Japan is an increasingly popular destination, something that does not surprise us. But not all travelers have bulky budgets to enjoy Japan without worrying. In Japonism we have always said that Japan does not have to be as expensive as many people think. That’s why in this post we want to give you ideas, tips and recommendations on how to travel cheap to Japan.
Although we do not have a large budget, we will certainly be able to enjoy our trip to Japan. The country is full of wonderful places that will fascinate us. And for those who travel with a tighter budget, if you can save on food and transportation, for example, maybe you can use that money saved for other attractions that interest you a lot, such as the Ghibli Museum, Tokyo Disneyland or Universal Studios Japan.
Anyway, whatever your situation, we recommend you read our post about how much it costs to travel to Japan. There we have created sample budgets for two totally different types of travelers, one that wants to save more and another that makes a standard expense.
These budgets are an approximation, of course, but with them you can get an idea of how much money you will need in total. And if in your case, you want to visit Japan adjusting the budget to the maximum, continue reading, because here you will find ideas and advice for it.
Save on Pane Ticket Prices to Japan
One of the aspects in which we will spend more money is, without a doubt, the plane ticket. If we save here, the total cost of our trip will be significantly reduced.
If you like to travel, you will surely know that airlines usually offer offers for many of their destinations several times a year. It is usually a good idea to wait for these offers to be published and then look for the best prices. Especially when the offers are newly published: then there are still all the places available at those reduced prices.
Of course, a basic tip to save on the flight to Japan (and any other destination) is to be flexible on dates. It is not always possible, of course, because it depends on holiday availability and other factors. But if we can fly on weekdays, better than Friday through Sunday.
You can see this by looking for flights in the search engine that we have integrated here, in collaboration with the online leader Skyscanner. In addition, doing so helps us to continue offering you the best information about Japan.
And above all, it is important to look for flights in low season. In Japan, however, this can be complicated, since all stations are quite popular. But in general, and according to data from the JNTO (the Japanese national tourism office), there are three times a year where there is a greater influx of travelers to Japan: Easter, August and October. If Easter also coincides with cherry blossom or hanami dates, then it is even worse. See if it is expensive on these dates that we often fly in Premium Economy class and, in spring 2018, despite buying tickets several months before, we only found free seats in Economy, At double the price of what we normally paid for Premium Economy!
Therefore, if we want to save on the plane, going in May or from November to February is a good idea. The problem in Japan, however, is that we still save on the plane, but then things may not be so cheap there. In early May, for example, it is the Golden Week, a week of vacations that the Japanese take advantage of to travel around their country. And January and February are the strongest months of the ski season in Japan, so there is also a lot of movement at this time in the Japanese Alps and Hokkaido. Therefore, if we go on these dates everything is much more crowded, including hotels, which makes its price more expensive.
Finally, if you are frequent travelers, we recommend airline loyalty programs. When you accumulate enough points or miles, you can have free flights. To do this, of course, having flexibility in dates is something that makes it very easy to get a flight. If you have no choice but to travel in high season and fly on the weekend, it is very difficult to have free places with points or award miles. In our case, in fact, we have never been able to fly with our miles, because until recently we had little flexibility in dates. But, for example, we have managed to upgrade to upper classes thanks to these loyalty programs. It is not that it is a saving in itself, but at least it allows us to fly more comfortable and, since the flight is long, better if we are comfortable.
