What's you favorite stopover city to/from Thailand?

[AlexThompson]

i just spent a few weeks in Thailand and am headed back to the U.S.  I see a few flights that offer 12 to 17-hour stopovers in Taipei...Shanghai...etc.  Any advice on which city offers the most bang in the least amount of time?

[spoon]

I have lots of love for tokyo mostly for their unique and futuristic city. Ive never been to taipei, but it is in my list of places to go to as well. I guess value wise, taipei should be cheaper than tokyo.

[PeterRS]

Tokyo is not necessarily an expensive city. Your biggest problem is time. From Narita airport you have to allow 30 minutes for Immigration (the queues can be very long). Then go to the basement and get a ticket for the Narita Express train to Tokyo Station or Shinjuku station. This take roughly 55 minutes to the main station and 20 minutes more to Shinjuku. So you have already lost between 2 and 2.5 hours minimum and then the same on the return to the airport. Make sure you buy a return ticket before leaving the airport as your choice of train may be full. Forget the regular limousine buses. They will take up way too much of your time. Its a lot faster and cheaper from Haneda airport if you take the monorail and link to either the Japan Railways overground system or the subway system. ut that depends on your airline and which airport it uses. Note: separate tickets required for the different types of transport. You can avoid this by buying a stored value Suica ticket, but for a ten hours or so that may not be of much use. Ticket machines give change. Once in the city public transport is the best of almost any city anywhere and very cheap. Only problem is that it all shuts down around midnight. On the other hand, avoid taxis as far as possible. Tokyos crawling traffic means the meter clicks over at an alarming rate. Eating is not expensive if you go to one of the vast number of cheap Japanese restaurants. All will have photos or plastic models of the dishes in the window and you can eat well for less than $9.

Many unique sights to see in the city. The Senso-ji Temple in Asakusa is a must. Easy to get there on the Ginza subway line. If you are there at a weekend, the quirky shopping area of Harajuku with young people in all sorts of weird garb is interesting. If it is a clear day go to the skyscraper area in Shinjuku. There is a viewing platform at the top of the Tokyo Government building where you might just get a glimpse of Mt. Fuji. You must keep your eye on your watch and leave enough time to get back to the airport and get back through Immigration.

Dont know much about Shanghai except it has the world's first commercial magnetic levitation train - the Maglev - between Pudong airport and the Pudong district. This takes little more than 9 minutes and travels at 420 km per hour for much of the trip. From there there are subway connections over to the main city.

Taipei airport is linked to the citys main station by a new subway system. Not sure of the sights to see except the wonderful Taipei National  Museum which has the treasures stolen from China by Chiang Kai Shek. Or you can go up to the viewing gallery in Taipei 101, once the worlds tallest building. Or just make your way to Ximen subway station. Here The Red House is packed with lots of small gay bars and restaurants. Great to sit with a beer and people watch. But much busier at week ends than on weekdays. Im told the sauna named Soi13 is one of the most active with lots of young, fit Taiwan guys - https://www.travelgayasia.com/venue/soi-13-in-sauna/

If you seriously consider a stopover anywhere, I really suggest you try to spend at least one night so you are not always checking your watch. Tokyo and Taipei have lots of decent hotels between $70 and $100 although the Tokyo rooms will be very small.

 

[vinapu]

Seoul airport used to offer free tours for passengers in longer transit and probably they still do .

In Shanghai to go to the city you need to get 168 hours free transit visa but procedure is very efficient.

All those transit airports are big one with lots of traffic so allow plenty of time for immigration and security lines.

If you ask me , unless you are familiar with the city, forget about transit sightseeing , find connection with little wait time and leave sightseeing for proper trip in future, otherwise it may be nerve wrecking experience

[gerefan]

I cannot see the logic in having a 12 - 18 hour stop over  whilst flying for 12 - 24 hours in total.It must be torture!I

I would consider not less than a 24 hour layover...and a decent hotel...but 12 hours...no way!

[TotallyOz]

2 hours ago, gerefan said:

I cannot see the logic in having a 12 - 18 hour stop over  whilst flying for 12 - 24 hours in total.It must be torture!I

I would consider not less than a 24 hour layover...and a decent hotel...but 12 hours...no way!

Sometimes, it is a matter of money. My recent trip for Business Class on Hainan had a 10 hour wait. But, the fare saved me nearly 2k USD. It was worth the wait time. Not sure I'd do it again but it made a lot of sense at the time.

[TotallyOz]

BTW: I always loved flying KLM to Amsterdam and staying over a night or two there. It broke up the trip and I love the city. Not sure I would venture out for 12 hours but I do like the one or two day stop overs. Many Middle Eastern Airlines let you stop over for free as they want the tourists. A good plan IMHO.

[Davidsteel99]

Lay over for 2-5 days in Tokyo. Take the Narita Express to Shinjuku and stay in a APA or Toku-Stay Hotel to keep costs down.  Try out the boy host bars in Shinjuku. Walk in the National Garden. Enjoy the food. Then continue on to your destination. 

