ahead of time. I think you'll need to budget more than 500 USD on accommodations, tho. For cheap eats the convenience stores are stocked with lots of choices. The cheaper restaurants will have vending machines by the door to buy food tickets from.

Here's an idea of how you can cram it all in in 14 days.

Day One: Book an early Beetle. On arrival get to Hakata for the shinkansen to Hiroshima. On arrival check out Peace Park and Miyajima.

Day 3: From Hiroshima to Kansai (Osaka/Kyoto/Nara) take a stop at Himeji castle. It's exterior is undergoing restoration but you can still take a walk inside.

Day 4: Osaka - the aquarium is awesome. Take a walk down the shopping arcade at Namba and check out the lights at Dotonbori. Eat okonomiyaki. Osaka castle is also another option.

Day 5: Kyoto - K's House is a convenient base as it's close to Kyoto station with all the buses to transport you to the sightseeing spots. Kiyomizu, Kinkakuji, Ginkakuji, Ryoanji, Gion, Arashiyama and Fushimi Inari are among the many must-sees.

Day 9: Nara - You can easily spend a full day sightseeing in this former Japanese capital. Go to Todaiji and Kofukuji and feed the deer.

Day 10: Tokyo - For a change from of pace, take a daytrip or two from Tokyo to Kamakura and Nikko.

Day 14: Early shinkansen Tokyo-Fukuoka, or take this the previous evening. Return to Busan on late Beetle.

[jc1257]

I did Fukuoka, Hiroshima, Nara, and Kyoto over the summer. You can away with only 1 day in Fukuoka. It's a neat place, but there isn't much to see. I didn't go to Tokyo, so it was the biggest city I saw, it might be a little redundant for you.

Hiroshima was really awe-inspiring. You could see the Peace Park and the castle in the morning and early afternoon, then catch a train to either Kyoto or Fukuoka in the evening, depending on which way you were going. You would need at least 1 full day if you wanted to do the museum too.

As a previous poster said, I would plan on at least 4 days in Kyoto. It was pretty awesome and there was a ton to do.

Nara is a great day trip from Kyoto or Osaka. Make sure to take a day, or most of a day to see it. Definitely worth the time.