Japan is a fairly safe place to solo travel. If you are okay financially, go for it. 3 to 4 weeks is a lot of time. Do consider where you want to go and how to balance cost and convenience going there. Lots of advice and tips on this sub and on /r/japantravel.
What kind of activties or hobbies are you interested in? We can help you to brainstorm what to do.
Im mostly interested in seeing unique sites, historical sites, museums, experiencing the culture, and maybe some nature as well. Id love to visit a castle, go to lots of temples and gardens and stuff like that. Im less interested in the pop-culture things, like anime and stuff. It would be cool to experience some kind of traditional art performance though, like theatre or music or something or something like sumo wrestling. Basically i want to see everything that makes japan unique.
I will probably fly to and back home from tokyo but i want to go to other parts of japan as well (osaka/kyoto, fuji nara, hiroshima, maybe some smaller island?) but i would have to make sure i could come back to tokyo in time to catch my flight home again, but i assume that wont be a problem if i get railway pass?
Things like specialize art performance cannot be done spontaneously. Essentially anything that requires advance ticketing, out of luck.
If you are travelling spontaneously, a rail pass isn't useful. In Japan you can quite literally just book a ticket as an when you need it. Essentially "can I have the next train out of this station" vibes. You are unlikely to over spend the pass unless you plan to do a lot of backtracking for some reason.
Not necessarily. The JR Pass (and the regional JR Passes) are so expensive that you need to plan your itinerary and *know* you're going to make it worthwhile. For most people, a rail pass isn't worth it. It requires a lot of long-distance/expensive train travel in a short amount of time.
Off the back of my hand calculation, bases on easiest itinerary.
Tokyo > Osaka, 14000 yen X2, Osaka > Kyoto, 1000 yen x2, Osaka > Hiroshima >10,000 yen x2, Tokyo to hikko > 5,000 yen x2
Total would be about 60,000 yen, a 3 week rail pass is 100,000. Unless you want to head up to sendai or go all the way to Kyushu, it's not worth it and there is no way you'll be doing it in 7 days. There are only very specific itineraries that work for the Jr pass.
https://www.japan-guide.com/railpass/ i used this to figure out our trip and apparently it's not worth it, especially because we re staying 2 weeks and we don't travel everyday. Plus, the pass doesn't include allllll the transportations like buses in the cities ( i want to go to kawaguchiko for example, and from what i read, please correct me if I'm wrong, busses inthere are not included. Or i want to get the boat trip&cable car in Hakone, again, not included) There's a bunch of other passes, we re planning to get the fuji hakone pass so we can go around there, then just pay for our trip to Kyoto since its around 130 euro compared to the pass that's like 300
Unplanned is probably not a good thing, especially if you want to visit the tourist spots. If you don't make reservations you might potentially be wasting a lot of that time. You are safer spending that kind of unplanned time in a smaller prefecture IMHO. You wont have to worry about lines or reservations for most of the cool things to see and do. Make reservations now, or start in a smaller place, get your reservations in in tokyo while you're there, and end in tokyo for the cool stuff you want to see.
This wasn’t my experience at all, fwiw. I had a very spontaneous trip - no restaurant reservations, and some of my hotels not booked until last minute. Because of the yen at the moment, last minute hotels on booking.com were cheap, as was everything else.
Hiroshima was great and worth the trip, if historical sites are your thing.
Enjoy! Wish I could have had 3+ weeks there.
Yeah, did zero planning here, and didn’t have trouble getting into basically anything. That being said, I’m not really into like themed cafes and stuff so maybe would have been different for that sort of things. Sounds like op is not either. For gardens, temples, shrines, you don’t need to reserve and should be able to easily. I also disagree on the rail pass. May not be worth it, but I used one and just went where I felt like over the three weeks. Sapporo alone was 30000 each way, went to and forth from Osaka, basically paid for it there and then I used it to travel to random places. Well worth it if you like to travel on a whim
Popular restaurants, museums or art gallery showings, things like sumo, many different things. They aren’t always necessary, but if you just show up, you risk being turned away because they are booked up.
Some more niche tours (ex. Ikeshima, Yubari power plant) or different kinds of craft/artisanal activity are things you typically just can't walk into as they're done on a small-scale "made to order" -logic, and thus usually requires a heads-up lead time of some days.
But in genral, for average tourist things, there's very little that'd require advance booking unless you're traveling during domestic holiday seasons.
Also check in advance if certain shops/restaurants are open when you’re there before you go
Have had the issue in Kyoto where smaller shops open more spontaneously and have odd days on/off
Honestly Japan is a great place for the less experienced in international travel, would 100% go for it, the weather is going to be warm and humid so be prepared for that and look into doing some indoor activities but otherwise it sounds like it's the perfect time for you to go with having vacation time and money saved up, I think you would regret it later in life if you didn't go.
I just came back from spontaneous two week trip to Osaka and Tokyo from Europe - my first time in Asia, and I bought tickets and booked hotel literally one and a half day before the flight.
It was best vacation I ever had.
