Golden Week 2018 in Kyoto and Tokyo

Dear all,

I was so clever to book a trip to Japan (only Kyoto and Tokyo) exactly on the Golden Week 2018. We arrive at Osaka airport on April 30 (Sunday), stay in Kyoto and travel to Tokyo on May 2nd, going home to Germany on May 6th. I have reservations for flights and accommodations already. As I have heard nightmare stories about this week my questions to users who are really familiar with this "phenomenon" are

- ok Kyoto will be packed full but will it be a real disaster if I have reserved the hotel already? Or is it just "a bit more than usual" which is full anyhow?
- going from Kyoto to Tokyo, is that "against the flow"? I have not yet reserved the Shinkansen yet...
- is the impact of Golden Week on Tokyo as severe as it is on other parts of the country or are additional tourists evened out by Tokyo citizens escaping from the city?

I do not mind crowded airports and when queues at the temples/gardens in Kyoto are 15 minutes longer - so what. But will I really face obstacles that are worth re-scheduling the entire trip? We are not that flexible as my parents can take care of our son in that specific week.

Thanks for your insights, experience and support!

Sorry, of course it is April 29 (Sunday) arrival and going to Tokyo May 1 (Tuesday). Sorry for being so confusing. This forum is great but unfortunately I didn�ft find any editing feature.

I'd go for it. I was in Tokyo during Golden Week in 2015. Rode a shinkansen into the city from Odawara (we had unreserved seats) that was standing room only for a few stops but that was our only issue.

I've not been to Japan for Golden Week since '09... and I know in general crowds are insane now... but I actually liked visiting during Golden Week. I am fond of azaleas and they tend to be in bloom and make even train lines like the Yamanote line quite pretty. There are also generally lots of events in Tokyo depending on your possible hobbies.

Since presumably you're not getting a rail pass since you're just going one way on the shinkansen, you will have a lot more train options and so are more likely to not have a seat issue.

Good luck!

I was in Japan during Golden week before. In general, its just more traffic. I would say the worst is if you do not have a reserved seat, then it will probably will be difficult to get a seat in Unreserved car. At most you will need to stand for the duration. Also the reserve section could also have standing room as well if conductor directs people there. So could get some noise. Mostly in morning rush and evening rush.

Other than that, its perfectly fine to go still.

Hope this helps!

Thanks for your feedback! As I do not get a train pass I will try to book the individual tickets as early as possible! So I guess we are going.
Does anybody have a specific "Kyoto experience" as the density of potential popular destinations is so high?

Been travelling with groups in Golden week the last couple of years and no issues. The "nightmare" stories are for particular trains and routes, especially at the beginning and end of the "week". This year we (our small group) had a whole train carriage to ourselves on one of our legs - hardly busy.

As for sightseeing, depends where you go. Even last week in Kyoto some of the places we visited we were part of a "crowd" of less than 10 people at some of the destinations we had planned (and that included some fairly famous spots).

Thanks, that was really encouraging. So as I do not see the necessity to change anything, we look forward to our trip - although it is still far off.

There are lots of events and festivals during Golden Week and the nice thing about Kyoto is there are so many attractions, if the most popular are too crowded, there are always other temples and shrines that are not crowded.