For people who have been: Ryokan in Hakone or Kyoto?

Been to both. I would go to Hakone for the springs for sure just to try. Kyoto if you wanna see other stuff besides springs. Hakone is definitely expensive and it's not as accessible. that is, you'll need to change to the local private train line to get in. Kuro ramen, and kuro tamago (black ramen, black hard boiled eggs) tastes just like the normal variants so taking the cable car for me is simply for the sights and landscape.

Hakone is less catering to tourist as it's really country-side like. Kyoto is still a metropolitan area where you can do a lot and is surrounded by things to see. I went to Arashiyama and that is possibly one of the most beautiful little towns I've been to with the bamboo forest. they also have bike rentals that you can bike around the small town on.

i was in Arashiyama at night and i agree.. super beautiful...

Togetsukyou Bridge is beautiful at night. got there pretty late in the day so didn't get a chance to see that area in full swing.

Time to head back tot he drawing board!

What is the question?

i think he's asking which location would be better

It's like saying what restaurant would you choose: One in Vancouver, or one in Victoria? Totally different places... Hakone is a hot spring village with only a few things to do (not that they aren't fun things to do).

Kyoto is one of the largest cities in the country, the former capital, with tons of different things to do.


And in both of them, ryokan service would range quite a bit. Kyoto would go quite a bit lower, offering very basic amenities, since it's not purely a tourist attraction like Hakone is.

Thanks for the post. Yeah I think we're leaning towards staying in Hakone one or two nights in a ryokan -- we really just wanted to experience a ryokan and weren't sure if we should choose Kyoto or Hakone since they are quite expensive. We'll still be heading to Kyoto but basing out of Osaka and doing a day trip there.

One is good. Two is a waste. Much more to see and do elsewhere. If you are using Osaka as a starting point hiroshima is a great historic place to visit. Osaka itself is a place I love for the food.

If you're based out of Osaka and not going near Tokyo, then Hakone is way too far to consider.

You could get similar hot spring experiences to Hakone all throughout Japan. Even in Kyoto you can make a day trip out to a hot spring, stay at a Ryokan or not, and head back to your base hotel. They really are everywhere!

Hakone is super popular due to its proximity to Tokyo, I actually prefer the more rural hot springs.

Sorry didn't explain my full itinerary there lol. When im going to Kyoto I'll be based in Osaka but before heading to Hakone I'll be in Tokyo for a week.

Tokyo --> Hakone --> Osaka --> Kyoto/Kobe day trips (preliminary itinerary so far)

Yeah I'm going to look into some of small towns around Kyoto/Osaka as well to see if we can find a decent ryokan around there.

If you are going to be in Kobe... we went to Arima Onsen and enjoyed it.

It's further out of the city in the mountains, but with easy public transit options.

Mind you, it's a small onsen town out of Kobe... so there's nothing much to do except the onsen (there was a buckwheat noodle shop that's pretty good)... you have a commercial strip that's 3-4 blocks... and that's it. We were there as a stop to get away from all the city thing from Kyoto/Osaka... so it worked out great!

In Hakone, we stayed at the Ryokan Fukuzumiro - 2 nights, It's a bit rustic and storied (lots of history behind it) but I recommend it as far as a first time Ryokan experience. I'm sure there's much nicer ones for much more $$$.

That being said, I liked the fact that we could just stay in and enjoy the place as we pretty much did all the sightseeing in Hakone in one day and could just relax.

If you're in Kyoto you may want to see a lot more things (because there are) so you might not enjoy the Ryokan as much as you like.

Thanks for the recommendation. Thats in the price range we're looking for.

Does anyone here have a hook up to booking Sushi Saito? Not staying at a hotel so won't have a concierge to book a reso for us...

Anyone have experience with this data-only sim? Details on 5GB / 21Days Prepaid Data SIM card | b-mobile VISITOR SIM
Seems to be the best price out there.

The pocket wifi would be around $120 CAD vs like $45 CAD for this visitor data-only sim. Would be nice to not have to carry around an additional device, and just use my dual sim phone. One less thing to charge at night too.

If you want to do pocket wifi in japan, I recommend this:
iVideo 150 countries wifi router?pocket wifi japan?japan wifi?japan pocket wifi?portable wifi hotspot rental,Lowest Price Just $0.79 per day!Pokemon go plus watch rental

Get the softbank device, Monthly Fee (31 days) :35 USD​ (plus $10 USD for shipping/returning post office fees). They are uncapped with no throttling of speeds. I used them recently and had good experience. Look at the coupon discount section for more savings.

Pocket wifi should be much cheaper than that. Shop around

^ The reason its that high is because I need it for 14/15 days. At something like $8 CAD per day I'm seeing.

from www.econnectjapan.com

https://i.gyazo.com/1b3ff5f4b2bf73a8...e9804d762a.png

^^ I paid 8270yen for 12 days for 75Mpbs wifi pocket your seems to be a better deal.

Yea I looked at that already, but the problem is it says sold out for all the days I want it for anyways.

Rental a Pocket Wifiin Japan, the best Pocket Wifi rental Service in Jpan: Global Advanced Communications

Keep shopping around

Also you don't need high speed. It's going to be slow anyway, and if you're just using it for things like google maps, the basic 4g or even 3g is all you need. If you try downloading or streaming you'll probably run into cap issues with these providers.

^^ on your website I went with the 75Mbps standard model. Guess i should went with the ECO Wifi instead...... I was considering the ECO Wifi but the battery left doesn't seem that long and I will be out most of the day so I figure I need something that last longer.

before i left, i had redeemed my NCIX points for one of these. i never ran out of battery and i was keeping my phone and my wifi topped up all day. i think the lowest i got was like 20%.

and even to buy this thing is pretty cheap.

one caveat though, it's big, and it's heavy haha.

Linke Smartcharger 20000MAH External Battery Power Bank With LCD Battery Level 5V-2.1A - LKPB-635 - NCIX.com

it says dual 2.1A output, but it's 1x2.1A and 1x1.0A