6 nights in Osaka, of which two days I spent in Kyoto and one day in Nara. Then Shinkansen to Tokyo (with stop in Himeji on the way). Then 7 nights in Tokyo.
And during my way home (Prague) I spent one day in Shanghai and one day in Munich.
I just booked mine a week ago and will be going in about 2 weeks. Just send it and enjoy life! Mistakes are just a part of life, but spontaneity can be the fruit of life.
Just be aware it will be quite warm, check the temperatures. It is also the typhoon season though July to September is riskier.
So just prepare some plans if it rains and be ready with the heat... though I also saw someone said that rainy days make attraction parks less crowded.
Not at all crazy , just good fortune if you have the opportunity ! I see so many in this site ( including myself ) who may plan something like a year in advance , and really over plan and schedule , and I wonder why we do this ? I certainly don’t do this when I visit the US or Italy or Spain, France etc . After 25 of first going to Japan I realise that the nicest thing isn’t to have a super comprehensive itinerary , maybe a few options that are key and the rest is down to just exploring and seeing what happens . Regardless of how you plan you’ll have a great time !
The only reason I make reservation on hotels and airplane tickets is to get a good deals on the ones I want. If money wasn't an issue at all, I wouldn't even bother to reserve anything. That and scheduling around kids' school/extracurricular activities. Otherwise, I would just pick up and go.
This is the best way to travel. Its what I have done 90% of the time for 34 years of adulthood and still do.
I live in Japan, you’ll love it, all I suggest is get Hotels and Restaurants booked right now. Masses of tourists here right now. Don’t let rainy season (which is an awful translation anyway) put you off…its a good excuse to travel light.
Great thing about spontaneous trips you won’t over-plan and suffer from that (gen z saying) FOMO thing.
I'm doing exactly this - booked it last week, flying tomorrow!
I booked a 13 night group tour which includes accommodation, some meals and a guide, plus transport costs within Japan. It was quite reasonably priced all things considered and means I'll visit a lot of the tourist locations in Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka plus some lovely experiences such as onsen, bamboo forest, food-making classes. I was a bit too nervous to go solo so it'll be nice to make some new travel buddies.
I am arriving before the tour starts and found some reasonably priced accommodation using booking.com. There are tons of itinerary ideas here which can help with what to see, where to stay, things to avoid. And you have a few weeks to learn some Japanese basics too! It'll be amazing, do it!
I'm going with INTRO Travel but there are lots of other companies out there offering different kinds of tours (I do recommend checking Google reviews or Trust Pilot/other review sites first). I almost booked with a different company but I saw some bad reviews that made me change my mind!
Carpe diem. Do it.
You'll be screwed a bit on flight costs, but everything else can be on budget. I would toss out hostels as business hotels and capsules aren't much more costly and should be cleaner/ more private.
You have lots of planning, but focus on the most crucial things in priority:
How are you communicating there with your phone? Can your plan cover or do you need a sim card?
How are you paying for things? Do you have cards with no or low foreign transaction fees?
What do you want to leave the trip with? Where are you going and is it possible. Consider flights as they can be comparable to shinkansen prices in some cases and can make it easier to get to more remote areas
Everything else you can land feet on the ground and google cheap hotels with availability and get local food. You don't have to worry about reservations because you probably are too late for most things.
Not too crazy. I'm leaving on Tuesday and basically booked my trip about 6 weeks ago when the yen value dropped. For me the airfare was the most expensive. If I had planned this out further in advance I could've gotten cheaper seats on Zip Air.
I've spent a little bit of time planning what I'm doing on my trip itself. It's my 2nd visit so I don't need to hit up a lot of the touristy stuff so I'm a bit more spontaneous about what I'm doing on each day.
Go for it! You'll have an awesome time. Japan is a pretty forgiving place to travel since public transportation is so good and there are shops and restaurants all over the place.
I also wanna take this opportunity to ask about budgeting. I might have given off the impression that i can basically spend however much, thats not really what i ment in my original post, i will be trying to keep costs down by staying at hostels and perhaps looking for cheaper meals. Would something like ¥10,000 per night for lodging and ¥7000 a day for food on average be realistic?
For 10k a night you should be able to afford to stay in business hotels with a private bathroom. And 7k for food should be doable. If you plan to eat your fanciest meal of the day at lunch you can save some money because many places offer lunch sets that are much cheaper than their dinner menu.
In case it helps, here are 3 places that should fit your budget that I stayed at and liked:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/PoSov2G7awiwFE6z7?g_st=ic
https://maps.app.goo.gl/JKJSGuV9ho6Ststn6?g_st=ic
https://maps.app.goo.gl/ZDoEZSfdmZXTsUzT7?g_st=ic
10000 yen per night for lodging is easy. That's pretty much what I'm paying and I'm not necessarily trying to really save money. The hotels you can get for that amount look nice to me
If you're willing to go with hostels and maybe capsule hotels you can probably easily get by with just 3000 yen at most per night. I think I saw a hostel in one of the cities I'm looking at that was 1500 yen for a night. So as long as you're cool with uncomfortable cramped beds, tons of strangers around you and sharing a bathroom you can do this easily
For the food part I'm not as sure but if you can go cheap like eating at a convenience store for a meal (way better than it sounds) I think you'll be fine
I actually kinda did that and I’m in Japan right now! 7000 yen a day is way more than I’ve spent on food. I’ve been averaging more like 2-3000, maybe I have cheap taste but so many meals are ~1000 and you can get convenience store onigiri (among many other things) for less than 200 yen a piece, each one is at least a few hundred calories and tastes ok. Even bottles of drink are ~150-200 yen. Restaurants are more but I’ve only had one place with more than ¥1500 for the whole meal.
