Wifi router - we always loan from Japan-Wireless so far been 3-4 times , though even Singapore Changi Airport ( link here ) also have but 1) we used a few times so might as well go with them , 2) they can send to hotel or self pick up from major japan airport post office and just need mail it back to them on your last day , 3) cost wise was slightly cheaper if i am to loan from them compare to loaning it from Singapore and it will save the hassle of bringing it to Japan and bringing it back. ( In case of any issue , i think they can reissue another one by post to your next hotel , which i think if you loan from SG , that cannot be done. )
Car rental - We decided to book from ToCoo Car Rental ( basally it's a company like an agent , which book cars from different rental companies like Nissan/Budget/etc ). Compared and find it cheaper then if you going to book direct from the other car rental companies BUT you cannot select the specific car type , you can only select the car class ( meaning for same class there might be a few different models and random will be rent to you ) If you are going to rent specific models then best to rent from car rental companies like Nissan, Toyoto , etc.
Things to note for car rental :
1) English GPS : best to get english GPS unless you know japanese of cos, this will make your driving easier. You can request from Tocoo to see if they have , if not you can emailed the car rental company and see if is is possible with your Tocoo reservation no.
2) ETC : Something like our Cashcard , this trip we got out car from Budget Car Rental Via Tocoo. Tocoo charges 324yen/day for ETC rental BUT Budget offer it for FREE ( cos i emailed them to checked ) so take note of this , if can email the company and check their prices before you commit , ** Compare and Compare to get best deal !
3) Tocoo offers "Free Cancellation " 7 days before collection date BUT do take note of the currency exchange. Cos Tocoo Car rental had a compusulary " Tocoo Additional Support " Fee , which cost 810yen/day. " ToCoo! Option fees are not included in rental car fees, It will be charged from registered credit card when reservation is confirmed."
This is on top of the car rental fees and this will be charged by credit Card. So meaning , even though the Cancellation is free , 24 hrs after you submit you booking they will charge this , so if you cancel they will do a refund but exchange rates via interbank will incur loses. We cancelled 3 times and each times cost use about about $8 loses per transaction.
* Note : booking from Tocoo does not allow changes , any changes you need to Cancel your previous booking then rebook again. So if there is really a need to rebook your car rental , Book a new one first then cancel the old one, Do note to do it 7-8 days before your collection or within 24 hours of first booking. Please read all T&C carefully as my notes might not be updated enough for your trip.
We did not take up additional insurance with Tocoo , check if you need it and IF you do , check the prices in total and compare with other car rental companies. Cos i think Nissan/Toyota Car Rental includes the additional Insurances to the overall rental charges.
For hotels wise , I booked through some of the following sites below :-
1) Toyoko Inn
Members can book 6 months ( non - members 3 months ) in advance and it's free cancellation. Do note that if you know you gonna check in late , either select the timing when you do your booking online OR give the hotel a call on the day of check in. Also Parking might be first come first served basis OR must make reservation in advance, so take note also if you were to drive and need parking space , details will be on the website of the particular branch you booking. You can book first and then choose to join membership on the sport @ 1500 yen, they offer 5% off on weekdays and 20% off on Sundays/PH. Also there is a point system in place, for every 10 nights stayed , you can redeem 1 night FREE ( for single room only , if you take double room , just top up the differences in amount )
2) Booking. com
Offers free cancellation and no charges few days before you check in. Rates are quite reasonable. Any request you can type in during your booking and they will pass to the hotels, Eg. I requested for non-Fish meal in the Ryokan where we book with half-board.
3) Agoda.com
Note : not all hotels are Free Cancellation, so do take note when you book. Prices are usually not included of taxes YET. Sometimes have tie up with banks/cards for extra %. Eg when we book there is a 7% more with DBS/POSB cards. have points systems when you book thru them which can accumulate to redeem for price off your future booking. ( usually i prefer to book thru booking.com first , unless there is no hotel from them , then i will choose agoda , because of the "Free Cancellation" , you can check the different in prices first too.
