The infamous 'Where should I stay?' thread: Tokyo edition
 

Oh, yes, it's true. I've gotten to the point of having to post one of those all-hallowed 'Where should I stay?' threads. I'm not proud of it. I hang my head in shame, in fact.

I've been doing some ongoing research about hotels in Tokyo and I just keep scratching my head when it comes to making a decision. So apologies in advance for a question I'm sure that has been asked ad infinitum on this board.

The facts:
-we'll be April for 2 stays:
**1st stay for 2 nights upon arrival
**2nd stay at the end of the trip for 4 nights
-not a big fan of business hotels, but I know I may not be able to be as picky on this trip
-probably looking for a decent breakfast at the hotels--most all other meals will be outside the hotel
-in-laws are joining and their biggest concern is not being in a hotel that feels like NY or LA. I've tried to explain that we're in a big, cosmopolitan city and chances of that wish coming true are slim-to-none

For the 1st stay I suppose the being central isn't as essential. For the 2nd stay, it definitely it is, since that's probably when we'll do most of our Tokyo exploring (translation: shopping!)

Places I've looked at:
-Cerulean
-ANA Intercontinental
-Granbell
-Nikko
-Park Hotel (*not Park Hyatt)

Any suggestions on where is best for each leg? Also, any suggestions for places I'm not thinking of/looking at.

Budget is no more than $350-400/night at the very most, preferably under (especially for the 1st leg when we won't care as much about the digs.)

Where's Lcuy when you really need her? (Rhetorical question, as the answer is "on the way to Turkey"!) I loved her story of traveling to Japan with her DH and baby daughter and no hotel reservations and they ended up at a "love nest" hotel.

Filmwill, I'm sorry to disappoint you, as I've no answers. But I know your more experienced pals like Rizzuto will weigh in with wonderful words of advice for you.

Domo arigato,
BC

For your last 4 nights you might try the Citadines in Shinjuku. They have one in Kyoto too if your interested. Also have two other locations in Tokyo but I haven't seen those. You might need a washer and dryer by then,lol

http://www.citadines.com/japan/tokyo/shinjuku.html

The Cerulean in Shibuya would put you right in the middle of the madness that is Shibuya, not necessarily a bad thing at all, kinda cool actually.

The ANA in Roppongi has a great location for the night life if your interested in that neighborhood but expensive I think. I have stayed at the Hyatt there on points ;)

Lcuy has stayed and liked the Bhotel Roppongi. There are others located around Tokyo

http://www.ishinhotels.com/theb-roppongi/en/

Another reco in your range is the Sunroute chain

http://www.ishinhotels.com/sunroute-akasaka/en/

This chain has quite a few locations throughout Tokyo

http://www.hvf.jp/eng/

The first two nights, I might want to be near or in Shinagawa for ease of transport into and out of Tokyo especially when leaving by shinkansen which I assume you are doing.

The Park Hotel is located in the business district on the upper floors of a media tower. Not exactly the best area to stay.

Aloha!

The Stings in Shinagawa is a good choice for 2nd time. Small enough to almost have a boutique feel, but superb staff, large and well-equipped bathrooms, and excellent location if you're planning to go to multiple locations throughout Tokyo. Avoid the lowest-priced rooms here (they're small), but all the rest are excellent.

For lower-cost rooms for 1st stay, excellent choices are Sutton Place or Astil Ueno, both in Ueno. Easy and quick access to Narita, good value (double room for less than $200), and a good neighborhood for exploring.

I agree with HawaiianTraveler: Citadine in Shinjuku.

We have sent several friends there who were going to Japan for their first time, and they all came back with glowing reviews. (We haven't stayed there, we like luxury hotels, and used to stay at Oakwood when they would rent short-term, and now stay at the Westin in Ebisu).

The Citadine Shinjuku is inexpensive, especially considering the location and what you get. It is also brand new, only about a year old.

It is very modern in style, and because it is an apartment style hotel, you will have a kitchenette, and separate lounge and bedroom areas, and it feels more homey than a business hotel.

Shinjuku is a good location, although there are few locations in Tokyo that aren't good anyway, as long as you're near a train station!

great responses....hey its asia where are the $100 rooms....i know it's japan

rhkkmk asked: <i>where are the $100 rooms?</i>

It's not only Japan, it's Tokyo. Nevertheless, the Sutton Place usually has "semi-double" rooms for under $100. The unhappily-named Hotel Lungwood in Nippori has the same. These are great values. Both the room and the bed are small, and 2 people sharing them will quickly become extremely familiar with each other.

