How much does a 10-Day Japan trip cost?

I just returned from another trip to Japan. This time, I managed to stretch it into 10 days thanks to rescheduling my work commitments a bit. If you are wondering how much a Japan trip costs, here is an honest trip budget.

Is 10 days even worth the long and pricey flight, you may ask? For me, it is. I am used to taking relatively short holidays, as I need to plan my leave 1 year (yes, one year!!!) in advance. That’s the reality of working in public healthcare in Germany. But anyway, the safe healthcare job also affords a decent salary, so while travelling for longer is certainly cheaper and more environmentally friendly, it is impossible for me to absent from work for long. And knowing that not everyone in the world has the generous leave allowance we we enjoy in Central Europe, I won’t be the only person going on shorter trips.

So thought I break down my Japan trip cost, staying in the Kansai region (again) and mixing the natural beauty and beautiful shrines of Kumano Kodo with Kyoto sightseeing – and two major festivals to boot!

Flight from Europe to Japan

If you travel from Europe, flights make up the largest portion of Japan trip cost. I was lucky and found an Etihad Airways Flight for 852 Euro. It took roughly 24 hours including two transfers, but a five-hour layover in Dubai in the middle of the night on the return leg aside, it was a relatively comfortable pain-free journey.

I arrived in Japan on a Friday noon and left again on a Saturday afternoon, leaving me with seven full and two half days in the country. It costs me less than 4 Euros to use public transport to the airport, so lets say 8 Euro to and from the airport.

Cost of transport

Unless you zip up and down the country on the Shinkansen, Japan trip cost for transport can be kept well under control, thanks to many local and regional tourist passes. For the first leg of the trip, I visited the Kii Peninsula, walked part of the Kumano Kodo and visited the Kumano Kodo Sanzan, the three major Kumano Kodo Shrines. I had a charged IC card and purchased Japan Rail Ise-Kumano Pass, which lets you use most of the Kumano region transport for five days, including getting there from Osaka. The pass cost 16500 JPY (98 Euro).

I then spent 3300 JPY (19 Euro) on three days bicycle hire in Kyoto, 2200 JPY (13 Euro) on a single to Kansai Airport on the Haruka Airport Express, 2000 JPY (12 Euro) on taxi fare when I had luggage, and roughly 1500 JPY (9 Euro) on bus fare in Kyoto and on Kumano bus lines not covered by the pass.This brings transport costs to 151 Euro.

Cost of accommodation

Accommodation can eat another big chunk of your Japan trip cost budget, especially at major tourists sites in main season. The secret here is to book relatively early and to be a bit flexible with dates.

I spent eight nights in private rooms, which I booked at relatively short notice ( four to six weeks ahead). This was only possible because July is considered relatively low season due to the heat. However, I attended two major festivals, and I stayed very central in Kyoto, which was certainly reflected in the price. Considering I do prefer private rooms, I think I did pretty well!

Here is where I stayed:

One Night at a Cabin Hotel

Just after arriving, I spent one night in Wakayama, resting after a long trip and riding the trains on the Wakayama Electric Railway, where a cat is station master. Wakayama is a pleasant smaller city not far from Kansai Airport, perfect for a short rest, then move on. I stayed at the S3 Wakayama Station, which is a “cabin hotel” inside a mall, basically a fancy capsule hotel where the capsules are full height. I paid an incredible 21 Euro per night for a spick-and span place that let me rest and take a nice hot bath after my flight. Having the mall literally next door was nice, too, it had some if the shops I like like Muji and a book store but wasn’t overwhelmingly large.

Three nights in Shingu

My original plan was a little different, but I figured I would be in the area during the Nachi no Ogi Matsuri , so I changed plans a bit. I spent the first night at the Temple Hotel, which is perhaps a bit of a misnomer. The guest accommodation, just two rooms is in a rather drab road-facing building, but the rooms are huge, have a kitchenette and huge amounts of free alcohol included. There are lots of temples in the area, which is a lovely traditional residential area, plenty small restaurants, and it’s a short pleasant walk to Kumano Hayatama Taisha, one of the grand Kumano shrines. The hotel is, in fact, run by the monks of the temple on the same compound, and the temple is lovely and free to visit, but the accommodation is modern. What’s also good is that the bus stop for the Kumano Kodo sites is less than 100m from the hotel. I paid 51 Euro for one night, pretty okay given my relatively late booking, the size of the room and the amenities and tourist-friendly location.

Then I spent two nights in the low key but superb Shingu Guest House Sou, a traditional Japanese House with just three rooms. I would say that proved the best value for money on the entire trip. I paid 62 Euro for two nights for a huge private room with access to full size kitchen, a huge lounge, free bicycle hire and a laundry room.

