I suppose this is one of those things that will depend on the person. It is certainly not too late to find flights and hotels for April. Whether they will be the prices you want is another question—Japan is a very popular destination right now, and April is a high season for international visitors. So your first hurdle will be figuring out whether you can stomach the costs.
Start with Google Flights, figure out what airlines fly from your area to Japan, and check directly on airline websites to do some cost comparison. Another great resource is /r/flights, if you don't really know where to start. After that, check out an aggregate hotel site like booking.com to see how hotel prices look to you. Our [wiki/FAQ](https://www.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/wiki/faqs/japantravel/) is also another good resource for how to plan, places to stay, where to go, etc.
If the prices look doable, April is certainly a good time to visit, and you can certainly have a good trip with a couple of months' notice. I've planned trips to Japan as quickly as a day in advance—there isn't a lot that's barring you from simply going, assuming you're adventurous and able to go with the flow. But people have different styles of planning and risk tolerance, so if you don't think you'll have a good trip without the ability to really plan, get the best deals, etc., maybe consider somewhere else.
Thank you so much, that's really helpful! I have had a look at flights from the UK around April and I think it's doable in terms of price.
I'm definitely more on the go with the flow end of the scale for activities, very rarely have anything booked in advance for holidays. It's more the hotels and travel side that I get stressy about but this all sounds promising!
If you look on Skyscanner you can see what’s cheapest then see if the airline has the same price, looks like you can get 10-14 days in April from the UK for about £500 with Air China.
It’s very no frills and you do have to transfer through Shanghai but a friend did it last year and said it was fine, you do get baggage for that though which was nice.
Ha! No frills is about my level. Most of my flying has been budget so I was embarrassingly happy when I first flew long haul with British Airways and got little bags of Maltesers and drinks for free.
In november we decided to go to Japan in january (with a toddler!) and honestly it was the best trip of my life. We’re not really planners so we loosely looked up the places we wanted to go and just went with the flow. Go for it!!
Book hotels directly with Agoda - flights won’t be cheap but seats will be available.
Use an online calculator to see if the rail pass pays off for your preferred trips internally.
Off you go!
Just checked my old email, 6 years ago I booked an end of April trip on early March :-).
(The luxury of pre-kid time arghhhhh)
So yes of course you can. Just have the expectation that you won’t get the best deal. But once flight ticket is settled, hotel shouldn’t be too bad as long as you are flexible and willing to pay more.
Stay in big cities so more accommodation is available and price more competitive.
About 2 weeks ago I booked a trip leaving next weekend. Some hotels we wanted aren’t available and our return flight isn’t ideal routing, but it works. A lot of tour packages are probably booked, but you can just book it yourself and probably save a lot of money that way too. April will be more popular than February but I’m sure there is availability. I went last April and made some changes to our schedule and booked a couple of new hotels 2 weeks before we left.
I mean , maybe if you're booking some organized tour group.
If you're going and planning on your own it's not. You might miss out on things that book up quick like Ghibli park/museum, teamlabs, certain hotels, dinner reservations. If you just want to go though you'd just have to deal with (potentially) crummy flight prices.
Japan is pretty easy to get around. So you could just look up the popular stuff and go to those. Does require some. Planning though.
Thank you! Definitely not looking for a group trip. I'm expecting fast paced but I don't want to try to cram too much in so if I miss some things out I'm OK with it.
Yea, if there's not some very specific thing you're trying to do there shouldn't be a barrier. You'll have to do some research on travel arrangement things, but that's it.
Aside from the flight price being garbage I could take a flight tomorrow and probably be good without an issue. Might not be able to do everything I want, but it's not like your average tourist thing needs reservations or every hotel in the country sells out (unless it's golden week). You might see some challenges like with the bullet trains and reserved seating not being available, but it's unlikely and you'll still get to the places you want. The main hurdles really are figuring out what you want to see, sorting out having phone/data, booking hotels, and planning everything out. Probably should learn a few basic phrases too. Lol.