That said, both hotels are scrupulously clean and in neighborhoods that are both interesting and very convenient. I think you'll have to look much harder for something similar under $100 in Bangkok or Hong Kong or Singapore.

As for Shinjuku, my sense is that everyone stays there because everyone else stays there. I can't think of any other reason. Compared to Ueno, it's more expensive, it has less character, and it's a half-hour or more further away from Narita. I haven't stayed at the Citadines, but I understand that it's a walk even from a metro station. (Then once you reach the metro, you'll probably have to make your way to a different metro station that's on the JR Yamanote line if you want to go to many parts of the city.)

lol, Shinjuku is not that bad, I guess it's all about preferences.

If you do stay in the smaller hotels and are a couple, may I suggest you always rent the twin rooms. You pay the same price as a double or sometimes cheaper but the double room beds are always just a double bed so two twins work out better for us. The twin rooms are a tad bigger also iirc.

rhkkmk asked the usual question former bankers ask: <i>where are the cheap seats ? </i>

http://www.kid97.co.jp/~jeh-group/jeh-group.html#Tokyo2

Aloha!

I agree, Shinjuku is not a bad choice.

As for Banker Bob, I completely forgot about capsule hotels, such as this one: http://www.hgpshinjuku.jp/hotel/facilities/upgrade.html

$25-30/night.

Park Hotel Tokyo is extremely nice but not very "Japanese." Maybe try a ryokan like http://www.shigetsu.com/. The breakfast will knock your socks off.

Hey Bill.
For your first few days what all these guys are saying is right on. Stay someplace inexpensive near Shinjuku, Shinagawa or Tokyo Station for ease in getting on shinkansen when leaving. But you may have more options than you think if you are willing to spend $350-$400/night on last 4 days. Check out the Conrad Hilton. Big rooms, pretty nice place, relatively convenient. Only $366/night right now if you do their advanced pre-pay. Hilton is always doing deals so I would guess you can find a non pre-pay deal similar between now and April. Friends that stayed at Conrad liked it. They also have stayed at the Keio Plaza in Shinjuku area. They say the rooms are large there.

Just my personal opinion but I would say stay at a hotel not a Ryokan in Tokyo. Stay at a Ryokan when in the countryside. To me, Tokyo is all about fun, modern, craziness. So I'd say go for a modish hotel while there if you can.

Enjoy your search.

Thanks everyone for the reccos so far.

Citadines, while definitely an interesting option, probably wouldn't work for this trip. Not generally a fan of serviced apartments...well at least not for first-time visits. For a place I've been a few times, like Bangkok, then it's definitely a more appealing option.

I did consider something near Shinagawa for the 1st stint (think I'm pretty close to married to Shinjuku for the 2nd stay), but have friends who always told me there was virtually nothing around that part of town (aside from the station itself.) Is that really the case? What neighborhood is around Tokyo Station?

What are some recommended hotels near Shinagawa or Tokyo Station? Strings is gorgeous, but a bit on the high-end for our 1st stint.

Also, I see Rizz recommends Ueno. Not so familiar with that part of the city--what's the draw there? The park, right? Is there anything else interesting in the immediate area?

I'm having a hard time comprehending the lay of the land...but I can only compare this to NYC. If we were going there for the first-time, I would probably feel disappointed if we stayed in Brooklyn (while beautiful in its own right) on our first visit there just to save some cash.

Sorry, I should say I'm really most interested in staying in Shibuya for our 2nd stay--not Shinjuku.

In the immediate Ueno area (that is, more or less adjacent to the station), in addition to the park and its museum, is the Ameyoko Shopping Street. This is a warren of pedestrian-only streets that's filled with shops and shoppers -- amazingly varied selections of clothes, dry goods, foods, etc. Ueno is about a 15-minute walk to Asakusa and the Sensoji temple, then another 10 mins to the Asakusa boat pier. For transportation convenience, Ueno is on the Keisei airport line, the JR Yamanote line, and the Ginza metro line.

I've stayed at the Conrad (no "Hilton" in its name, though it is part of the Hilton chain), and it is a very nice property. It's got an especially nice lounge if you get lounge privs. My main gripe w/the Conrad is that it's very much in the middle of a business area and becomes D.E.A.D. at night and on weekends. You also need to walk through a maze of intersections and pedestrian overpasses if you want to walk anywhere; the subway is very convenient, though. Shinagawa doesn't have much of its own - a department store or two, a few nice restaurants. The main, and very real, advantage of Shinagawa is being on the NEx, JR Yamanote, and Shinkansen (to Nagoya/Kyoto/Hiroshima) line.