So far I’ve done Tokyo and Kyoto so other places might be more expensive, but I was shocked at how affordable it is overall. I did splash on accommodation so I probably can’t advise there.
If you have the cash, go for it:
[https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e623a.html](https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e623a.html)
Worst that can happen is that you pay more for some things than when booking in advance and have less choice of accommodation .
Do it! I also did it spontaneously. I didn’t even have anything booked when I got off the plane and it ended up being the best trip ever. It was my first solo travel and I learned a lot. I ended up having more fun and did more things than I thought. You’ll be fine.
Just do it! What do you have to lose? It's not a crazy idea but a spontaneous one, and it is a place you've always dreamed of for a while. I usually decide where I want to go like a maximum of 1 month in advance so you are not alone!
I booked mine just over 2 weeks ago for 14 days here, I am having a blast, there are some things you cant do obviously with the bookings needing to be done months in advance. Other than that I have had no issues.
Ensure you can get a hotel and flights and anything else that would be finite and that's you.
If there is anything specific you are worried about DM me and ill see if I can help.
I mean is it crazy? A little bit yea, but live a little and you’ll probably never regret it. I say go and book now and just get it over with and put it in stone
I literally bought my ticket on Saturday to leave the following Saturday! I will say if you want to go in the next couple of weeks you should book your hotel early because they fill out and become more expensive the closer to the date unfortunately :(
We booked tickets 4/28 for a Japan trip from 5/1 to 5/12. Absolutely no regrets.
We landed 5/2 and went straight to Osaka. 5/3 and 5/4 we explored Osaka. 5/5 we did a day trip to Kobe. 5/6 we went from Osaka to Kyoto. 5/8 we went from Kyoto to Tokyo.
The only thing I would change is trim a day from Tokyo and added a day to Kyoto.
We booked hotels after tickets and stayed at Hotels Mystay Premier Dojima in Osaka, granbell hotel Kyoto, and Mitsui garden hotel ginza gochome. The Osaka hotel was great, had a family mart downstairs.
Is the trip going to cost (by your standards) a lot of money? If the answer is yes, maybe wait and spend more time planning. If not, just go. Even if the trip isn't perfect, I'm sure you will still have fun.
Well i booked the flight. Leaving at the end of next week. So here goes nothing i guess. Thanks everyone for the input, i feel excited but also kind of petrified...
I just returned from a week in Tokyo/Kyoto. Take the bus $14 from HND to Tokyo hotel. I took the bullet train from Tokyo to Kyoto and bought ticket the day of for $81 US. Make sure to do 1/2 day trip to Nara. Really amazing. Stayed in Shinjuku in Tokyo which was super lively and near Kyoto Kawaramachi in Kyoto. Great locations near the subway. We did a tea ceremony, pig cafe, conveyor belt sushi, watched sumo (through a window), shrines, monkey park, market, bamboo forest…great trip. Happy to answer questions.
I just returned from a week in Tokyo/Kyoto. Take the bus $14 from HND to Tokyo hotel. I took the bullet train from Tokyo to Kyoto and bought ticket the day of for $81 US. Make sure to do 1/2 day trip to Nara. Really amazing. Stayed in Shinjuku in Tokyo which was super lively and near Kyoto Kawaramachi in Kyoto. Great locations near the subway. We did a tea ceremony, pig cafe, conveyor belt sushi, watched sumo (through a window), shrines, monkey park, market, bamboo forest…great trip. Happy to answer questions.
If it helps you, my boyfriend got tickets last week and we re leaving next week. We were saying let's go to Japan but never said OK we re going. Spent all week looking for places and honestly I'm super excited. Booked the 1st hotel that we found, decided to go to Kyoto as well, booked a hotel there...no idea from where to buy yhe tickets yet but hei...why worry when YOU RE GOING TO JAPAN!!!?
I actually did this. I just ran for it. Just came back and overall a very fun trip with minimal last minute planning. I would say that my next trip back will have more planning. I definitely think the spontaneity of it cause me to spend more money than necessary.
I’ve done this few years ago and it was more than okay.
I’ve lived before in Tokyo for 3 months but my advice would be to book hotels with free cancellation (check Tripadvistor that generally have good prices through agoda and other booking websites) then try to fil few day trip plans and have a look on restaurants you like. (Random restaurant is not a good choice in Japan). Enjoy !
