Looking for a budget trip to Japan? I got you covered! This is my three week itinerary broken down by location. From hotels, to food, to things to do, to price, I will be telling you EVERYTHING I did and learned on my three week trip to Japan in June of 2025, and I will soon be writing a new itinerary for my upcoming March 2026 trip.
We flew from LAX to Narita on ZipAir - the flight there was 11 hours. It was quite painful. We had a morning flight, so I was rested from the night before and unable to sleep on the flight. By the time we landed, we had to wait for the airport shuttle to our hotel, which we had missed by 5 minutes and therefore had to wait another hour for the next one. By the time we arrived at our hotel, it was 1am California time, and I was EXHAUSTED, but it was only 3pm in Japan.
We stayed in the Marroad International Hotel Narita. I would give it an overall 8/10: the proximity to the airport was convenient but the sounds of the planes after a long day of travel was a bit loud, the rooms were average sized and clean and there was also a restaurant doing breakfast, lunch, and dinner service, as well as a small convenience store. The only reason I knocked points off was due to the loudness of the planes and the lack of communication about shuttle times/pickup location, which I'm sure could be fixed by speaking with hotel staff ahead of time.
We paid $65 USD or 9,900 Yen for one night.
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| Hotel Lobby |
Strawberry Yogurt: 10/10
Matcha: 10/10
Strawberry Protein Bar: 6/10 (too dry)
Baked Good: 6/10 (bit dry and flavorless, needed coffee)
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| Drug Store Snacks |
The train ride into Tokyo was a bit more than we expected, but it's because trains to and from the airport not only require a Suica balance, but a separate ticket as well. However, the train ride into Tokyo was so worth it, as the scenery changes from luscious green backgrounds of rice farms and smaller apartments to a HUGE metropolis in a matter of thirty minutes.
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| Train ride from Narita to Tokyo |
When we arrived at Tokyo Station, we then took another train into Shibuya to our first official stay: Almond Hostel and Cafe Shibuya. We paid a total of $143 USD or 21,920 Yen for two nights. They let us store our luggage there until check-in, and we instantly made our way into the shopping/thrifting district of Shimokitazawa.
Now for the American thrift girlies like myself, thrifting is here is not like the thrifting we have back home. Back home you scour through piles of garbage pieces in hopes of finding something you actually like that also happens to be your size, especially something name brand. However, in my mind, this makes it so much more worth it when you find a piece you've been searching for, especially when it isn't price gouged. In Japan however, the 'thrift' is clean and organized, with things sorted by brand and size, or in a miscellaneous fashion if not name brand. The problem is, these things are priced like a regular store/boutique, not like an American thrift store and definitely not like the GoodWill Bins.
However, the more we walked the more we were able to find stores with cheaper clothes, shoes, and accessories, and even stumbled upon an outdoor flea market, where I found lots of handmade jewelry at such a low price! (around $10 USD, 1,500 Yen each).
As an avid thrifter myself, I wasn't too impressed with what I saw in the thrift stores to spend that much on them, and found most of my clothes for the trip at UNIQLO.
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| UNIQLO clothes |
Mind you, when I packed for this trip all I brought was jeans (terrible idea), a polyester jacket (terrible idea), leggings (terrible idea), and tank tops (terrible idea). Here's why: far too humid in June for the tight-fitted clothes I brought, the leggings and jeans stuck to me like GLUE, especially since it was also raining. You want lose-fitting and waterproof/quick dry clothes, at least for the humidity and rain we experienced in June. I also did not have a rain jacket, and got quite sick the first few days we were there going from the humid and wet outside to the dry and air conditioned inside, especially with cotton clothes that were not drying anywhere near fast enough. My new balance's were also immediately soaked, did not dry pretty much the entire trip, and therefore smelled terrible. I would 1000% recommend packing waterproof shoes and a light rain jacket, then buying more weather appropriate shirts, pants, and an umbrella upon arrival.
We then checked into our Hostel (which was very cute but I did not feel comfortable taking pictures of due to it being a shared space), which was surprisingly clean and quiet! My cousin and I had beds stacked on top of each other, and each bed came with a storage compartment for your suitcase which was convenient and gave me peace of mind since we could lock our belongings up when leaving.
