Updated May 19, 2026
Two extraordinary countries, 2.5 hours apart by flight, and more affordable to combine than most students realize. Here is how to plan a Japan and Korea trip without losing your mind or your savings.
The single most common follow-up question after students read our Japan on a Student Budget and South Korea Student Trip guides is this: Can I do both on the same trip? The answer is yes, and it is more practical than it sounds.
Tokyo and Seoul are 1,200 kilometres apart, roughly the distance between Toronto and New York by train if you scale for flight time. Direct flights between the two capitals take around 2.5 hours. Budget airlines, including Jeju Air, Air Busan, T’way Air, and Peach Aviation, frequently operate on the route, often for under 100 CAD one way if booked 6 to 8 weeks in advance.
The Basic Structure
The most practical approach for a student with 2 to 3 weeks:
- Fly into Tokyo, out of Seoul (or vice versa). Open-jaw flights flying into one city and out of another often cost the same or less than return flights and save you the time and cost of retracing your route.
- Spend 10 to 12 days in Japan across Tokyo, Kyoto, and Osaka. This is enough to cover the Golden Route properly without rushing.
- Fly from Tokyo to Seoul (or from Osaka to Seoul; Osaka is also well-connected). Budget around 2.5 hours plus airport time.
- Spend 5 to 7 days in Korea, with Seoul as the base and an optional overnight in Busan.
Total trip: 17-21 days. Total cost excluding international flights from Canada: roughly 250,000 to 380,000 yen plus 600,000 to 900,000 Korean won, around 3,000 to 4,500 CAD, depending on accommodation choices.
Which Direction to Travel
Tokyo to Seoul is the more common direction and slightly easier logistically. Flying out of Seoul means you finish in Korea, which most students find to be a more budget-friendly and socially active environment for the final few days.
Seoul to Tokyo first works better if you want to end in Japan’s quieter, more contemplative atmosphere or if flights are cheaper in that direction on your dates. Check both directions when searching.
Booking tip: Search for open-jaw flights using Google Flights (fly into TYO, out of ICN). Compare with booking separate legs independently. The open-jaw is usually cheaper than two return tickets, but occasionally the reverse is true. Check both.
The Japan Leg: What to Cover in 10 to 12 Days
Tokyo gets 4 to 5 days. Kyoto gets 3 days. Osaka gets 2 days. That leaves 1 to 2 days for a Nara day trip or a night in Hakone for an onsen.
Do not over-plan Japan. The Shinkansen makes moving between cities easy, but the cities themselves reward slower exploration. The Japan 7-day itinerary is a useful baseline, even if you have more time, use it to identify your priorities and add days where they matter most to you.
For transport within Japan, get a Suica IC card at the airport immediately on arrival. It handles every train, subway, and bus journey automatically. See the Suica card guide. For inter-city travel, check the JR Pass guide to calculate whether the unlimited pass saves money on your specific route.
The Korea Leg: What to Cover in 5 to 7 Days
Seoul deserves at least 4-5 days. The city is enormous and varied, and it rewards neighbourhood-by-neighbourhood exploration. Add one overnight in Busan, you can’t miss a 2.5-hour KT bullet train ride from Seoul, and it’s genuinely different from the capital. See the Seoul-to-Busan guide for logistics.
Korea is noticeably more affordable than Japan for equivalent accommodation and food. Budget 20 to 30 percent less per day and spend the savings on Korean BBQ, late-night fried chicken, and the kind of street food you can only find in Gwangjang Market.
The Flight Between Countries
Most budget airlines fly the Tokyo-Seoul route from Narita (NRT) or Haneda (HND) to Incheon (ICN) or Gimpo (GMP). Gimpo is closer to central Seoul and faster to reach from the airport, so it’s worth paying a slight premium if the price difference is small.
Book the inter-Asia flight separately from your international flights. Do not book it too far in advance. Prices on this route are competitive, and the best deals appear around 4 to 6 weeks before departure. Set a Google Flights price alert.
Money and Cards
Japan uses cash more heavily than Korea. Carry 20,000 to 30,000 yen at all times for restaurants, temples, and smaller shops that do not take cards. 7-Eleven ATMs in Japan accept most foreign cards. In Korea, card payments are accepted almost everywhere, so you will use cash far less.
Get a Wise or Revolut card before travelling. Both offer near-interbank exchange rates with no foreign transaction fees, which add up meaningfully over a 3-week trip between two currencies.
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