Is Japan expensive to visit? We break down the real travel costs for a 2+ week vacation to Japan. This will include flights, food, transport, and stays and tips to enjoy Japan without overspending.
Japan often sparks the same debate: some travelers insist it’s expensive, while others swear it’s possible to visit on a budget. The truth? It depends on how you travel. Here’s what we actually spent and where you can save—or splurge—on your own adventure.
I will say though, you can definetly visit Japan on a budget and still enjoy it very much. We will get into that.
This blog will talk about travelling in Japan, just like we did on a very medicore budet where some things felt very luxurious and others felt normal. We travelled to Japan in Feburary for about 2 weeks and did not spend all that much, we will tell you exactly what we spent so you have an idea on how to budget for your own trip to Japan.
Our Experience Travelling in Japan
We have travelled to Japan once, being budget friendly with some splurges here and there.
How expensive is a trip to Japan? With different budget styles.
The answer will vary depending on the way that you like to travel. It will also depend on the current exchange rate, as this will have a pretty significant impact on your travel costs.
To make this easier for all viewers, we will share the average daily costs (in USD) for our travel style which was budget friendly/mid range. We will share it seperately as budget and then mid range.
The type of travel is based on couples, so parties of two. Example: If a hotel room cost $100 per night, the expense one person would take on is $50.
Budget Traveller: $40 -$60 USD per person, per day
- stay at budget friendly hotels (APA is a great affordable chain)
- Look at Expedia and Bookings.com for cheaper accommodations. Prices will vary depending on when you travel to Japan.
- free activities are the best!
- This can include sight seeing, going to temples, shrines, and walking around.
- eat lots at convienence stores and inexpensive shops
- So many shops are affordable. We ate out every meal, lunches and dinners at restaurants costing around $6 to $9 USD a meal per person
Mid-range Traveller: $70-$90 USD per person, per day
- some shopping sprees, and some budget food
- some tours, but mostly free activities
Luxury Traveller: $200+ USD per person, per day
- staying in upscale hotels
- eating good food (Michelin star places)
- lots of shopping
Given, we are not luxury travellers like that, but we do like to splurge once a trip. This trip was splurging for our over 100-year old townhome stay in Kyoto with a private onsen.
Prices can vary. Before travelling to Japan, we were worried that we would be spending a lot more just by what we were seeing online. That was not the case for us. We went in the off season which played a good part in our expenses staying relitavely low and being able to enjoy a budget friendly trip that was not so expensive.
In order to figure out which type of travel style you are, you have to start by asking yourself the following questions:
- What type of accommodations do you plan on staying at? Do you plan on staying at upscale expensive hotels like The Prince Park hotel that goes for over $500 a night? Or are you looking for something more traditional by staying at a traditional townhome like we did in Kyoto? That stay was roughly $200 a night. Or are you okay with a decent rated hotel such as APA Ryogoku for $55 depending on the season. Accommodations are usually the most expensive part of any trip, so this is the most important question you should be asking yourself. See the images below for what cheaper hotels look like versus luxurious hotels look like.
- What time of the season are you wanting to go? The time of the season you want to go at plays such a significant role in how much your trip will cost. The hotels have dynamic pricing, the APA Ryogoku hotel we stayed at was around $50 in Feburary, whereas in a busier time of the year, its upwards of $150 or more. Just like we stated above, the time of the year you want to travel to Japan will affect your budget.
- How important is food to your trip? Food for us is very important and when you are visiting Japan as Japan has extremely good food. Japan actually has the most Michelin start restaurants out of any other country, and that is especially true for Tokyo. Tokyo has 160 starred restaruants and over 500 Michelin guide restaurants. We have visited lots of Michelin Guide restaurants, and very very good Ramen Shops that are inexpensive and can keep you within your budget.
- How important is activities and tours to you? Going to do things like Universal Studios and Tokyo Disney are things that cost a little bit of money. They cost around $60 for entry to either place, but also do not guarntee that you would get to ride a ride. The same thing goes for organized walking tours, food tours etc. We did not do any of these ours and we did just fine. There are resources in todays world that allows us to tour on our own without stressing over anything, like language barriers, history of places etc.
Average daily travel costs in Japan
Now that we have detailed the different types of travellers, we will look into the average costs for thing such as transportation, food, entertainment, accommodations and miscellaneous. This section will go over how expensive our trip to Japan was with our budgets.
- Accommodations: $79 – $110 USD per night total
- This is a variety of different stays, including some more budget friendly hotels and traditional townhomes.
- *Note: Accommodation is based on two (2) people sharing a room. If you are a solo traveller and plan to stay in different combinations of accommodations such as capsule hotels, or private rooms, the total cost may be a bit higher.
- Transportation: $20 USD per person, per day
- We did not purchase the Japan Rail Pass as it would have been more expensive than just buying individual tickets. We used the Japan Rail Pass Calculator to compare.
- We went to many different regions in Japan including Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, and the Kansai region for the famous Kumano Kodo trail.
- Food: $24 USD per person, per day
- Based on a combination of budget friendly meals and splurges.
- Miscellaneous $2-10 USD per person, per day
- This could be things like souvenirs
Our total Japan travel budget!
When we travel, we’re always on the lookout for the best deals, which means we stay budget-focused and prioritize getting great value out of every trip. For example, our entire 15-day trip to Japan for two people cost us about $7,200 CAD (around $5,100 USD)—and that included everything: flights, accommodations, food, transportation, and even shopping on a modest budget.
That works out to be about $170 USD per person per day for EVERYTHING. That is really good if you ask us.
If flgihts are not calculated in these costs, the trip works out to be around $130 USD per person, per day.