[AlexThompson]

Many thanks for your thoughtful replies, gentlemen.  I am about to do a deep dive on Google Flights...

[PeterRS]

If you plan to do more than sightseeing, Tokyo has at least 200 gay bars in the Shinjuku ni-chome district. But only a few of these will welcome foreigners. So do research beforehand. Check sites like https://www.travelgayasia.com/tokyo-gay-bars/ If you are into saunas, there is an excellent 24 Kaikan Sauna in the ni-chome district. There is an etiquette to sauna going in Japan. Let us know if this is where you choose and I can amplify. Shinjuku station is one of the busiest in the world and has seeming miles of underground shopping. Great for getting to ni-chome if its raining. Walk to Exit C8 a the BYGS Building. The bars are just around the corner, as are at least two of the escort host bars. Just dont expect much English to be spoken at the latter. 

There are also escort host bars where you can book the boy of your dreams online to come to your hotel. This can save a lot of time and trouble. This is Japan and so expect them to turn up on the dot. But one hour of fun will mean precisely that. Not a minute more. The great thing is that the websites give precise detail of every guy on their books, their age and stats and icons showing what they will or will not do when they are in your room.  A  page of one site is illustrated below.

Last recommendation is get a good bilingual map. English is commonly used on signs but it is not universally spoken.

[fedssocr]

I kind of refuse to go to mainland China. 

Hong Kong is a place where I've transited several times. I've also managed a layover of about 24 hours there which is enough time to see a couple of things and/or get a massage. The train from the airport is fast.

I like Seoul, but ICN is a long way from the city. Even on the "express" train it takes at least an hour.

I don't mind connecting at NRT but I've never had more than a couple of hours there. As noted it's a long way from the airport to Tokyo.

Some airlines will allow you a free stopover of a more worthwhile length. I think Korean Airlines has restricted or curtailed the practice but I've used their free stopover a couple of times. First time for a week. And on my trip over this fall it will be 10 days. I'd check to see if Cathay or EVA or China Airlines (Taiwan) allows it. I think Qatar Airways allows a stopover too if you're dying to see Doha.

[PeterRS]

Re the Tokyo online Host boys I should have added the price list. 70 minutes in your hotel room will cost 13,000 Yen - thats about $120. You usually pay the boy but some host bars request advance payment by credit card. No tips are expected. If public transport is required to get to your hotel you may also be asked to pay for that. But it will be peanuts. You can go to the bar and hire a room there if you wish and that sets you back another $10 or so. In addition to the list below, there are overnight rates. But given that the cheaper hotels in Japan have very small single beds, I would not recommend it unless you book a much more expensive double room. Besides, overnight rates are much more expensive!

The websites also give information of when each boy is available each day and that information is posted several days in advance.. 

[abidismaili]

This thread brings up 2 questions

1) What do your guys do with your luggage when at a stopover airport and you decide to go for a few hours downtown? You leave the luggage at some storage facility at the airport?

2) If you need to go to the toilet when downtown where will you go? You can't go to your hotel which you don't have! You just go into a nearby shopping mall when the need arrives?

These kind of logistical problems should be discussed in this thread else the most important aspect of deciding to leave the airport for a few hours is not even discussed.

[vinapu]

1. if there's luggage storage facility in the airport / big if ? / I'd leave luggage there. Otherwise at railway  / bus station it may be one. Third option is to look for some  big shopping mall as they often have luggage storage facilities. Option # 4 is to rent room in cheap hotel close to the departing point and keep your luggage there , that is option I used few times when stopover was quite long like 6-10 hours. Option 5 is to arrange with airline  that your luggage  will be tagged through to destination. Option 6 is just to suffer in silence and carry luggage with you - lesser problem for those who, like me ,  are travelling light.

Option 7 which I used quite a few  times in my younger travelling years was just to leave luggage in the airport or railway station somewhere and hope for the best - it always worked for me. Unfortunately not because of terror  scares that option is not valid anymore and unattended luggage may lead not only thief into temptation but us to bigger trouble.

2. do whatever we do when we go downtown in our own cities - shopping malls , restaurants, churches, metro stations , railway and bus stations, public parks , bigger stores, museums usually have something. Look for construction sites - portables may be  open and accessible

Otherwise look for bushes, not suitable in winter where's no foliage .And look at option 4  in point 1  above.

Be prepared by not eating and drinking too much  before you set for your sightseeing

[Guest]

Japan tends to have all the services you need.       For example, in the gay area of Shinjuku:

1  Lockers.  As an example, the photo below is lifted of google street view has some lockers on the right (red bit) and on the left, just behind the wall is the stairs leading into the gay sauna in Shinjuku. 