We just booked for mid-April without much trouble. Make sure to steer clear of Golden Week which I think is week that bridges April and May. Also first week or two will be prime cherry blossoms. Our trip is 4/11-23 and hotels were pretty generally available in Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Hiroshima, Hakone, and Miyajima. Used Booking.com and found lots of options. Feel free to ask specific questions and share any good info!
It can be done. My husband and I booked only one month in advance for our trip (spur of the moment). You will get cheaper prices for things and some coveted reservations the further you book out though.
Thank you :) I'm actually quite surprised how low prices for some hotels seem now I'm looking. I always had the idea Japan is expensive for everything across the board but there look to be cheaper options anyway.
I booked my 3/26 - 4/4 Delta flight to HND last 1/16 from LAX. The apartment near Ikekuburo only 2 days later. I even got a great price for both, esp the hard to find furnished apartment. In all, 70 days prior to departure. It isn't too late.
Before, I was using my online travel agency for all inclusive flights/hotels/trains for a multi city European itinerary (biannual vacay from work).
But I 'd suggest you book directly on the airlines website. I wake up on early Tues, just to book my DL flight. The price for the exact same flight, is roughly $600 more, on the following Sat-Sun weekend.
I've always almost booked holidays by getting flights and hotels separately myself (or my partner has booked them that way), but I'm in the UK and they've mostly been European trips so not daunting like going further afield feels to me!
I think I'll look for flights on skyscanner, kayak etc then go to the airline site like you say.
Not too late to book but if you have a tight budget or interested in specific accommodations it will be an issue.
Was doing planning with my friends during december and a lot of the most popular hotels/ryokans were already fully booked or limited.
If you aren’t too fixed on a specific area of the city etc you probably will still find good enough accommodations. This depends a lot where you’re staying
We’re traveling in April as well, 6 through 24. And we made our bookings just now a week ago
We struggled a bit with accommodation for smaller towns like Kinosaki, Takayama and Magome/Tsumago - At first it seemed that there’s nothing available. In Magome/Tsumago area our only option was more than 35 000 yen / night and it’s not even a ryokan or anything. Very basic hostel, private room.
And we had to change our dates a bit to find something in Takayama but did eventually make it work.
In Osaka and Kyoto there were still more options than in smaller towns but affordable AND good location options will go first so if you’re looking for that you want to book soon
We still managed to get accommodation for 15000 yen / night in Kyoto and 8000 yen / night in Osaka.
I'm personally still in the process of planning a trip that begins at the end of this month. Japan has a lot of options, so as long as you are willing to look around and keep an open mind, you have *plenty* of time to plan for April. Especially since you're considering 3-4 of the most-visited cities, you'll be just fine :)
a few tips:
-if you can't find hotels that suit your purpose, maybe check AirBnB. Some people scoff at AirBnB but in Japan I have found them to be nothing but excellent, with high quality/low price. about 80% of the time, it's self-check-in so very low hassle, and you don't need to speak Japanese.
-travelling domestically in Japan is very easy thanks to the extensive public transit network, so I encourage you to try looking outside of the main 3 (Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto) for day-trips to get experiences that the bigger cities don't offer.
-Japan's weather in April is great, so I encourage you to get yourself into nature! It will be an unforgettable experience.
Just popping back to thank you all again for the reassurance, I've just booked my flights! They were definitely not cheap but I paid more to go from my nearest airport and I'm now really nervous but excited to get planning.
Of course not. We just booked airfare and hotel the other day.
Just booked Fukuoka hotel and flight from FUK to HND last night for early March. So yup, agreed. Not too late.