Currency Exchange
The exchange rate of the yen to the dollar changes a lot, and this was especially true when we traveled to Japan. When we went in February 2025, the U.S. dollar was sitting around 0.006 yen. Since we’re in Canada and use the Canadian dollar, this worked out in our favor too. It meant our money went further in Japan, and things like food, trains, and even shopping felt much cheaper than we expected. Overall, it helped make the trip more budget friendly.
Food in Japan!
We love to eat good food, and that is what we tried to do in Japan. Food is the type of thing that can either make your trip quite expensive, or it can make your trip quite affordable.
Our advsie it to eat a combination of expensive restaurants and cheap eats to balance out your overall budget.
You will find when you visit Japan, not many places are open early in the morning other than a Starbucks or Konbini (Convenience stores). We typically at at either one of those places in the mornings.
Expensive Meals
- Any Omakase restauarant
- Wagyu beef or Kobe Beef
- High end sushi
Inexpensive Meals
- Bento Boxes
- Konbini meals
- Ramen and or any type of noodle dish
Our total cost for food!
Average Daily Cost: $26-35 USD per person, per day
Like we said above, we had a good balance of nice places and a cheaper eats. This made out toal budget for food to be about $26-35 USD per person, per day. This will allow you to try out many different kinds of foods and snacks.
If you are a big foodie and want to try all the amazing Japanese dishes, this includes eating out at the starred Michelin Restaurants. Your budget will likely have to be increased.
Snacks
Everyone loves snacks and this category will vary per person based on the travel style.
If you drink alcohol, coffee, or enjoy treats, here are some average prices that you should know.
Coffee
- Konbini basic hot coffee ¥160 or $1.10
- Konbini Latte or speciality coffee ¥230 or $1.80
- Cafe speciality coffee ¥300-500 or $2.10-3.50
Pastries
- Konbini simple pastry ¥130-200 or $1.05 – 1.40
- Onigiri ¥140-170 0r $1.10 -1.70
- Cafe quality ¥250-400 or $1.80-3.10
Alcohol
- Beer ¥180 or $1.00
- Sake ¥123 or $0.85
- Larger Premium Alcohol ¥350+ or $2.80
Tips for saving money on food in Japan
We really ate all of our breakfastes at either Starbucks or a Konbini store and we were really happy and excited to do so. The Konbini stores in Japan are really good food and high quality. It is nothing like convenience stores here in North America.
If you have done your research before going to Japan for the first time, you know that the convenience store has a good reputation. You will be able to find Konbini stores on just about every singe block.
Japanese businessmen and businesswomen rely on these quick meals for lunches and dinners are they are quick options and always reliable.
Our couple of tips to save money on food for your visit to Japan
- Enjoy eating at small shops, like ramen shops and curry shops. They have amazing food and its always much cheaper than large restaurants.
- Enjoy your breakfast at Konbini stores or starbucks.
- Eat a large lunch, lunches are almost always cheaper than dinner.
- Fruit is expensive in Japan and not always budget friendly unfortunately.
- Cheap sushi is amazing sushi. All sushi is great in Japan.
Normally we would suggest to book accommodation with kitchens, but we quite enjoyed eating out every single meal because it was affordable and really cool to experience the cuisine of Japan.
Our total cost for accommodations in Japan
Our total cost for accommodations in Japan for 15 days was $1,118 USD for a hotel room for 2 people.
Average daily cost: $74-85 per night
We has some accommodations at APA hotels which are nice, reliable and on the cheaper side, and other hotels we stayed at were 5 stars and great. We also stayed in a traditional Ryokan (townhome) for our entire stay in Kyoto as our little splurge and it was excellent. We also stayed at a hostel and a guesthouse that was over $85 USD per person for our Kumano Kodo Hike. We were really happy with eveyr single place we stayed at each night.
We booked pretty much everything with Expedia and always found the best prices with them. It is easy to book with and we highly recommend you doing the same.
Actual Hotels we stayed at:
Our total cost for Entertainment
Average Daily Cost: $12 -$25 USD per person
Japan is full of epic and awesome things that you cannot find anywhere else in the world.
We enjoyed activities such as TeamLAB Planets (which was just opened with their new display when we went) and DisneySea and Universal Studios.
Miscellaneous costs in Japan
Average Daily Cost: $2-20+ USD per person, per day.
Airalo we found was the easiest company to buy an Esim with. The setup process was super simple and if you ran out of data, you always have an option to top up. It was a great experience.
Storage Lockers
On our last day in Japan, we had to use a storage locker since we didn’t have a hotel to keep our bags before check-in (though most hotels will hold luggage if you ask). We ended up using the lockers at Ueno Station, which cost about $2–6 USD per day, depending on the size. It turned out to be a really affordable and convenient option, and we were glad we went with it.
Keep your spending in check
One of the easiest ways we kept our spending in check during our trip was by tracking it daily. We used Google Sheets (but any budgeting app works) to quickly log what we spent on food, trains, shopping, and experiences. Having it all in one place gave us a clear picture of where our money was going and helped us adjust when we started splurging too much in one category. It doesn’t have to be complicated — just a quick note each night can make a big difference in sticking to your budget.
How to find cheap flights to Japan
When it comes to flights, we always recommend doing a little homework to score the best deals. For our trip to Japan, we flew with ZIPAIR, a low-cost airline that far exceeded our expectations — the seats were comfortable, the service was smooth, and the price was unbeatable compared to other carriers. When searching for flights, we always start with Google Flights to compare options. A tip worth noting: search in private browser mode. Many booking sites use dynamic pricing and track your cookies, which can cause prices to jump the more you search. Using incognito helps you avoid those sneaky hikes and gives you the clearest view of the best deals.