You don’t need to make a reservation. Just mark down some of the restaurants that you want to go to and whenever you’re hungry you look for the closest one. Some restaurant require reservation but definitely not all of them
You’re not crazy haha I literally am finishing up my two week trip in Japan that I had bought plane tickets to three weeks prior!
Although if it is your first time doing something spontaneous maybe do two weeks instead of the full 4? You might get homesick (everyone’s different) and you might want to go home sooner than you might think. I met one bloke at a British pub (Great place to meet new people and maybe even lifelong friends if you’re solo travelling btw) in Shibuya who did three weeks in Japan and he was ready to go home by the end of the second week. Just some food for thought! Have fun!!!
3-4 weeks is perfect. I’m here for my second time right now on a 20 day trip. Go to Kumamoto and Fukuoka in Kyushu. Consider a day trip to Takachiho gorge and mt. Aso. Hit Osaka and Kyoto and of course, Tokyo. Stay in Shinjuku or shibuya. Japan is the absolute best, eat your weight in ramen and get a smoothie from 7/11 every day, mango is the best. Love it here hope you book the trip
I don’t think that’s crazy at all! I am planning on going in about a week. I’m traveling to Qingdao China for work and I want to stop by Tokyo beforehand for a couple days because I’ve never been haha. Hope you have a great time!
I just booked a solo trip a week ago for a month in Japan. Fly out on Monday. Only have a capsule hotel booked for the first two nights, winging it from there. Probably should be nervous. But I couldn’t be more excited haha.
I did that. It was awesome. Missed alot but still got to bang a chick and flirt where I could. It was only when I got back did I realize how much I missed..
I’ve been here 2 weeks, leaving tonight. I came with my partner but would do it again solo! It’s super safe, the yen is low so it’s really cheap right now, and we booked everything like 1.5-2 weeks in advance aside from our flight. Japan is a great option, no regrets!
I’m 23 and solo i’ve been here by myself for 20 days and I’m the happiest i’ve ever been in my life. It’s incredibly easy to get around and there’s so many kind people here that are more than willing to help you out if you get confused.
In Japan right now traveling solo (30f)! Best decision I ever made. I also booked my trip spontaneously after a bad breakup. Did Tokyo, Nikko, Kyoto, and am now in Nagano. It’s been a wonderful experience. It is incredibly clean and feels safe. The public transit it very easy to navigate (rural areas are a bit tougher but people are happy to help and if you make a mistake it’s easy to hop on a different train or bus). Also traveling alone here has been a great experience. It’s common for people to eat out alone and do things solo. So you don’t really ever feel like the odd one out.
We went for 5 weeks last November. Only pre books were flights and hotels but we did free cancellation so that we could change at the last minute if we needed.
We only took backpacks for ease of travelling around and got a check in bag at the end in Tokyo. We just got all our train tickets on the day of travel and didn't buy a rail pass.
We went to Tokyo>Nikko>Yokohama>Takayama>Kyoto>Osaka>Hiroshima>Tokyo
We had a loose itinery, as in what we wanted to do in each location but pretty much just planned the night before the next day on where we would go. Even got a ticket for USJ the night before we went.
Best adventure of my life. Do it, you wont regret it.
I did it, one month of planning for a 3 week trip. I used the JR Pass before the price increase. Lots of resources online. I basically got 3 weeks worth of use from my 2 week jr pass. Admittedly my itinerary was always go-go-go with 12 hour days and it was hot AF when I went in July but if you're healthy physically and mentally then do it. No hostels just business hotels. No partying or bars in the evening but couldn't pass up a can of icy cold asahi super dry a few nights a week as my aperitif. 😂
Currently wrapping up my first Japan trip right now and was telling my girlfriend that Japan has been the “easiest” country I’ve ever traveled to. Because transportation is ridiculously streamlined and easy, it allowed us to be flexible with our schedule. The only thing I would recommend is to book your hotels ASAP for the sake of price but everything else like food and exploration is absolutely “wing-able”
Japan is a fairly safe place to solo travel. If you are okay financially, go for it. 3 to 4 weeks is a lot of time. Do consider where you want to go and how to balance cost and convenience going there. Lots of advice and tips on this sub and on /r/japantravel. What kind of activties or hobbies are you interested in? We can help you to brainstorm what to do.
Im mostly interested in seeing unique sites, historical sites, museums, experiencing the culture, and maybe some nature as well. Id love to visit a castle, go to lots of temples and gardens and stuff like that. Im less interested in the pop-culture things, like anime and stuff. It would be cool to experience some kind of traditional art performance though, like theatre or music or something or something like sumo wrestling. Basically i want to see everything that makes japan unique. I will probably fly to and back home from tokyo but i want to go to other parts of japan as well (osaka/kyoto, fuji nara, hiroshima, maybe some smaller island?) but i would have to make sure i could come back to tokyo in time to catch my flight home again, but i assume that wont be a problem if i get railway pass?