2  There are toilets nearby in the basement of the BYGS building.

3  Showers !     I was just stood around in the gay area (kind of checking who might be cruising) & noticed quite a lot of people coming and going from the building in the second picture (alone).   Whilst this looks like some kind of short time hotel, the number of comings & goings seemed high.     Anyway I figured out they have shower facilities for rent, so I went in and had a shower, which was almost unreasonably cheap.  There are at least a couple of host bars within about 30m of this. 

4  Boys.   https://kids-jp.com/       http://www.get-wave.com/tokyo/       http://www.kocnet.jp/profile/boys.html

There would almost certainly be some luggage storage service at the airport, but do google that.     From the UK, I fly direct to Thailand and the only times I've used the airports in Tokyo was when visiting Japan.

 

[fedssocr]

it's kind of crazy how many guys those clubs advertise. I wonder if they're all really available.

Most of the time your luggage will be checked through to your final destination (unless you're on separate tickets and airlines without an interline agreement). So you only have to deal with a carry on bag. When I overnight in HK though I always pick up my main bag there and recheck it the next day. But I get a hotel so it's not a problem.

[PeterRS]

There will certainly be left luggage lockers or a manned facility at every large transit airport in Asia. If in transit, it is almost certain your hold bag will stay with the airline (I believe). Even if you have to pick it up and go through customs, there is no point whatever in dragging that into the city. But it is good you brought this up because occasionally you might find a queue when you return to pick it up. So you need to add another 10 - 15 minutes to your schedule.

Toilets. Aha! Sounds like you do not travel very often abidismaili! Wherever there are hotels, department stores, restaurants and even cafes, there will be toilets. Just walk in as though you are a customer, look for the toilet signs and make a beeline for them. No one will stop you! Smaller establishments may require a key obtainable from the cash desk. So look for larger establishments. Almost all hotels I have ever stayed in with a bar or a restaurant will have a toilet at that level. No one is going to stop you.

One problem not yet discussed is currency. Anyone stopping over only for a few hours or even a full day is unlikely to have stocked up with Yen or NT$s or Chinese RMB in advance. But again all major airports will have currency exchange desks. Some airports like Taipei and Tokyo offer good rates more or less comparable to banks. At others like Bangkok and Hong Kong you may find the rate is not nearly as good. You can also get a small amount at your departure airport. But lets face it. You wont be using much and you dont have time to look around for the best deal. Even if you see a nice Prada handbag you want , the store will take credit cards.

[Guest]

7 hours ago, PeterRS said:

One problem not yet discussed is currency.

Good point.  Although Japan is very advanced & has some super services, currency is a backward area.   

They have a very low adoption rate for cashless payments.   

Also, don't count on your ATM card working in all the bank branches.   They used to not accept foreign cards.  So you would have to look for a post office ATM.    I would google it for the latest status.

The big shops in Tokyo will of course accept everything and change money, but at a price.

I would go prepared with a wad of JPY 1000 JPY notes.   Five minutes on google at home and you can probably find a tolerable rate (<1.2 % loss) or even a competitive one (~0.5% loss). In some cases, currency PRE-ORDERED at your home airport might be at a tolerable rate.   

 

[reader]

18 hours ago, vinapu said:

1. if there's luggage storage facility in the airport

Narita airport:

https://www.narita-airport.jp/en/service/svc_06

Haneda airport:

http://www.haneda-airport.jp/inter/mo/en/premises/service/delivery_temporary.html

 

 

[macaroni21]

Does anyone know of a similar shop with a similarly accessible website in Seoul? I might have to be there in the months ahead.

[fedssocr]

I've never had an issue using my ATM card as long as I contact the bank in advance of my trip

[Guest]

2 hours ago, fedssocr said:

I've never had an issue using my ATM card as long as I contact the bank in advance of my trip

Including in Japan ?       I've never had an issue using my ATM card in a very long list of countries.    Japan was the exception.    Since most of the Japanese bank ATMs did not accept foreign ATM cards, it doesn't matter much what my bank thinks.   

 

This seems to explain the current situation (see link).   Foreign cards still not accepted at Japanese banks.   Post Office ATMs OK and also 7-Eleven.     As a 7-Eleven is a Japanese company (now) 7-Elevens are all over the place.   No idea what percentage have ATMS, but an educated guess would be a lot ! 

    https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2208.html

[vinapu]

2 hours ago, fedssocr said:

I've never had an issue using my ATM card as long as I contact the bank in advance of my trip

don't count on it in Thailand. 

I never had problems with Kasikorn (spelling ?) green colored  bank machines but the same card and the same amount were rejected by say Bangkok Bank 's ones . No idea why but nowadays I don't even try other banks and go straight to green ones, one freestanding on Silom past soi 6 in front of building where Starbucks is,  never failed me

 

[fedssocr]

The only time I spent more than a few hours in Japan was about 4 years ago when I had about 3 days there and I am pretty sure I was able to get cash with my ATM card although I believe I did use a credit card for most things.