Planning To Attend Summer Olympics in 2020
The summer of 2020 may seem far away, but realistically the Summer Olympics will be here in just 2 ½ years. If you plan on attending the games, you really need to start preparing your trip to Tokyo now. Because the Olympic games only occur every 4 years, the event draws millions of people to the host city. You don’t want to miss out just because you waited until the last minute to get tickets, make your flight reservations or hotel accommodations. If you plan to attend the 2020 Summer Olympic games, this is what you should do.
Your Travel Dates
The opening ceremony for the games will be on July 24 and for the most part, August 9th will be the end of the games. There are some soccer matches that will start to occur on August 22nd and the Paralympics will start on August 25th. With the majority of the events only lasting for 16 days, you need to decide what games you will plan on being there for. It’s also a good idea to plan to arrive at least 1-2 days before the actual event just in case you have to deal with any travel delays.
Purchasing Your Tickets
You won’t be able to purchase your tickets for some time. They don’t go on sale until about 18 months before the games. This means that around January or February of 2019 you should start inquiring about tickets. Those who aren’t residents of Tokyo will often have to buy their tickets through an agent of some sort. While we don’t know the prices of tickets quite yet, around half of the tickets for the 2016 games in Rio were $21 or less.
Figuring Out Your Accommodations
Without a doubt there will be quite a few people in attendance at this event. Because of this you really need to plan accordingly. It’s important that you decide on your accommodations and book them early. You will have more options by booking ahead of time. It’s a good idea to stay at a hotel that’s close to Minato or Odaiba so that you aren’t too far from the Olympic Park. If you are on a budget, you can find very reasonable accommodations in some of the areas surrounding Tokyo, but it will mean that you will have a commute of up to an hour. Basically what you save on your hotel stay you could end up paying in public transportation and then having to deal with a lot of traffic on top of it so it’s not much of a trade off.
Getting There And Getting Around
Most travelers to Tokyo will fly into the Narita airport. Some may travel to Haneda airport instead. Once in Tokyo, it’s a good idea to forego trying to rent a car. Parking can be nearly impossible. The train and metro systems are fairly efficient. They are perfectly capable of handling the large amount of people that will be traveling to the games. You should easily be able to get to where you want to go without too much of a hassle.
Don’t want the crowds of the Olympics? Spring is a great time to see the Cherry Blossoms. Start planning an escorted Japan tour now.