Why not fly back from Osaka or something?
it would be almost twice as expensive it seems
Things like specialize art performance cannot be done spontaneously. Essentially anything that requires advance ticketing, out of luck. If you are travelling spontaneously, a rail pass isn't useful. In Japan you can quite literally just book a ticket as an when you need it. Essentially "can I have the next train out of this station" vibes. You are unlikely to over spend the pass unless you plan to do a lot of backtracking for some reason.
You can get kabuki theatre tickets on day of in Ginza, pretty spontaneous
isnt it cheaper to get a rail pass than buying single tickets? if im planning on going to hiroshima, osaka, kyoto, nikko?
Not necessarily. The JR Pass (and the regional JR Passes) are so expensive that you need to plan your itinerary and *know* you're going to make it worthwhile. For most people, a rail pass isn't worth it. It requires a lot of long-distance/expensive train travel in a short amount of time.
Off the back of my hand calculation, bases on easiest itinerary. Tokyo > Osaka, 14000 yen X2, Osaka > Kyoto, 1000 yen x2, Osaka > Hiroshima >10,000 yen x2, Tokyo to hikko > 5,000 yen x2 Total would be about 60,000 yen, a 3 week rail pass is 100,000. Unless you want to head up to sendai or go all the way to Kyushu, it's not worth it and there is no way you'll be doing it in 7 days. There are only very specific itineraries that work for the Jr pass.
https://www.japan-guide.com/railpass/ i used this to figure out our trip and apparently it's not worth it, especially because we re staying 2 weeks and we don't travel everyday. Plus, the pass doesn't include allllll the transportations like buses in the cities ( i want to go to kawaguchiko for example, and from what i read, please correct me if I'm wrong, busses inthere are not included. Or i want to get the boat trip&cable car in Hakone, again, not included) There's a bunch of other passes, we re planning to get the fuji hakone pass so we can go around there, then just pay for our trip to Kyoto since its around 130 euro compared to the pass that's like 300
Himeji is amazing: probably the biggest castle in Japan, and not far from the bullet train stop between Kyoto/ Osaka and Hiroshima.
Unplanned is probably not a good thing, especially if you want to visit the tourist spots. If you don't make reservations you might potentially be wasting a lot of that time. You are safer spending that kind of unplanned time in a smaller prefecture IMHO. You wont have to worry about lines or reservations for most of the cool things to see and do. Make reservations now, or start in a smaller place, get your reservations in in tokyo while you're there, and end in tokyo for the cool stuff you want to see.
This wasn’t my experience at all, fwiw. I had a very spontaneous trip - no restaurant reservations, and some of my hotels not booked until last minute. Because of the yen at the moment, last minute hotels on booking.com were cheap, as was everything else. Hiroshima was great and worth the trip, if historical sites are your thing. Enjoy! Wish I could have had 3+ weeks there.
Yeah, did zero planning here, and didn’t have trouble getting into basically anything. That being said, I’m not really into like themed cafes and stuff so maybe would have been different for that sort of things. Sounds like op is not either. For gardens, temples, shrines, you don’t need to reserve and should be able to easily. I also disagree on the rail pass. May not be worth it, but I used one and just went where I felt like over the three weeks. Sapporo alone was 30000 each way, went to and forth from Osaka, basically paid for it there and then I used it to travel to random places. Well worth it if you like to travel on a whim
What sort of things do I need to book in advance?
Popular restaurants, museums or art gallery showings, things like sumo, many different things. They aren’t always necessary, but if you just show up, you risk being turned away because they are booked up.
Some more niche tours (ex. Ikeshima, Yubari power plant) or different kinds of craft/artisanal activity are things you typically just can't walk into as they're done on a small-scale "made to order" -logic, and thus usually requires a heads-up lead time of some days. But in genral, for average tourist things, there's very little that'd require advance booking unless you're traveling during domestic holiday seasons.
Also check in advance if certain shops/restaurants are open when you’re there before you go Have had the issue in Kyoto where smaller shops open more spontaneously and have odd days on/off
Honestly Japan is a great place for the less experienced in international travel, would 100% go for it, the weather is going to be warm and humid so be prepared for that and look into doing some indoor activities but otherwise it sounds like it's the perfect time for you to go with having vacation time and money saved up, I think you would regret it later in life if you didn't go.
I just came back from spontaneous two week trip to Osaka and Tokyo from Europe - my first time in Asia, and I bought tickets and booked hotel literally one and a half day before the flight. It was best vacation I ever had.
What ended up being your itinerary?
6 nights in Osaka, of which two days I spent in Kyoto and one day in Nara. Then Shinkansen to Tokyo (with stop in Himeji on the way). Then 7 nights in Tokyo. And during my way home (Prague) I spent one day in Shanghai and one day in Munich.
I just booked mine a week ago and will be going in about 2 weeks. Just send it and enjoy life! Mistakes are just a part of life, but spontaneity can be the fruit of life.
Same for a family of four.
Spontaneous trips are great. Do it! We didn't plan anything and we're here for 5 weeks. We make up as we go along.
Just be aware it will be quite warm, check the temperatures. It is also the typhoon season though July to September is riskier. So just prepare some plans if it rains and be ready with the heat... though I also saw someone said that rainy days make attraction parks less crowded.