4) Jalan.net
Certain area in Japan might not be so touristy , so major english site like Booking.com/Agoda might not have so much choices in hotels in that area , or they only have the more pricey ones. So you can also check with site like Jalan.net/Rakuten Travel and Japanican. Even Jalan.net itself the Japanese site got more hotels offered then the english site.
5) えぷろん亭
This is the only Ryokan I booked directly this trip and it was the best value for money stay the whole trip , will talk about it more later on.
Except for the one we stayed in along the coast in Miyazaki , I actually booked direct from the Ryokan though they do have it at Rakuten.travel site
Some other site you can try are :
1) Rakuten Travel
2) Japanican.com
*Notes :
1) As mentioned above , sometimes if you going to stay in smaller less touristy towns/areas in japan and you cannot find a reasonable hotel to stay from site like Booking.com/Agoda , try more natives japanese sites, some of them have english , else just use google translate and find your way through the booking. Do compare all prices/plans from all site ( if you got time ) and get the best deal.
2) Another way i use to find hotels is by using Google Map. Reason is that Self Drive trip is not like trips where you take public transports , when you have a trip that uses public transports , best is stay near Trains/Railways/Subways Stations cos then you no need to walk too much with your luggages. But for driving trips , you can choose to stay anywhere you wants , you do not have that restrictions and sometimes to break away from long drives , you need to stay at more ulu locations. Eg. when i first book the coastal ryokan in Miyazaki , I got no idea where got hotels , so what I did was to use google map to look for the location , then use the "search hotels nearby" function , this will list out the hotels nearby the place I wish to break my long drives , then from there i will click on the hotel name and see if they got any website , if they do not have then I will copy and paste the name of the hotel and try google for it. Then from there you can check the prices for the hotels and can see if any websites does booking for the particular hotel , if not then from the hotel own website , find their email and do an enquiry. Use google translate in this case , type in english then translate it to japanese , past both languages in the mail, most of them will reply ( not all though ). Used this way for our last time to Hokkaido and book some nice hotels/ryokans.
3) In Japan , Most ( almost ALL ) hotels/Ryokans charges by Person and not typical in most countries which charges by per room. So read carefully. Also they usually have different plans like no meals , with breakfast , half board ( dinner + breakfast ) and Full board ( lunch + dinner + breakfast ) though this is very seldom in most case.
Dinner usually can take up to 1 hour if you eat in Ryokan's Half board so do take note of time if you got other plans after, even breakfast can take at least 30 mins. From experiences , Dinner usually can be very full ! Will upload some of the pictures when I post the rest of my trip.
For Ryokans , they usually have half board which means usually they will required to check in before 6 pm , if you gonna check in late , best to informed them as they usually need to know what time you wish to have your dinner. when check in , they will usually ask you to select your preferred Dinner and Breakfast timing.
For Ryokans with Onsen , some of them might have "Family bath" , other then then public Indoor or Outdoor bath. It is usually by "booking" also known as 貸切風呂 , meaning you can booked the "Family bath" aka private bath for ard 50mins to 1 hour usually and usually you can only do it ONCE , more then that you might need to pay for the "rental". Family bath is usually smaller , good for couples or with kids to bath together , also good if you wanna take your private onsen's photos If you are just there with friends , and are ok with public bath , i will recommend public bath instead cos usually it's bigger and nicer.
For hotels wise , I booked through some of the following sites below :-
1) Toyoko Inn
Members can book 6 months ( non - members 3 months ) in advance and it's free cancellation. Do note that if you know you gonna check in late , either select the timing when you do your booking online OR give the hotel a call on the day of check in. Also Parking might be first come first served basis OR must make reservation in advance, so take note also if you were to drive and need parking space , details will be on the website of the particular branch you booking. You can book first and then choose to join membership on the sport @ 1500 yen, they offer 5% off on weekdays and 20% off on Sundays/PH. Also there is a point system in place, for every 10 nights stayed , you can redeem 1 night FREE ( for single room only , if you take double room , just top up the differences in amount )
2) Booking. com
Offers free cancellation and no charges few days before you check in. Rates are quite reasonable. Any request you can type in during your booking and they will pass to the hotels, Eg. I requested for non-Fish meal in the Ryokan where we book with half-board.
