What's the best way to travel from Tokyo->Taipei->Seoul->Tokyo
 

Hello,

I am looking for the best way to travel from Tokyo to Taipei in May and then to Seoul a week thereafter, then back to Tokyo after another week. I checked some flights from Tokyo (http://www.tour.ne.jp/), but one-way was usually more expensive than returning flights... Maybe ferries would be an option... Or is there something like an asia air travel ticket available? What websites do you recommend to use?

Thank you,

D

Cathay air pass? International Flights, Asia Airline Travel - Cathay Pacific United States

Not sure if it will suit your need

Three ideas.

If one-way tickets are more expensive, buy r/t and use only half. That probably doesn't fit your budget, I would guess. [However, if you do the timing right, you can use the second half of each ticket for a free Tokyo -> Seoul -> Taibei -> Tokyo trip later :-) ]

Buy two separate r/t tickets. Either one Tokyo <-> Taibei and one Tokyo <-> Seoul, or one Tokyo <-> Taibei and one Taibei <-> Seoul, or one Tokyo <-> Seoul and one Seoul <-> Taibei. . I would assume the first is better as the flights are shorter, but the second and third might be cheaper as you have fewer flights out of Tokyo (which is very expensive). But you would probably base this on which way has the best layover. In other words, for the third option, you would fly Tokyo -> Seoul on the first half of one ticket, get your luggage and check-in for your Seoul -> Taibei flight. [Make sure to leave extra time for this compared to a normal connection.] Then after your time in Taibei you fly Taibei -> Seoul on the return of your second ticket. Then after your time in Seoul you fly Seoul -> Tokyo on the return of your first ticket. The downside to this approach is 4 flights (instead of 3 if you used only non-stops), and the layover when you change tickets is a bit dicy if your first flight is late. [If this were a normal connection, and your first flight is late, they will reroute you on a later flight. However, in this case it is a separate check-in, so if your first flight is late, you've missed the check-in for your second flight.]

The other option is to buy a single multiple-city ticket. Go to ITA Software: Login [login as guest], click on multiple segment, and enter each leg, and see what the prices are. Sometimes it's really good, sometimes it's really bad. [LATER EDIT: I was curious, and ITA is showing non-stops NRT -> TPE -> ICN -> NRT as low as USD1297 for May 5 / 12 / 19. Not sure how that compares to other options.]

I usually check for flights on Cheap flights: Find and compare prices for airline tickets.
the flight Tokyo -> Taipe starts at 400US
Taipe - > Seoul at 260 US
and Seoul - > Tokyo at 330 US

There was a ferry from Japan to Taiwan (going through Okinawa) but its no longer operating.
There is a ticket called the "Korea- Japan through ticket" wich includes the KTX Train from Seoul to Busan, the beetle ferry ride to Fukuoka and the train ride to Tokyo. This takes a long time and is not so easy to book. Its usually only worth if your destination is on Kyushu or your doing a round trip from Korea.
The Problem is that 2 off your flights are from/to Japan, and Japan is a expensive destination. Otherwise flights around Asia are usually cheap. If you use Bangkok or Singapur as a hub you can get nearly anywhere cheap. Return from Seoul to BKK start at 300US, and since Jetstar started the Jetstarasia you can even fly to Australia for not much money.
Good luck finding the right way for your journey.

Thanks for all your replies! The cheapest option for me would probably be to use returning flights and stay one night in Narita between the flights. The flights on http://www1.tour.ne.jp seem to be all around 29,000円 (USD 323)--but I haven't figured out yet if they will accept credit card (I am still not that proficient at reading Japanese:)). The flights offered on dohop.com are around USD 400, so I may use those in case I cannot book them on the Japanese site.