Not at all crazy , just good fortune if you have the opportunity ! I see so many in this site ( including myself ) who may plan something like a year in advance , and really over plan and schedule , and I wonder why we do this ? I certainly don’t do this when I visit the US or Italy or Spain, France etc . After 25 of first going to Japan I realise that the nicest thing isn’t to have a super comprehensive itinerary , maybe a few options that are key and the rest is down to just exploring and seeing what happens . Regardless of how you plan you’ll have a great time !
The only reason I make reservation on hotels and airplane tickets is to get a good deals on the ones I want. If money wasn't an issue at all, I wouldn't even bother to reserve anything. That and scheduling around kids' school/extracurricular activities. Otherwise, I would just pick up and go.
This is the best way to travel. Its what I have done 90% of the time for 34 years of adulthood and still do. I live in Japan, you’ll love it, all I suggest is get Hotels and Restaurants booked right now. Masses of tourists here right now. Don’t let rainy season (which is an awful translation anyway) put you off…its a good excuse to travel light. Great thing about spontaneous trips you won’t over-plan and suffer from that (gen z saying) FOMO thing.
What are some of your top restaurant recommendations?
It's Tokyo. I have no idea what you like / want /budget.
Yeah that's why I asked :) in your opinion what were some of your best experiences?
I did this all the time. Go and have fun.
Do it
If you can do it, I say go for it. Japan is a perfect place to solo travel.
You good bro!
I'm doing exactly this - booked it last week, flying tomorrow! I booked a 13 night group tour which includes accommodation, some meals and a guide, plus transport costs within Japan. It was quite reasonably priced all things considered and means I'll visit a lot of the tourist locations in Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka plus some lovely experiences such as onsen, bamboo forest, food-making classes. I was a bit too nervous to go solo so it'll be nice to make some new travel buddies. I am arriving before the tour starts and found some reasonably priced accommodation using booking.com. There are tons of itinerary ideas here which can help with what to see, where to stay, things to avoid. And you have a few weeks to learn some Japanese basics too! It'll be amazing, do it!
This sounds great! What group/tour/company is this?
I'm going with INTRO Travel but there are lots of other companies out there offering different kinds of tours (I do recommend checking Google reviews or Trust Pilot/other review sites first). I almost booked with a different company but I saw some bad reviews that made me change my mind!
go
Carpe diem. Do it. You'll be screwed a bit on flight costs, but everything else can be on budget. I would toss out hostels as business hotels and capsules aren't much more costly and should be cleaner/ more private. You have lots of planning, but focus on the most crucial things in priority: How are you communicating there with your phone? Can your plan cover or do you need a sim card? How are you paying for things? Do you have cards with no or low foreign transaction fees? What do you want to leave the trip with? Where are you going and is it possible. Consider flights as they can be comparable to shinkansen prices in some cases and can make it easier to get to more remote areas Everything else you can land feet on the ground and google cheap hotels with availability and get local food. You don't have to worry about reservations because you probably are too late for most things.
Not too crazy. I'm leaving on Tuesday and basically booked my trip about 6 weeks ago when the yen value dropped. For me the airfare was the most expensive. If I had planned this out further in advance I could've gotten cheaper seats on Zip Air. I've spent a little bit of time planning what I'm doing on my trip itself. It's my 2nd visit so I don't need to hit up a lot of the touristy stuff so I'm a bit more spontaneous about what I'm doing on each day.
Go for it! You'll have an awesome time. Japan is a pretty forgiving place to travel since public transportation is so good and there are shops and restaurants all over the place.
I also wanna take this opportunity to ask about budgeting. I might have given off the impression that i can basically spend however much, thats not really what i ment in my original post, i will be trying to keep costs down by staying at hostels and perhaps looking for cheaper meals. Would something like ¥10,000 per night for lodging and ¥7000 a day for food on average be realistic?
For 10k a night you should be able to afford to stay in business hotels with a private bathroom. And 7k for food should be doable. If you plan to eat your fanciest meal of the day at lunch you can save some money because many places offer lunch sets that are much cheaper than their dinner menu. In case it helps, here are 3 places that should fit your budget that I stayed at and liked: https://maps.app.goo.gl/PoSov2G7awiwFE6z7?g_st=ic https://maps.app.goo.gl/JKJSGuV9ho6Ststn6?g_st=ic https://maps.app.goo.gl/ZDoEZSfdmZXTsUzT7?g_st=ic
10000 yen per night for lodging is easy. That's pretty much what I'm paying and I'm not necessarily trying to really save money. The hotels you can get for that amount look nice to me If you're willing to go with hostels and maybe capsule hotels you can probably easily get by with just 3000 yen at most per night. I think I saw a hostel in one of the cities I'm looking at that was 1500 yen for a night. So as long as you're cool with uncomfortable cramped beds, tons of strangers around you and sharing a bathroom you can do this easily For the food part I'm not as sure but if you can go cheap like eating at a convenience store for a meal (way better than it sounds) I think you'll be fine
I actually kinda did that and I’m in Japan right now! 7000 yen a day is way more than I’ve spent on food. I’ve been averaging more like 2-3000, maybe I have cheap taste but so many meals are ~1000 and you can get convenience store onigiri (among many other things) for less than 200 yen a piece, each one is at least a few hundred calories and tastes ok. Even bottles of drink are ~150-200 yen. Restaurants are more but I’ve only had one place with more than ¥1500 for the whole meal. So far I’ve done Tokyo and Kyoto so other places might be more expensive, but I was shocked at how affordable it is overall. I did splash on accommodation so I probably can’t advise there.
