HOTEL ACCOMMODATION IN TOKYO
“Railway and subway travel is so convenient that it really doesn’t matter too much where you stay. As long as it’s near some kind of railway or subway, you’d be able to easily get to your destinations.” ~Jeremy
There are many areas within Tokyo to consider when choosing a place to stay. We decided to choose the area that was close to a JR station (since we have a JR pass) so that we can get to other locations easily and can travel on JR lines. See here for JR stations in Tokyo.
As you can see from the JR station map, the main stations that caught our attention were Shinjuku and Tokyo. These two stations caught our attention because it has the most “lines” that crosses it. Sure enough, Shinjuku Station and Tokyo Station are very large main terminals. For our 1st week in Tokyo, we decided to stay in Shinjuku.
Happy to report, we do not regret our decision at all. Here are the reasons why:
- Whenever a train arrives at Shinjuku, most people get off the train. So we get to board the train at Shinjuku Station when the train is almost empty everytime we want to travel somewhere.
- Food! There are many restaurants in this area! We can pretty much step out of our hotel and have ramen just within a few steps from our hotel.
Railway and subway travel is so convenient that it really doesn’t matter too much where you stay. As long as it’s near some kind of railway or subway, you’d be able to easily get to your destinations.
HOTEL RESERVATIONS
We visited many different websites for hotels in Japan and found that there are a few sites that usually provided more discounts than others. Here are the top few sites we used to make our hotel reservations.
- Rakuten Travel This is probably the site at which we made most of our reservations. The prices here seem to be more discounted compared to other sites for the same hotels.
- Booking.com This site had some special rates that sometimes beat the prices at the Rakuten site above.
- JapanIcan One of the top three sites we used to reserve our accommodation.
- Expedia We reserved a room in a hotel that was sold out on the other websites at Expedia. They seem to have some agreed upon rooms that are exclusive on Expedia.
- Travelocity The prices here are pretty similar to the ones at Expedia. We didn’t reserve any hotels from this site this time around but is definitely one of our “backup” sites that we compared pricing with.
- Agoda Another site for comparing prices.
- HotelClub Another site for comparing prices.
- AsiaHotels Another site for comparing prices.
Example of a small hotel room in Kiba Hotel. Photo courtesy of http://www.agoda.com
ARE THE ROOMS SMALL?
Unless you reserved a room in a 4 or 5 star hotel (e.g. Hyatt etc…), you’re likely to be in a hotel with a tiny room. In all our traveling experience, the rooms in Japan are the smallest we’ve ever stayed in! It’s really not that bad because you’ll be spending most of your time out of the hotel. To us, a small hotel room is just part of the “Japan” experience!
HOSTELS
For those traveling on a budget, hostels are definitely a great option! Some websites we used when comparing prices for hostels:
- http://www.hostels.com
- http://www.hostelworld.com
- http://www.hostelbookers.com
- http://www.tokyohostelskyoto.com
- http://www.jyh.or.jp/english/index.html
Staying in hostels is also a great way to meet other travelers from all around the world.
CAPSULE HOTELS
Photo Courtesy of http://travelpluswine.com
Dubbed the world’s smallest accommodation, this is an experience that’s worth trying at least once in your life!
You can probably find one for $25 – $50 per night. 9 Hours is a capsule hotel in Kyoto that we thought looked interesting and worth a try. A site I found to search for capsule hotels in Tokyo is TravelPod.
However, from what I’ve read online, these hotels have very little luggage space and some, none at all. It is originally for business men who missed a train or just needed somewhere for a quick shuteye. Some capsule hotels cannot even be pre-booked. Instead, you walk in, look at a board, choose a room, pay and then go to your capsule. Let us know if you try it!
RYOKANS
Ryokans are traditional, japanese-style hotels. These are the ones where you sleep on futons or tatami mats, on the floor. Ryokan prices can range from budget to luxury. We have yet to stay in one but have booked one for our stay in Hakone. We’ll write about our experience once we try it!
We decided to stay in a ryokan for the following reasons:
- Ryokan accommodations usually come with dinner and breakfast. These are usually japanese style multi-course meals. The meals are usually of high quality and delicious, according to our japanese friends!
- The best ryokans are the ones near onsens (hot springs). Staying at a ryokan near onsens will give you access to these hot spring baths. Onsens is another not-to-miss japanese experience.