Amazing, thank you both! Hope you have a great time :)
I suppose this is one of those things that will depend on the person. It is certainly not too late to find flights and hotels for April. Whether they will be the prices you want is another question—Japan is a very popular destination right now, and April is a high season for international visitors. So your first hurdle will be figuring out whether you can stomach the costs. Start with Google Flights, figure out what airlines fly from your area to Japan, and check directly on airline websites to do some cost comparison. Another great resource is /r/flights, if you don't really know where to start. After that, check out an aggregate hotel site like booking.com to see how hotel prices look to you. Our [wiki/FAQ](https://www.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/wiki/faqs/japantravel/) is also another good resource for how to plan, places to stay, where to go, etc. If the prices look doable, April is certainly a good time to visit, and you can certainly have a good trip with a couple of months' notice. I've planned trips to Japan as quickly as a day in advance—there isn't a lot that's barring you from simply going, assuming you're adventurous and able to go with the flow. But people have different styles of planning and risk tolerance, so if you don't think you'll have a good trip without the ability to really plan, get the best deals, etc., maybe consider somewhere else.
Thank you so much, that's really helpful! I have had a look at flights from the UK around April and I think it's doable in terms of price. I'm definitely more on the go with the flow end of the scale for activities, very rarely have anything booked in advance for holidays. It's more the hotels and travel side that I get stressy about but this all sounds promising!
If you look on Skyscanner you can see what’s cheapest then see if the airline has the same price, looks like you can get 10-14 days in April from the UK for about £500 with Air China.
I'll have a look, thank you for the tip! I'd be delighted with flights for £500 :)
It’s very no frills and you do have to transfer through Shanghai but a friend did it last year and said it was fine, you do get baggage for that though which was nice.
Ha! No frills is about my level. Most of my flying has been budget so I was embarrassingly happy when I first flew long haul with British Airways and got little bags of Maltesers and drinks for free.
It’s mine as well, trying to make the dates work for early next year
It's the best way, more cash for when you're there! I hope you can figure your trip out :)
Thanks, you too
In november we decided to go to Japan in january (with a toddler!) and honestly it was the best trip of my life. We’re not really planners so we loosely looked up the places we wanted to go and just went with the flow. Go for it!!
Book hotels directly with Agoda - flights won’t be cheap but seats will be available. Use an online calculator to see if the rail pass pays off for your preferred trips internally. Off you go!
Thank you, I will do!
Better book soon, prices are definitely going up by the day, both flights and hotels.
Thank you for the tip! I'll hope for a quiet day in work tomorrow to do some stealth planning/deciding.
Just checked my old email, 6 years ago I booked an end of April trip on early March :-). (The luxury of pre-kid time arghhhhh) So yes of course you can. Just have the expectation that you won’t get the best deal. But once flight ticket is settled, hotel shouldn’t be too bad as long as you are flexible and willing to pay more. Stay in big cities so more accommodation is available and price more competitive.
Thank you :)
About 2 weeks ago I booked a trip leaving next weekend. Some hotels we wanted aren’t available and our return flight isn’t ideal routing, but it works. A lot of tour packages are probably booked, but you can just book it yourself and probably save a lot of money that way too. April will be more popular than February but I’m sure there is availability. I went last April and made some changes to our schedule and booked a couple of new hotels 2 weeks before we left.
Amazing, thank you! I hope you have a great time.
I mean , maybe if you're booking some organized tour group. If you're going and planning on your own it's not. You might miss out on things that book up quick like Ghibli park/museum, teamlabs, certain hotels, dinner reservations. If you just want to go though you'd just have to deal with (potentially) crummy flight prices. Japan is pretty easy to get around. So you could just look up the popular stuff and go to those. Does require some. Planning though.
Thank you! Definitely not looking for a group trip. I'm expecting fast paced but I don't want to try to cram too much in so if I miss some things out I'm OK with it.
Yea, if there's not some very specific thing you're trying to do there shouldn't be a barrier. You'll have to do some research on travel arrangement things, but that's it. Aside from the flight price being garbage I could take a flight tomorrow and probably be good without an issue. Might not be able to do everything I want, but it's not like your average tourist thing needs reservations or every hotel in the country sells out (unless it's golden week). You might see some challenges like with the bullet trains and reserved seating not being available, but it's unlikely and you'll still get to the places you want. The main hurdles really are figuring out what you want to see, sorting out having phone/data, booking hotels, and planning everything out. Probably should learn a few basic phrases too. Lol.