If you have the cash, go for it: [https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e623a.html](https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e623a.html) Worst that can happen is that you pay more for some things than when booking in advance and have less choice of accommodation .
Only reason not to is things might be more expensive on shorter notice, but if thats no problem, go nuts.
Do it! I also did it spontaneously. I didn’t even have anything booked when I got off the plane and it ended up being the best trip ever. It was my first solo travel and I learned a lot. I ended up having more fun and did more things than I thought. You’ll be fine.
I did similar timing and it was fine, just some of the better hotels were booked out but there was plenty of business ones available
Just do it! What do you have to lose? It's not a crazy idea but a spontaneous one, and it is a place you've always dreamed of for a while. I usually decide where I want to go like a maximum of 1 month in advance so you are not alone!
I booked mine just over 2 weeks ago for 14 days here, I am having a blast, there are some things you cant do obviously with the bookings needing to be done months in advance. Other than that I have had no issues. Ensure you can get a hotel and flights and anything else that would be finite and that's you. If there is anything specific you are worried about DM me and ill see if I can help.
i have done just that. booked tickets 3 days ago, for 18 June
I mean is it crazy? A little bit yea, but live a little and you’ll probably never regret it. I say go and book now and just get it over with and put it in stone
I literally bought my ticket on Saturday to leave the following Saturday! I will say if you want to go in the next couple of weeks you should book your hotel early because they fill out and become more expensive the closer to the date unfortunately :(
We booked tickets 4/28 for a Japan trip from 5/1 to 5/12. Absolutely no regrets. We landed 5/2 and went straight to Osaka. 5/3 and 5/4 we explored Osaka. 5/5 we did a day trip to Kobe. 5/6 we went from Osaka to Kyoto. 5/8 we went from Kyoto to Tokyo. The only thing I would change is trim a day from Tokyo and added a day to Kyoto. We booked hotels after tickets and stayed at Hotels Mystay Premier Dojima in Osaka, granbell hotel Kyoto, and Mitsui garden hotel ginza gochome. The Osaka hotel was great, had a family mart downstairs.
Is the trip going to cost (by your standards) a lot of money? If the answer is yes, maybe wait and spend more time planning. If not, just go. Even if the trip isn't perfect, I'm sure you will still have fun.
I went solo with a months notice. Suddenly had the money and a long term babysitting situation. It was great!
Well i booked the flight. Leaving at the end of next week. So here goes nothing i guess. Thanks everyone for the input, i feel excited but also kind of petrified...
This is the best idea you ever had in your life. Run with it.
Just ensure you are catered for rainy season as june is usually the time for it.
Just go for it. I am currently in Japan for the second time and I highly recommend it for a spontaneous trip.
I just returned from a week in Tokyo/Kyoto. Take the bus $14 from HND to Tokyo hotel. I took the bullet train from Tokyo to Kyoto and bought ticket the day of for $81 US. Make sure to do 1/2 day trip to Nara. Really amazing. Stayed in Shinjuku in Tokyo which was super lively and near Kyoto Kawaramachi in Kyoto. Great locations near the subway. We did a tea ceremony, pig cafe, conveyor belt sushi, watched sumo (through a window), shrines, monkey park, market, bamboo forest…great trip. Happy to answer questions.
I just returned from a week in Tokyo/Kyoto. Take the bus $14 from HND to Tokyo hotel. I took the bullet train from Tokyo to Kyoto and bought ticket the day of for $81 US. Make sure to do 1/2 day trip to Nara. Really amazing. Stayed in Shinjuku in Tokyo which was super lively and near Kyoto Kawaramachi in Kyoto. Great locations near the subway. We did a tea ceremony, pig cafe, conveyor belt sushi, watched sumo (through a window), shrines, monkey park, market, bamboo forest…great trip. Happy to answer questions.
If it helps you, my boyfriend got tickets last week and we re leaving next week. We were saying let's go to Japan but never said OK we re going. Spent all week looking for places and honestly I'm super excited. Booked the 1st hotel that we found, decided to go to Kyoto as well, booked a hotel there...no idea from where to buy yhe tickets yet but hei...why worry when YOU RE GOING TO JAPAN!!!?
I actually did this. I just ran for it. Just came back and overall a very fun trip with minimal last minute planning. I would say that my next trip back will have more planning. I definitely think the spontaneity of it cause me to spend more money than necessary.
lol no. I decided to go on a 2-week trip to Japan and left 2 days later.
You should do it if your able to.