3) Agoda.com
Note : not all hotels are Free Cancellation, so do take note when you book. Prices are usually not included of taxes YET. Sometimes have tie up with banks/cards for extra %. Eg when we book there is a 7% more with DBS/POSB cards. have points systems when you book thru them which can accumulate to redeem for price off your future booking. ( usually i prefer to book thru booking.com first , unless there is no hotel from them , then i will choose agoda , because of the "Free Cancellation" , you can check the different in prices first too.
4) Jalan.net
Certain area in Japan might not be so touristy , so major english site like Booking.com/Agoda might not have so much choices in hotels in that area , or they only have the more pricey ones. So you can also check with site like Jalan.net/Rakuten Travel and Japanican. Even Jalan.net itself the Japanese site got more hotels offered then the english site.
5) えぷろん亭
This is the only Ryokan I booked directly this trip and it was the best value for money stay the whole trip , will talk about it more later on.
Except for the one we stayed in along the coast in Miyazaki , I actually booked direct from the Ryokan though they do have it at Rakuten.travel site
Some other site you can try are :
1) Rakuten Travel
2) Japanican.com
*Notes :
1) As mentioned above , sometimes if you going to stay in smaller less touristy towns/areas in japan and you cannot find a reasonable hotel to stay from site like Booking.com/Agoda , try more natives japanese sites, some of them have english , else just use google translate and find your way through the booking. Do compare all prices/plans from all site ( if you got time ) and get the best deal.
2) Another way i use to find hotels is by using Google Map. Reason is that Self Drive trip is not like trips where you take public transports , when you have a trip that uses public transports , best is stay near Trains/Railways/Subways Stations cos then you no need to walk too much with your luggages. But for driving trips , you can choose to stay anywhere you wants , you do not have that restrictions and sometimes to break away from long drives , you need to stay at more ulu locations. Eg. when i first book the coastal ryokan in Miyazaki , I got no idea where got hotels , so what I did was to use google map to look for the location , then use the "search hotels nearby" function , this will list out the hotels nearby the place I wish to break my long drives , then from there i will click on the hotel name and see if they got any website , if they do not have then I will copy and paste the name of the hotel and try google for it. Then from there you can check the prices for the hotels and can see if any websites does booking for the particular hotel , if not then from the hotel own website , find their email and do an enquiry. Use google translate in this case , type in english then translate it to japanese , past both languages in the mail, most of them will reply ( not all though ). Used this way for our last time to Hokkaido and book some nice hotels/ryokans.
3) In Japan , Most ( almost ALL ) hotels/Ryokans charges by Person and not typical in most countries which charges by per room. So read carefully. Also they usually have different plans like no meals , with breakfast , half board ( dinner + breakfast ) and Full board ( lunch + dinner + breakfast ) though this is very seldom in most case.
Dinner usually can take up to 1 hour if you eat in Ryokan's Half board so do take note of time if you got other plans after, even breakfast can take at least 30 mins. From experiences , Dinner usually can be very full ! Will upload some of the pictures when I post the rest of my trip.
For Ryokans , they usually have half board which means usually they will required to check in before 6 pm , if you gonna check in late , best to informed them as they usually need to know what time you wish to have your dinner. when check in , they will usually ask you to select your preferred Dinner and Breakfast timing.
For Ryokans with Onsen , some of them might have "Family bath" , other then then public Indoor or Outdoor bath. It is usually by "booking" also known as 貸切風呂 , meaning you can booked the "Family bath" aka private bath for ard 50mins to 1 hour usually and usually you can only do it ONCE , more then that you might need to pay for the "rental". Family bath is usually smaller , good for couples or with kids to bath together , also good if you wanna take your private onsen's photos If you are just there with friends , and are ok with public bath , i will recommend public bath instead cos usually it's bigger and nicer.
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