From Tokyo station you can walk to the Presidential Palace and grounds as well as to Ginza. Easy connection to shinkansen there too with lots of inexpensive and interesting fast food and bakeries etc in basement of station and lots of inexpensive restaurants in the towers.
We stayed at the Marounouchi the night before grabbing the train to the countryside. It was so convenient. Wlaked off the Narita Express to tunnel to hotel. Very nice and reasonable but not super cheap. I am sure there are lots of other hotels near there.

Try this link for all sorts of ways to book hotels and ryokans:
http://www.jnto.go.jp/eng/arrange/ac...ons/links.html

And as far as Manhattan vs. Brooklyn, Tokyo has lots of hoods like Manhattan does. So in NY would you want to stay by Broadway, mid-town, upper east or west, soho, meat-packing... You get the point this is what all the different hoods of Tokyo are like.

Thank you for starting this thread filmwill. Good info. and great discussions on the neighborhoods.

Think of Tokyo as a round clock. At about the 11:00 position is Ikebekuro a delightful district rarely mentioned here as a place to stay in but a very good neighborhood with loads of shops, restaurants and hotels and the like. Rkkwan and kuranosuke have stayed in this neighborhood before. In fact kuranosuke has stayed in just about every neighborhood around the Tokyo clock ;)

About the 2:00 position is Ueno/Asakusa
3:00 Akiharaba/Ryogoku(Sumo)
4:30 Tokyo Station/Ginza/Shiodome/Tsukuji
6:00 Shinagawa
7:00 Roppongi
8:00 Ebisu
8:30 Shibuya/Harajuku
9:00 Shinjuku

At the center of the dial is the Imperial Palace.

The areas around Ueno, The Imperial Palace, Ginza and Tokyo Station would be considered the old Tokyo(although most of what was old was blown away in the WW II bombings) while the western parts of Shinjuku, Ebisu and Ikebekuro along with some of the southern end like the Shiodome would be considered the newer additions to Tokyo as the burbs grew and melted into Tokyo after the war.

In the middle of the clock is the area I would not want to stay in. The Imperial Palace, city hall, etc. Too touristy in the day and dead at night because of the government buildings all closing so early.

All of the areas on the outside ring of the clock such as Shinjuku, Ikebekuro, Ueno, Ebisu, etc are all nice places with good neighborhoods for shopping and restaurants with Shinjuku, Shibuya and Roppongi being the best imho but thats just my taste.

The JR Yamanote train line follows the "Tokyo clock" in a circle route and stops at just about all the districts or "ku" listed above.

Shinjuku-ku.......hai!(It will mean more to you after you've been)

Aloha!

i have trouble fitting in a MRI, how would i do at a capsule hotel? and do they have senior rates?

ht: cuckoo

We stayed at the Andon Ryokan in Taiko-ku, close to Ueno - it is close to a subway staion and we found it to be very convenient for getting around town. Small rooms and shared bathrooms but at $80 per night, good value. More info at http://www.andon.co.jp/ or on our blog http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog...2880/tpod.html

Never been, but read good things about the Mitsui Garden Hotel in Ginza. Looks like a nice boutique. Looks like decent rooms for around $200.
http://www.gardenhotels.co.jp/eng/

Lucky you! We loved Tokyo. Can't wait to go back.

On a recent Tokyo trip we stayed at the Granbell in Shibuya.

We really liked it -- the location is great, right in the middle of Shibuya which was our fave area of Tokyo. Resto/bars/shopping central. Rooms are small but well designed so in a weird way it actually felt spacious. Breakfast (nothing to write home about) and internet are included.

If you do end up there, do go up to the bar (Bello Visto, I think?) on the 40th floor of the Cerulean Tower hotel. Stunning view of the city at night.

This summer I stayed at the Dormy Inn in Akihabara. I paid about US$83 per night for a single room, which has a small kitchenette, an adequately sized shower room, bed and table. The room itself was very clean and tidy, and the same with the hotel. The hotel chain prides itself as being very environmentally friendly, with a lot of the furniture, linen, etc., made of recycled materials. The best thing about the hotel is the top floor hot baths, which are great to relax in after a hot day's summer sojourning. In fact the management suggest that to save water to clean and bathe in the hot baths rather than use the showers!

The Dormy Inn in Akihabara is only a block away from Suehirocho subway station, with a direct route to Ueno subway station (and Keisei Ueno) to the north and Shibuya subway station to the south on the Ginza line. The biggest pain is that there is no elevator nor escalator at the station.