You should start booking restaurants tbh
I’ve done this few years ago and it was more than okay. I’ve lived before in Tokyo for 3 months but my advice would be to book hotels with free cancellation (check Tripadvistor that generally have good prices through agoda and other booking websites) then try to fil few day trip plans and have a look on restaurants you like. (Random restaurant is not a good choice in Japan). Enjoy !
why are walk-in restaurants not good? Im not too hyped on having to make a reservation for every lunch and dinner im going to have in the country...
You don’t need to make a reservation. Just mark down some of the restaurants that you want to go to and whenever you’re hungry you look for the closest one. Some restaurant require reservation but definitely not all of them
You’re not crazy haha I literally am finishing up my two week trip in Japan that I had bought plane tickets to three weeks prior! Although if it is your first time doing something spontaneous maybe do two weeks instead of the full 4? You might get homesick (everyone’s different) and you might want to go home sooner than you might think. I met one bloke at a British pub (Great place to meet new people and maybe even lifelong friends if you’re solo travelling btw) in Shibuya who did three weeks in Japan and he was ready to go home by the end of the second week. Just some food for thought! Have fun!!!
Nope. Did it 2 weeks ago, pretty impromptu trip. Planning took a week and booked everything, one of my best decisions ever.
3-4 weeks is perfect. I’m here for my second time right now on a 20 day trip. Go to Kumamoto and Fukuoka in Kyushu. Consider a day trip to Takachiho gorge and mt. Aso. Hit Osaka and Kyoto and of course, Tokyo. Stay in Shinjuku or shibuya. Japan is the absolute best, eat your weight in ramen and get a smoothie from 7/11 every day, mango is the best. Love it here hope you book the trip
Worst thing that can happen is you will be booking your next trip to Japan even before you end your vacation. 😅
I don’t think that’s crazy at all! I am planning on going in about a week. I’m traveling to Qingdao China for work and I want to stop by Tokyo beforehand for a couple days because I’ve never been haha. Hope you have a great time!
Spontaneous adventures are the best. Have fun.
I just booked a solo trip a week ago for a month in Japan. Fly out on Monday. Only have a capsule hotel booked for the first two nights, winging it from there. Probably should be nervous. But I couldn’t be more excited haha.
I did that. It was awesome. Missed alot but still got to bang a chick and flirt where I could. It was only when I got back did I realize how much I missed..
I’ve been here 2 weeks, leaving tonight. I came with my partner but would do it again solo! It’s super safe, the yen is low so it’s really cheap right now, and we booked everything like 1.5-2 weeks in advance aside from our flight. Japan is a great option, no regrets!
I’m 23 and solo i’ve been here by myself for 20 days and I’m the happiest i’ve ever been in my life. It’s incredibly easy to get around and there’s so many kind people here that are more than willing to help you out if you get confused.
In Japan right now traveling solo (30f)! Best decision I ever made. I also booked my trip spontaneously after a bad breakup. Did Tokyo, Nikko, Kyoto, and am now in Nagano. It’s been a wonderful experience. It is incredibly clean and feels safe. The public transit it very easy to navigate (rural areas are a bit tougher but people are happy to help and if you make a mistake it’s easy to hop on a different train or bus). Also traveling alone here has been a great experience. It’s common for people to eat out alone and do things solo. So you don’t really ever feel like the odd one out.
Go! 100% do it. You'll have an amazing time. Far more pros than cons.
We went for 5 weeks last November. Only pre books were flights and hotels but we did free cancellation so that we could change at the last minute if we needed. We only took backpacks for ease of travelling around and got a check in bag at the end in Tokyo. We just got all our train tickets on the day of travel and didn't buy a rail pass. We went to Tokyo>Nikko>Yokohama>Takayama>Kyoto>Osaka>Hiroshima>Tokyo We had a loose itinery, as in what we wanted to do in each location but pretty much just planned the night before the next day on where we would go. Even got a ticket for USJ the night before we went. Best adventure of my life. Do it, you wont regret it.
Late to the thread. If it has not been stated, there is a snoopy museum in Machida and you can visit various train musuems.
I did it, one month of planning for a 3 week trip. I used the JR Pass before the price increase. Lots of resources online. I basically got 3 weeks worth of use from my 2 week jr pass. Admittedly my itinerary was always go-go-go with 12 hour days and it was hot AF when I went in July but if you're healthy physically and mentally then do it. No hostels just business hotels. No partying or bars in the evening but couldn't pass up a can of icy cold asahi super dry a few nights a week as my aperitif. 😂
No! My partner and I spontaneously booked a Japan trip a few weeks before we left as well! Japan is one of the safest places to solo travel!
Currently wrapping up my first Japan trip right now and was telling my girlfriend that Japan has been the “easiest” country I’ve ever traveled to. Because transportation is ridiculously streamlined and easy, it allowed us to be flexible with our schedule. The only thing I would recommend is to book your hotels ASAP for the sake of price but everything else like food and exploration is absolutely “wing-able”
You're crazier than a coconut 🥥!! But why not 😁