When to book a ryokan?

I'll be travelling in Japan in September and October and was wandering how far in advance I should book my Ryokan stayings. My trip will be flexible given the time I have so it will be difficult to really book in advance.

Hints are welcome :)

Thank you
Gilles

That�fs not very far from now, so why not start checking availability now and see what the situation is?

If they are popular ryokan, or in popular locations, I would book ASAP. Ryokan only cater for small numbers of people at a time, and you don't want to miss out.

It depends on your flexibility. When traveling by bicycle through Japan 2 yrs ago I normally booked only a day or two before staying somewhere and i did stay in some ryokans. Also on some other weekend trips I only booked a few days before and have found very nice Ryokans (eg in Dorogawa onsen and close to Shuzenji). However when going in GW a few years back to Kurokawa Onsen, I booked several months earlier.
It also depends if when you are traveling there is a local holiday and the place where you go.

Being able to speak Japanese or to use Jalan webpage helps I think, because not all ryokan are on English pages.

Enjoy your trip to Japan!

I've always been a mad advance planner for the travel and accomodation, my trips are like military operations. Last trip however (May this year) I found out 2 nights before that a room I had booked had no windows (shame on you Hotel Micuras at Atami, and no - a piece of glass that you cant see through is not a window) so I hit booking.com and snagged a great ryokan nearby which ended up being a trip highlight.

Off Topic but @Lazy Pious, I am so glad to know I'm not the only person who demands actual windows in their room. I don't care if the view is of another building or a parking lot, I want an actual window!

But yes OP, a lot depends on where you are trying to stay. If we're talking Takayama during the Takayama festival trying to find a place a few months out is much much harder.

Good luck!

Normally is 3 months in advance when te Ryokan starts to receive reservations.
And as they say, the most popular ones are the ones that sold out all the rooms.
I would recomend you to start sending mails to the Ryokans that you are interested and ask for information

In general, many ryokans allow people to book either 3 months or 6 months in advance depending on the owner itself. If it's high season such as festival (matsuri), koyo (fall colors) or hanami (cherry blossoms) then they need to be booked almost immediately from these windows. Obon and Golden week are also times when hotels and ryokans book up quickly.

The comment of booking earlier I find is helpful if it's a more popular ryokan or location. In general, the ryokans which are available on the main pages of most international booking sites is rather limited and almost never include a kaseki (fancy meal) options which is one of the main reasons for staying in a Ryokan.

For example, I will often use booking.com for general business hotels but almost never for ryokans.

I often use rakutan travel, Japanican and on occasion Japanese Guest Houses if it's a location like Tsurunoyu in Nyuto Onsen. HINT - don't get really expensive kaseki dinners night after night as you might get sick of the huge amount of food night after night. If it's a place that around 8-10,000 yen a night with breakfast/dinner, then the meal sizes are normally a realistic amount of food.

What may be a good idea is to book just a couple of 'special locations' now which will still give you a bit of flexibility and note that Friday-Sunday nights can be busy if it's a tourist town if your booking only 1 or 2 days in advance.

Another thing which I find good is to mix between good business hotels and ryokans so you can save on the business hotels and spend more on a better ryokan - plus it's nice to sometimes sleep on a real bed. Note that lots of cheap Ryokans and some minshiku's can have really thin futons which are not always that comfortable. However - give me a good futon on fresh tamami and I'll take that over a bed anyday....

Thanks all,

I'll book few Ryokan, especially in Kamikochi region. All places were already booked in Booking.com so I hope I'll be more lucky with Japanese Guest Houses.

Best regards,
Gilles

For Kamikochi try this site http://www.kamikochi.org/plan/accommodation

We really like the Kamikochi Onsen Hotel. The rooms are big (river facing, I think the other side are small), the food is excellent and the onsen is great.