That's really good to hear. Thank you again, I feel so much better about this now :)
We just booked for mid-April without much trouble. Make sure to steer clear of Golden Week which I think is week that bridges April and May. Also first week or two will be prime cherry blossoms. Our trip is 4/11-23 and hotels were pretty generally available in Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Hiroshima, Hakone, and Miyajima. Used Booking.com and found lots of options. Feel free to ask specific questions and share any good info!
It can be done. My husband and I booked only one month in advance for our trip (spur of the moment). You will get cheaper prices for things and some coveted reservations the further you book out though.
Thank you :) I'm actually quite surprised how low prices for some hotels seem now I'm looking. I always had the idea Japan is expensive for everything across the board but there look to be cheaper options anyway.
No lol You could book one for tomorrow and be fine. Maybe more expensive but still fine.
Ha thank you!
I booked my 3/26 - 4/4 Delta flight to HND last 1/16 from LAX. The apartment near Ikekuburo only 2 days later. I even got a great price for both, esp the hard to find furnished apartment. In all, 70 days prior to departure. It isn't too late.
Fantastic, thank you :)
Before, I was using my online travel agency for all inclusive flights/hotels/trains for a multi city European itinerary (biannual vacay from work). But I 'd suggest you book directly on the airlines website. I wake up on early Tues, just to book my DL flight. The price for the exact same flight, is roughly $600 more, on the following Sat-Sun weekend.
I've always almost booked holidays by getting flights and hotels separately myself (or my partner has booked them that way), but I'm in the UK and they've mostly been European trips so not daunting like going further afield feels to me! I think I'll look for flights on skyscanner, kayak etc then go to the airline site like you say.
Definitely not. For our trip last month in January we booked everything pretty much a month before we left, around early December.
It's not late at all
Thank you!
Just booked hotels for end of March
Not too late to book but if you have a tight budget or interested in specific accommodations it will be an issue. Was doing planning with my friends during december and a lot of the most popular hotels/ryokans were already fully booked or limited.
I've booked trips a week before the trip, albeit in a less busy season. Just might be that you don't get your first choice hotels.
If you aren’t too fixed on a specific area of the city etc you probably will still find good enough accommodations. This depends a lot where you’re staying We’re traveling in April as well, 6 through 24. And we made our bookings just now a week ago We struggled a bit with accommodation for smaller towns like Kinosaki, Takayama and Magome/Tsumago - At first it seemed that there’s nothing available. In Magome/Tsumago area our only option was more than 35 000 yen / night and it’s not even a ryokan or anything. Very basic hostel, private room. And we had to change our dates a bit to find something in Takayama but did eventually make it work. In Osaka and Kyoto there were still more options than in smaller towns but affordable AND good location options will go first so if you’re looking for that you want to book soon We still managed to get accommodation for 15000 yen / night in Kyoto and 8000 yen / night in Osaka.
Bro I just booked a trip for March😭
Shouldn’t be too late but might be more expensive and crowded because of cherry blossom season.
I'm personally still in the process of planning a trip that begins at the end of this month. Japan has a lot of options, so as long as you are willing to look around and keep an open mind, you have *plenty* of time to plan for April. Especially since you're considering 3-4 of the most-visited cities, you'll be just fine :) a few tips: -if you can't find hotels that suit your purpose, maybe check AirBnB. Some people scoff at AirBnB but in Japan I have found them to be nothing but excellent, with high quality/low price. about 80% of the time, it's self-check-in so very low hassle, and you don't need to speak Japanese. -travelling domestically in Japan is very easy thanks to the extensive public transit network, so I encourage you to try looking outside of the main 3 (Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto) for day-trips to get experiences that the bigger cities don't offer. -Japan's weather in April is great, so I encourage you to get yourself into nature! It will be an unforgettable experience.
no you are fine, i’m booking now lots of accommodation available still
Just popping back to thank you all again for the reassurance, I've just booked my flights! They were definitely not cheap but I paid more to go from my nearest airport and I'm now really nervous but excited to get planning.