Kyoto & Tokyo tips
Jun 12th, 2016, 06:15 AM
#21
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Kavey - don't worry...we are not expecting more than what you made the hotel out to be, but for us it is mainly a place to hang our hats. Location, cleanliness and a pleasant staff go a long way.t
As we are not looking for super expensive restaurants, any suggestions in the area?
As we are not looking for super expensive restaurants, any suggestions in the area?
Jun 12th, 2016, 06:29 AM
#22
"An exercise in persistence is to find your way from the Shinkansen tracks to the subway tracks at Kyoto Station without resorting to stairs." LOL!
My problem with the subway station near the Palace Side was that the only elevator was at the other end of the amazingly long station. I had a choice of 60 steps or a very long limp.
I just booked Toyoko for Nara, would like to mix things up a bit, but will look into the area. (The Kyoto Royal isn't available for my dates, and pricier than I like to go in any case.)
My problem with the subway station near the Palace Side was that the only elevator was at the other end of the amazingly long station. I had a choice of 60 steps or a very long limp.
I just booked Toyoko for Nara, would like to mix things up a bit, but will look into the area. (The Kyoto Royal isn't available for my dates, and pricier than I like to go in any case.)
Jun 12th, 2016, 10:34 AM
#23
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The Royal was booked on most sites, but persistence paid. I think we got the room for about $100. By the way Kavey - did you ever eat in the hotel's restaurant and if so, so you recommend it? We read that there is a Japanese BBQ buffet there.
Jun 13th, 2016, 03:30 AM
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I never ate within the hotel, I found it overpriced compared with everything available outside.
Places nearby that I liked:
* A very cheap but delicious ramen place, just a few yards South on the same side of same road: http://www.kaveyeats.com/2014/02/kai...he-corner.html
* Katsukura for tonkatsu, this is the original branch and has become a lot lot better known with tourists since our first visit in 2012, but still very tasty. You'll likely have to queue, we queued for about 15 minutes on an early weekday evening
* The kaiten sushi (conveyor belt) sushi just before the entrance to the covered bit of Sanjo Dori, so it's on the same road as the hotel, opposite side, a little South of the hotel. Excellent pricing, if you eat early you won't need to queue but if you eat late you will.
* Gyu-Kaku is a large Korean yakiniku chain, there's a branch right near the hotel but I can't recall the address. We have visited all three times we've been in Kyoto. http://www.kaveyeats.com/2014/03/enj...-in-japan.html
* For a slightly pricier but very high quality yakiniku, on this trip we went to Hiro, recommended by the hotel and very good. It's in a narrow street just behind the hotel and the entrance way is a very narrow alleyway, so you'll definitely need a map from the hotel and the name written down to spot. https://www.instagram.com/p/BD-vCTvkPR6/
* There's a MOS burger down towards Shijo Dori, it's a Japanese burger chain, I rather love their burgers. I know some visitors don't want to have burgers while in Japan but these are burgers with the Japanese twist, and we loved the experience.
* For breakfast, if you can get there soon enough after it opens, try the French toast at Coffee Smart. It's very close to the hotel, on Teramachi Dori, in the covered bit and well worth visiting. https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/...!4d135.7670576
* In fact, when we fancied a Western breakfast, we found quite a lot of local places in Kyoto, here's my report but Coffee Smart above is probably the one I loved best, we went again this time for coffee and breakfast. http://www.kaveyeats.com/2014/03/kyo...fast-sets.html
Places nearby that I liked:
* A very cheap but delicious ramen place, just a few yards South on the same side of same road: http://www.kaveyeats.com/2014/02/kai...he-corner.html
* Katsukura for tonkatsu, this is the original branch and has become a lot lot better known with tourists since our first visit in 2012, but still very tasty. You'll likely have to queue, we queued for about 15 minutes on an early weekday evening
* The kaiten sushi (conveyor belt) sushi just before the entrance to the covered bit of Sanjo Dori, so it's on the same road as the hotel, opposite side, a little South of the hotel. Excellent pricing, if you eat early you won't need to queue but if you eat late you will.
* Gyu-Kaku is a large Korean yakiniku chain, there's a branch right near the hotel but I can't recall the address. We have visited all three times we've been in Kyoto. http://www.kaveyeats.com/2014/03/enj...-in-japan.html
* For a slightly pricier but very high quality yakiniku, on this trip we went to Hiro, recommended by the hotel and very good. It's in a narrow street just behind the hotel and the entrance way is a very narrow alleyway, so you'll definitely need a map from the hotel and the name written down to spot. https://www.instagram.com/p/BD-vCTvkPR6/
* There's a MOS burger down towards Shijo Dori, it's a Japanese burger chain, I rather love their burgers. I know some visitors don't want to have burgers while in Japan but these are burgers with the Japanese twist, and we loved the experience.
