I know!, it has been 3 months since we returned from such an amazing trip and I haven't published the trip accounts yet. Today is the day!
So how much did this adventure in the lands of the rising sun cost us? How much did we spend in food, accommodation, activities, travelling, etc. All these important questions that one needs to know before embarking in such adventure are answered below.
Currency was converted at the average rates in April 2015:
- ¥1=£0.0056
- ¥1=€0.0077
- ¥1=$0.0084
Prices are per person.
Transport:
- Flights: ¥195,117.26 £1092.66 €1502.40 $1638.98
- Japan Rail Pass for 21 days: ¥55,000 £308 €423.50 $462
- Ferries (3 ferries, one overnight): ¥6806.67 £38.12 €52.41 $57.18
- Car for a week (including rental, petrol, parking and tolls): ¥23,938.33 £134.05 €184.33 $201
TOTAL= ¥280,862.26 £1572.83 €2162.64 $2359.24
Accomodation:
- TOTAL= ¥145,988.86 £817.54 €1124.11 $1226.31
- This price includes onsen tax which we had to pay at the 6 hot spring resorts we stayed overnight (around ¥150-200/person) and Tokyo city tax (¥220/person).
- We stayed in 2 capsule hotels, 4 ryokans, 1 expensive hotel (Hilton in Tokyo), a friend's house (free!) and the other 7 accommodations were medium quality hotels with the odd one or two that was a bit cheap but clean.
- The ryokans included 2 meals (dinner and breakfast) and we paid for the Hilton breakfast one of the days which was ¥2200 per person (£12.32, €16.94, $18.48). All other accommodations did not include meals.
- Cheapest accommodation was Chisun Inn in Kagoshima, the best value for money of all accommodations with an amazing triple room for just ¥6207.57 per night (£34.76, €47.80, $52.14).
- Most expensive accommodation was Kurokawaso, a dreamy ryokan in Kurokawa onsen village which was worth all the ¥51840 per night (£290.30, €399.17, $435.46) we paid for it.
Food:
- TOTAL= ¥62,580 £350.45 €481.87 $525.67
- As a rule we did not drink alcoholic beverages. Not because we were saving, it's just not our thing! There were some days we had sake, beer or liquor but it did not make a dent on the budget. Anyone willing to have daily/regular alcoholic beverages should add more money to their budget.
- This price includes all the food we ate for all meals, snacks during the day, plus drinks and coffee. We did not starve, we did not reduce the intake of food to save money for other expenses. We had breakfast and lunch typically from supermarket/street food but we sat at restaurants every single night for a complete meal.
- Cheapest meal was noodles in Fukuoka at ¥1350 for the 3 of us (£7.56, €10.40, $11.34).
- Most expensive meal was at a restaurant in the popular and touristic Pontocho-dori in Kyoto at ¥7020 for the 3 of us (£39.31, €54, $58.97).
Wifi:
- TOTAL= ¥2263.33 £12.67 €17.43 $19.01
- We ordered from Sakura Mobile a sim card with wifi only that we used on Manuel's phone and in turn he would share it with our phones. You can also rent a sim card and router.
- We started by ordering a 3GB card but we ended up topping it up with another 3GB, which we did not completely use. I would recommend for a month trip to buy a 5GB card.
- Obviously we used the hotel's wifi connections in the evenings when they were fast enough but there was plenty of use during the day so a wifi sim card is essential, unless you want to be bankrupt with roaming.
Activities:
- Gion walk and Maiko entertainment: ¥25,559.52 £143.13 €196.81 $214.70
- Tea ceremony: ¥2000 £11.20 €15.40 $16.80
- Maiko/Samurai dress-up: ¥12,953.33 £72.54 €99.74 $108.81
- Kabuki theatre: ¥1000 £5.60 €7.70 $8.40
- Rickshaw ride: ¥4500 £25.20 €34.65 $37.80
- Cinema (men's night, ½ price discount for the boys) : ¥1333.33 £7.47 €10.27 $11.20
TOTAL= ¥47,346.43 £265.14 €364.57 $397.71
Transport aside as it was the most expensive part of the trip, all other expenses which I have called 'other expenses' come up to ¥279,771.43 £1566.72 €2154.24 $2350.
Dividing these expenses for the 27 days we were in Japan, the daily expenses come up to: ¥10,361.90 £58 €79.79 $87.
Overall, transport and other expenses together, the total cost of the trip per person was: ¥560,633.93 £3139.55 €4316.88 $4709.33.
I am proud to say that with a bit of planning and without sacrificing comfort and the experiences we wanted to have in Japan, we managed to spend less than the €5000 per person we had initially planned.