The room was really nice, in traditional, simple and rustic style, but I loved it. The only drawback was climbing down the stairs and crossing the entire house every time I wanted to visit the bathroom.

Four nights in Kyoto hotels

Some reshuffle of plans here, too in order to attend the Yamaboko Junko parade and the Yoiyama preceding it. Initially, I had booked a Japanese Guest House further away from the centre, but after reading the weather forecast, I figured cycling 3km in intense heat just to get to the centre might not be the best idea, so I changed to centrally located accommodation and paid a bit more.

I spent one night at Tabist Kiki Hotel Sanjo Takakura, a very smart small four-star hotel at the back of ShinPuhKan, a rather smart area of Downtown Kyoto. This was my splurge stay, 83 Euro for one night in a reduced room as there was a window but very little daylight. Other than that, the room was great – large, with a full size bath, two immensely comfortable twin beds and a tatami-covered sitting area with nice accents form Kyoto design house Sou-Sou. That was one of the major nights of the Gion Festival when all accommodation in central Kyoto was either sold out or super expensive.

After that, I moved down the road to the Prince Smart Inn Kyoto Sanjo for a further three nights. Not only did this hotel have bicycle parking, but I liked the location even better – a stone’s throw from the northern End of Teramachi Shopping street with some of my favourite Kyoto shops, Kyukyodo, Misuyabari Sewing Needles, Musubi… and cult cafe Smart Coffee. The surrounding area was a great mix of small restaurants, upmarket apparel shops and art supplies and paper stores. 

The hotel was bright and modern, rooms rather spartan but large enough, with ultra comfortable beds and the only thing I really missed was a kettle for my morning coffee and my green tea. I paid 163 Euros for three nights including a relatively sparse breakfast.

Therefore, accommodation costs 380 Euro in total for seven nights, costing 54 Euro per room per night on average. 

Food and Drink

Travelling alone, I am not a fancy diner. I love quality food, good coffee, but I use my holiday to squeeze in the occasional low nutritional value but oh so tasty bit of food I would not touch at home. So, I had Okonomiyaki my first night, sushi twice while in Shingu, a couple of kakigori stops, then okonomiyaki again in a phantastic restaurant in Shingu. The restaurant food comes to 10.000 JPY, plus some rather nice supermarket supplies (vegetarian sushi, tofu, pickles, drinks) and vending machine drinks for about 3000JPY. All in all about 77 Euro.

In Kyoto, I thought I would dine out like a princess, but I was often hot and tired at night, and the supermarket I found had great vegetarian sushi, so I mostly went for fancy desserts for about 2000JPY a pop, a trip to Komeda’s coffee that cost about the same, more supermarket sushi.

I did splurge on some superb dessert restaurants every day that I had identified in a Japanese guidebook earlier, and had I gone to more fancy coffee shops, or bars, that bill would have gone up. So my Kyoto dining came to an extremely reasonable 10.000 JPY for three full days, about 58 Euro.

Entry fees

I did spend relatively little here, mostly in Kyoto, with a big chunk on entry to Saiho-ji..

The festivals were free to attend. I donate at the shrines I visit or buy some of their charms and Omikuji, and I was a bit spendy here, about 2000 JPY or 12 Euro at each of the three Kumano Sanzan.

Add to that the relatively large entry fee for Saiho-ji in Kyoto at 25 Euro, booked well in advance, 1200 JPY Raku Museum, a handful of temples (1500JPY), and two public onsen (1000JPY), which brings us to about 85 Euro.

Shopping

Well, this is where many a Japan trip cost budget stumbles… I am not a big shopper but Japan shops tempt me. A lot of things, including books, food, cosmetics and services like hair styling were very affordable when I visited, so yes, I spent a little bit.

As always, I bought books – on architecture, cook books, sewing books… at about 1200-2300 JPY per book, which is cheaper than in Germany. I got five books… so about 7000JPY (41 Euro). 

I bought packing cubes in Muji, at a cost of about 18 Euros for three. 

Once I got to Kii Hanto, I was relatively safe from shopping, but spent a 1000 Yen here a 1000 Yen there on the Yoiyama festival nights on charms, hand towels and stamps on the different floats, but that’s part of the festival spirit. After the Yamaboko Junko, I was on  Shijo-dori and popped into my favourite Shop, Nomura Tailor, and spent 19900JPY (117 Euro) on irresistible fabric. That was by far my biggest single spend, and I got an absolute ton, over 20 metres. 

Apart from that, I spent on skincare and haircare in a selection of drug stores, Cocokarafine, Sugi Drug and Kirindo, in fact, close to 15000 JPY (88Euro) for (mostly) cruelty-free skincare (stupidly bought some Kanebo product) and haircare and Roihi-Tsukubo plasters. 10000 JPY (58 Euro) in Loft – how on earth did I manage to spend that much on non-essentials?  