* For breakfast, if you can get there soon enough after it opens, try the French toast at Coffee Smart. It's very close to the hotel, on Teramachi Dori, in the covered bit and well worth visiting. https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/...!4d135.7670576
* In fact, when we fancied a Western breakfast, we found quite a lot of local places in Kyoto, here's my report but Coffee Smart above is probably the one I loved best, we went again this time for coffee and breakfast. http://www.kaveyeats.com/2014/03/kyo...fast-sets.html
Jun 13th, 2016, 05:08 AM
#28
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Kavey- thanks for all the great tips. My husband will be especially happy about he burger and I am not adverse to trying it if there is a special twist.
Thursday - I'm afraid there is no overlap in our time in kyoto. We don't arrive in Japan until October 19 and will not be in Kyoto until the 26th.
Thursday - I'm afraid there is no overlap in our time in kyoto. We don't arrive in Japan until October 19 and will not be in Kyoto until the 26th.
Jun 13th, 2016, 05:42 AM
#29
@dgunbug - pity. By the 26th I should be in Matsue. Things do seem to be pretty booked up the middle of October - I heard back from Japanese Guest Houses that there were no rooms in any of their ryokans for the 22nd in Kurashiki (or it might be more accurate to say no rooms for one person).
Jun 14th, 2016, 02:43 AM
#30
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Dgunbug It's very much fast food, like McDs and Burger King, but the burgers are more savoury, with more umami in the condiments inside them. Loved them. And green soda!
On our second trip we also noticed that Burger King were doing a limited edition Black Ninja burger and popped in to try it, which was fun. We had 3 weeks on that trip so didn't mind having the occasional non-Japanese meal, especially when it was the Japanese take on Western favourites.
http://www.kaveyeats.com/2014/02/bur...uro-ninja.html
On our second trip we also noticed that Burger King were doing a limited edition Black Ninja burger and popped in to try it, which was fun. We had 3 weeks on that trip so didn't mind having the occasional non-Japanese meal, especially when it was the Japanese take on Western favourites.
http://www.kaveyeats.com/2014/02/bur...uro-ninja.html
Jun 16th, 2016, 01:16 AM
#31
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Any transportation tips? We will arrive at Narita airport and we will go to Tokyo Station where the hotel is located. For 7 days we will be in Tokyo and we will use the metro. Then we will travel to Kyoto by train and stay there for 6 days. On the day of our departure we will go to Osaka to fly back to Greece. Do you think that we should by a JR Pass? I am reading that we can use it also in Tokyo but only with Yamanote line. Is that enough to travel around Tokyo? Or is it better to by a pass for Tokyo metro, then a train ticket to Kyoto, a metro pass for Kyoto and then another ticket to Osaka?
thank you!
thank you!
Jun 16th, 2016, 05:00 AM
#32
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I would use hyperdia.com to look at your train ticket prices and work out whether JRPass is worthwhile for you or not.
In Tokyo, we used the metro to get around, you can buy a PASMO card at Narita on arrival, load money onto it as and when needed and just touch it to the scanner to go through gates. Much quicker than buying tickets each time.
In Kyoto we mostly used the bus, it's a flat fee within most of the tourist area of Kyoto, I think 200 yen. We used PASMO cards to pay that too, if I recall correctly.
We used the metro in Kyoto on the first two trips, but not this time.
In Tokyo, we used the metro to get around, you can buy a PASMO card at Narita on arrival, load money onto it as and when needed and just touch it to the scanner to go through gates. Much quicker than buying tickets each time.
In Kyoto we mostly used the bus, it's a flat fee within most of the tourist area of Kyoto, I think 200 yen. We used PASMO cards to pay that too, if I recall correctly.
We used the metro in Kyoto on the first two trips, but not this time.
Jul 13th, 2016, 09:59 AM
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Jul 21st, 2016, 12:30 PM
#38
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I first "travelled" to Japan in 1946 by ocean liner, sharing compartment with 80-100 other 17-18 year olds. It had the quaint name of "troop ship".....
returned under much more comfortable circumstances, twice, most recent in 2007 (Tokyo and Kyoto and vicinities)
In Tokyo we had booked very "different" but inviting lodgings in The Park Hotel, located on the rim of beautiful Hamarikyu Park, where one can catch a boat up the Sumida River to the Asakusa district (40-minute ride). Highly recommend both the hotel and the boat trip.