After showering and resting a bit, my cousin and I walked to the nearest 7/11 while enjoying the sunset, and some girls took our photograph after we took theirs - it was such a wholesome moment and my first glimpse into the caring and generous aspect of Japanese culture.
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| My cousin and I |
After stocking up on snacks we went to a ramen place right across the street from our hostel called Tomigaya where my cousin enjoyed rice, curry, and a beer, while I enjoyed shrimp tempura ramen (which I'm still dreaming of by the way)! This is also where we learned that at certain resturants they don't take apple pay, but they do take Suica balance (your pubic transportation funds app).
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| RAMEN!! |
After eating we fell asleep around 9pm and woke up around 5am (this is when our sleep schedules started to mellow out more, since we are young it luckily only took us two days).
The next day we went into and explored Shibuya.
Our first stop was Yoyogi park/nature reserve, which was about a five minute walk from our hostel. Brimming with numerous types of flowers and many types of birds, this was definitely the popular spot for people walking their dogs and getting a morning jog in. Unfortunately we had just missed the time of year when most of the flowers were in bloom, and also when construction in the park started, but it was still a nice introduction to Japanese plants and animals, as well as people watching within the park.
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| Yoyogi Park |
From there, we walked another fifteen or so minutes to Shibuya crossing, stopping along the way to look at all the futuristic stores! This is when we really discovered how fun, colorful, and interesting Japanese stores are, with toys in vending machines, fake trees, animations, and unique architecture.
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| Disney Store - Shibuya |
By this point we had reached the famous Shibuya crossing, which don't get mad at me for saying, was a bit underwhelming compared to the videos online. Tokyo is a massive city with a population of 37 million people, making it the largest populated city in the world, making train stations and crossings overall busy, especially during rush-hour. Which is why, at first, Shibuya crossing just seemed like any other crossing in the city. However, we soon realized where we were when we saw people running out into the street the second the light turned green in order to get the perfect picture (as this is not typical Japanese behavior). From our mere 48 hours in Japan, we had already learned that most Japanese people are quiet, to themselves, and not making a scene/show of things. This is another reason I did not get as much travel content as I would have liked to, but I wanted to be respectful to the locals and not have my phone in their faces 24/7.
At this point we were starving and tired, so we tried Japanese Taco Bell and made our way back to the Hostel's cafe for caffeine. I would give Japanese Taco Bell a 9.5/10, as they had chicken crunch-wraps with the most delicious and soft fried chicken inside, as well as frozen margaritas! The only reason I am deducting points is because they don't have the iconic Baja Blast, but I'm sure it's because all those chemicals are banned in other countries lol. The matcha at Almond Hostel and Cafe was sweet, creamy, and delicious, and this is coming from someone who does not normally drink or like matcha back in the USA. |
| Almond Hostel and Cafe Matcha |
After this we went upstairs in the Hostel and made friends with the other guests there who were our age, and we all made a plan to get dinner and drinks together later that evening. We ended up going to the rooftop lounge on the top floor of one of the stores next to Shibuya crossing, as they had a small enterance fee that included a (very strong) drink of your choice. I got the Bacardi and soda, and got tipsy as we sat out in the rain and people watched from above.
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| Shibuya Crossing from above |
After, we walked around until we could all agree on somewhere for dinner, which ended up being some hole in the wall with something for everyone. I got tuna on rice, which didn't look the most appetizing but tasted delicious! We all got one drink afterwards, but everyone was too tired from the day to stay out and drink longer or do any other activity (like the 24 hour arcades).
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| Tuna and rice dinner |
Before checking out of our Hostel we stopped for breakfast downstairs, which was by far the most amazing breakfast on our trip which I still crave to this day!! My cousin and I split the whipped butter and cinnamon toast, as well as the fluffed egg toast. Perfect little breakfast of sweet and savory before we embarked further into Tokyo and onward - see you soon for the next days of adventure and travel!
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| Almond Hostel and Cafe Breakfast |