I also bought incense, maybe for 7000 JPY? Yes, I am a big incense fan. I went to three shops, Kungyokudo (old, established), Kyukyodo (elegant, a bit more room fragrance than temple scent-orientated) and Hayashi-Ryushodo (very traditional independent incense-maker). 

While I was in Kyukyodo, I also got washi paper. Not going overboard, 1500JPY (9Euro) max. 

Special mention goes to the 500 JPY silk haori from a second hand shop. 

Last not least, a fair bit of food, artisan soy sauce from Yuasa, Calpis concentrate, miso soup, kelp, furikake candy and tons and tons of rice crackers. Which maybe cost 10000 JPY (58Euro) altogether. I made three trips to the supermarket, and yes, I slightly exceeded my 25kg of luggage allowance, so I carried all my book in my hand luggage… All in all, I feared my shopping would be a lot, but turns out, at about 450 Euro, it isn’t all that bad – especially considering I have all my snacks sorted out for the next six months or so.

I also had a haircut which was 6000JPY – there were definitely cheaper places, but I liked the place opposite my hotel and the cut turned out very nice. 

I haven’t taken any pictures of my haul yet, because right now, I am somewhat limited in what I can do, I have a couple shopping posts prepared but I’ll take the photographs once my mobility has been restored!

The Grand Total

So, lets tote up the costs:

Flights to Kansai with random Upgrade to Economy Space Section + train to airport: 860 Euro

Accommodation for 7 nights: 380 Euro

Food and Drink 135 Euro

Entry fees and other expenses: 85 Euro.

Transport: 151 Euro

That’s 1611 Euro for a week spent in Japan including flights. Not bad.

Add to that some rather generous shopping and haircut at 485 Euro, so we are at just over 2000 Euro, which seems a lot for ten days, but well, as I said, I really did pretty much what I wanted here.

The costs are quite similar to my earlier Kansai trip in May this year, which cost 1200 Euro but I only spent five nights in Japan, instead of eight on this trip, and it was a less busy season, being after Hanami season and Golden Week, so even in Kyoto, accommodation was cheaper.

 

How I saved money

The honest answer is, I don’t travel that luxuriously. I don’t “travel hack” as there aren’t really that amazing credit card benefits for miles in Europe, although I just got a credit card that lets you collect air miles, but as a regular traveller with a normal job and no big business expenses, this will be a long slog.

Flights cost what they cost. If I want to travel, I tend to check flight prices over a few days. I use Google Flight and Skyscanner. I don’t normally bother with a VPN or incognito window – I check on my commute to work on my mobile. If the price seems okay, I book, and I do book the most direct route rather than three transfers and weird long overnight overlays and changing airports. I am a staunch Economy Flyer, too. I mean, Business Class is very nice, but if I had that kind of money, I would rather spend it on another trip or pick a special hotel every now and then.

Looking at my accommodations, I think I can really spot something good at reasonable prices. By being willing to share facilities and opting for Japanese style accommodation, I do tend to land in rather characterful accommodation for relatively little money, with amenities like shared kitchens and washing machines.  If you don’t mind staying further out of the centre in cities and are happy with cabins or dormitories, you can potentially save on accommodations costs, with a cabin hotel or dorm bed available for as little as 3000 JPY, maybe more in the 4000-5000JPY region in a touristy city like Kyoto, shaving a further 200-300Euro off a week’s expenses.

This trip could have been made even cheaper by travelling in true off season (August, September, December to February) and cost was bumped up a fair bit by pricier accommodations during the Gion Matsuri, but it’s an experience I do not want to miss, and I will definitely try to see more festivals on future trips!

I don’t really drink when travelling alone, and I don’t dine in fancy restaurants. In Japan, I tend to visit random places or ask locally for a recommendation, but always well away from anywhere too touristy. You wouldn’t find me dead in Nishiki Market or anywhere on the direct approach to the five top Kyoto sights, I don’t do social media food trends, and this usually leads me to nice local restaurants with reasonable prices. Having a kitchen in my accommodation is a godsend, and I do often buy the excellent supermarket food and eat out once or twice a day.

The Small Print

I visited Kansai solo in July 2024, paying for all expenses myself. So what you get here is my totally unbiased opinion, no freebies, no discounts for good reviews. My only monetisation of this blog at the time of publication is affiliate links to Booking.com, which is my preferred (and only) hotel booking site when I am not booking directly. If you use one of the links, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you, but trust me, this blog is 99% a hobby, meaning I work a regular job and all my travel money comes from working full time.

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