Thanks for the clock analogy, HT. It helps!

I've stayed at the Keio Plaza Hotel Tokyo, mostly because for $1k i got RT air & 7 nights there. It is an excellent location, right near the metropolitan office with the observation deck. The best reason to stay in this hotel however has to be it's underground connection to the shinjuku station. When it rains, it's nice to be able to walk to the station without getting wet. Plus all those incredible underground shopping markets to eat at.

Too bad you are there for such a short period, I love how there are so many cheap vacation packages to areas around tokyo, like Hakone. We spent $50/person, which included all transportation there and around the small town

Is 6 nights not enough? I figured we were there for more than adequate enough time.

it depends on how fast you see the rest of tokyo. In 3 full days I was able to see and do pretty much everything. It wasnt high tourist season so that made it easy. Then we took a 2 day/1 night trip to hakone. We booked our "Hakone Free Pass" at the travel agency in yodobashi camera but any of those agencies, maybe even at the hotel can help. It took only a couple hours to get to the base, then the fun train ride begins going up the mountain thru the valleys. Makes sure you plan a couple hours either on your way there or back to stop at the open air museum. Much easier than planning a side trip after you get to the top. Once you do reach the top take time to visit some of the shops while they are open, then take a taxi to your hotel, stay in a ryokan to get the full experience. The bus lines can be confusing at first, get your bearings then use them. It's definitely worth losing 2 days in tokyo. There are ropeways up to the peak that give you a beautiful view of mt fuji. Best vacation within a vacation I ever took, your inlaws will love it. This site is invaluable for doing anything in japan, especially hakone: http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e5200.html You can see my own pics at http://www.buytokyo.com just click on the hakone link

How many days does it take to see New York? Paris?

Think I'm narrowing this down a bit.

Right now, for the 1st leg in Tokyo (2 nights on arrival) I'm leaning towards the ANA/Intercontinental in the Roppongi area. My company actually has a fantastic corporate rate there and it makes it extremely affordable (in comparison to other options.)

For the 2nd part (4 nights at the tail-end of the trip) I'm torn between the Cerulean and the Conrad. We probably don't want to stay in the same area twice (Roppongi)--and I really like the look of the hotel itself--which is why I'm leaning towards the Cerulean. But they have not published their rates for April yet, so a lot of the decision will have to do with the cost.

If the Cerulean is too expensive and won't work out for us budget-wise, then I would swap and do the Hyatt Regency in Shinjuku on arrival and the Conrad for the 2nd leg.

Am I on the right track here? :)

We are headed off in 6 days...2 weeks in Japan, v excited.
THANK YOU for the clock analogy...really helpful as I am having trouble wrapping my head around the names and city.
We are staying at the Cerulean, got good rates and with 2 teenage girls, we want the buzz.
I will be happy to report upon return.

Looks alright to me Will. If staying at the Tokyu Cerulean you might want to join their club. IIRC it is the comfort member club or something like that. Anyways it will entitle you to a few privileges. It got us a free upgrade to ocean view room in Kagoshima. I think they also give you 10% or so off of most everything you buy at their establishment. You might want to check but I think you are also privy to see prices earlier on their website than the regular people. They give you an access if your a member....or is that the Toyoko Inn member site...sorry, too early here. Main message is join the club.

The area around the Conrad is not particularly interesting but walking a few blocks will get you to the Ginza area. I think rizzuto has stayed there before and would have the better info on that property than I.

Aloha!

Only thing I'd add to my previous comments re: Conrad is that the gardens behind the hotel, Hamarikyu or something similar, are easily the most interesting thing in the immediate vicinity. They're non-obvious, but worth finding your way to. You can also catch the river cruise to Asakusa from the gardens. I found the river cruise to be less than fantastic. (The boat was enclosed and the day was splendid; also, the riverscape was not nearly as visually appealing as, say, the Seine in Paris. The again, what is? Still, it is a nice way to get from Shiodome to Asakusa, and it does give you a sense of how massive Tokyo is.)

It is a businessmen's chain, but we were very happy with our stay at the Toyoko Inn Asakusa Komagata Kaminarimon. A deluxe double room with a simple but more than adequate Japanese breakfast buffet was 9,800 yen a night. Large bed and a nice size modern bathroom.

Easy walking distance to 2 subway stops (Kuramae and Asakusa) with different subway lines made it easy to get around the city. Also within easy walking distance of restaurant areas and Sensō-Ji (Senso Temple)

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