The Park Hotel is located from the 25th floor-30th floor of a Shiodome office building(great views of the city from the sizeable hotel room)..excellent restaurant, and a breakfast coffee shop in the ground floor lobby.
Easy walk or short taxi ride to the Ginza, or through a series of pedestrian tunnels to the Tokyo subway system which we quickly learned to negotiate.
Don't miss the fabled 10 am "grand opening" ceremony at the Ginza's Matsukoshi Department Store. Photo ops and fun.
Harujuku on a Sunday is a maze of kids in a variety of "costumes," actually their everyday clothes(?).
Speaking of sushi, seriously, we found one of the better sushi restos to be at the famed Tsukiji Fish Market...place called Ichiban (#1) Sushi and it was..very moderate stateside prices. Many locals and only a few turistas.
Very high-end Omotesando Street is worth a walkthrough and window shopping, and we found one of the best kept secrets in Tokyo eating (which was touted by one of a taxi driver as the "best okonomaki spot in the city")...and we both love okonomaki if properly prepared(batter, eggs, cabbage, shrimp and onion)...we judge it by an old place in LA's Little Tokyo). Located in the little Maryoshi building between the stores of Shu-uemura (make-up products) and Tod's (shoes and bags)..on Omotesando, directly across the street from (what else?) Benetton's!...third floor on a rickety elevator. All is prepared on a BeniHana type-hot table.
So much besides the usual sites to see in town..which we covered quite well and easily over a full five day period.
Next...fly to Kyushu and my old "home town", for two years, Beppu, and on to Kyoto. Stick around if you wish)
I will post pics below.
(I must mention we had come to Japan after almost three independent weeks in a good chunk of China (our second visit to China...1984). Tired? Nah!)
returned under much more comfortable circumstances, twice, most recent in 2007 (Tokyo and Kyoto and vicinities)
In Tokyo we had booked very "different" but inviting lodgings in The Park Hotel, located on the rim of beautiful Hamarikyu Park, where one can catch a boat up the Sumida River to the Asakusa district (40-minute ride). Highly recommend both the hotel and the boat trip.
The Park Hotel is located from the 25th floor-30th floor of a Shiodome office building(great views of the city from the sizeable hotel room)..excellent restaurant, and a breakfast coffee shop in the ground floor lobby.
Easy walk or short taxi ride to the Ginza, or through a series of pedestrian tunnels to the Tokyo subway system which we quickly learned to negotiate.
Don't miss the fabled 10 am "grand opening" ceremony at the Ginza's Matsukoshi Department Store. Photo ops and fun.
Harujuku on a Sunday is a maze of kids in a variety of "costumes," actually their everyday clothes(?).
Speaking of sushi, seriously, we found one of the better sushi restos to be at the famed Tsukiji Fish Market...place called Ichiban (#1) Sushi and it was..very moderate stateside prices. Many locals and only a few turistas.
Very high-end Omotesando Street is worth a walkthrough and window shopping, and we found one of the best kept secrets in Tokyo eating (which was touted by one of a taxi driver as the "best okonomaki spot in the city")...and we both love okonomaki if properly prepared(batter, eggs, cabbage, shrimp and onion)...we judge it by an old place in LA's Little Tokyo). Located in the little Maryoshi building between the stores of Shu-uemura (make-up products) and Tod's (shoes and bags)..on Omotesando, directly across the street from (what else?) Benetton's!...third floor on a rickety elevator. All is prepared on a BeniHana type-hot table.
So much besides the usual sites to see in town..which we covered quite well and easily over a full five day period.
Next...fly to Kyushu and my old "home town", for two years, Beppu, and on to Kyoto. Stick around if you wish)
I will post pics below.
(I must mention we had come to Japan after almost three independent weeks in a good chunk of China (our second visit to China...1984). Tired? Nah!)
Jul 21st, 2016, 12:46 PM
#39
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SHOULD mention that my memories are of smouldering cities like Hiroshima, as part of the third- wave of replacement/occupation troops. When viewing Hiroshima, can you imagine about 200 teenaged American kids standing completely silent while those few of us with little cheapo Brownie cameras shot pix from a distance. We were en route to Kyushu and the town of Beppu (also hammered by B-29's)
Jul 21st, 2016, 12:54 PM
#40
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apropo of my note above...here is Hiroshima in 1946, about six months following the A-Bomb-ing
https://picasaweb.google.com/stuartt...98700860785122
https://picasaweb.google.com/stuartt...98700860785122