Websites that are helpful when reserving ryokans:
- http://www.japaneseguesthouses.com/index.htm Browse through the list of ryokans available on their site. Fill in the inquiry form and wait for their response. It is very easy! The site provides foreigners a FREE service where they help you call the ryokans and inquire about rooms and let you know what’s available via email. They won’t book anything until you tell them to.
- http://www.japan-ryokan.net/ Another ryokan site to consider for comparing prices.
- http://www.japanican.com/ryokan/ In addition to hotel reservations, we also used this site for ryokan price comparison.
SYUKUBO
Another accommodation type to consider is “syukubo” (shoo-koo-boh) lodging. This is similar to ryokans except that it’s lodging at temples. Anyone can stay there regardless of his or her religion. In most shukubo, they serve “shojin ryori” (vegetarian meals). We considered this accommodation when we looked up accommodation in Mount Koya (Koyasan). Mount Koya is one of the most famous places to stay at a syukubo. Some useful websites to use when booking a shukubo lodging:
- JapanIcan Useful site for booking your temple lodging with useful descriptions of available temples.
- Mount Koya Syukubo There are many temples to choose from. Some of the best ones are described here.
- Other Syukubo Search Another site to use for syukubo lodging in Japan.
- Reserve a hotel that is near to a JR station to make full use of your JR pasa
- Hotels near Shinjuku Station, Tokyo Station, Shibuya Station & Akihabara Station are good locations to consider.
- For cheaper accommodation, go for hostels.
- Capsule hotels are cheap but probably not suitable for tourists with lots of luggage.
- Stay at Ryokans if you’re visiting onsens (e.g. Hakone, Sapporo, Nikko etc…). Ryokans can be rather expensive though. Try it at least for one night, I’d say.
- Stay at Syokubo if you’re visiting Mount Koya or other temples that offer temple lodging. Syojin Ryori (vegetarian meal) is a must try. You can also attend the monks’ zen meditation in the morning.
- To save on accommodation, make sure you do price comparison from at least a few websites. The top three mentioned above are good ones to start with. Do let us know if you find other websites that provide more discounts than the ones mentioned above.
- Almost all hotel rooms will come equip with advanced japanese toilet seats (the ones with buttons for bidets and heated seats)! Even if the room is small, you’ll find that the bathrooms & toilets in Japan are rather clean and comfortable (albeit sometimes small).
- Once you find a hotel that you want to reserve, always check the hotel’s main website. Sometimes the prices at the actual hotel’s website are cheaper (not always). Another thing to try is to email or call the hotel and ask them for any “special pricing” or “discounts”. We contacted the ryokan we were staying in via email and were provided with a FREE one-hour private onsen access (would’ve cost us about 3500yen) when we inquired about the cost of the public onsen bath at the ryokan. It never hurts to ask!
Enjoy your stay in Japan!
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10 Comments
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Thanks for sharing. Your post about accommodation is very helpful.
ness recently posted..Japanese Onsen Spa Style – Hinoki Wood Bath Stools & More
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Very lovely reading and useful article. Thanks for sharing your great Ideas about the accommodation options in Japan. Tremendous work. For me, capsule hotel is the thing which suits me most.
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Hi,
Thanks for your wonderful experience to share with us. We plan to tour Sapporo – Otaru – Noroboribetsu – Lake Toya – Hokodate – Asashikawa – Furano in June. Do you recommend JR rail pass or rent a wagon for a couple with 2 children and 3 large luggage.
What the best way to travel from Tokyo to Sapporo and then to Kyoto.-
Author
We’ve not tried renting a car/wagon and drive in Japan itself so can’t really comment on how good that would be. Since public transportation and the shinkansen is so convenient, we definitely recommend using their public transportation. See here for our experience using the shinkansen for traveling between Tokyo, Sapporo and Kyoto. https://www.idelish.com/2010/12/22/japan-getting-around-in-tokyo/
As for our exact experience getting to Noboribetsu: https://www.idelish.com/2011/08/08/japan-our-ryokan-experience-at-noboribetsu-hokkaido/
Hope this helps!
Jeremy & Shirlene recently posted..{Korea} Our 6 days itinerary to Seoul
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Hey guys! We’re going through your Japan posts right now – can you believe we’re halfway done? Heading to Japan soon and wanted to know if you guys actually did the ryokan in Hakone? Gerard and I are considering it there or Kyoto. Love to hear your suggestions. Hope all is well! 😉
Kieu ~ GQ trippin recently posted..7 Reasons to Snorkel the Great Barrier Reef with Calypso!-
hey you two! We actually did stay in a ryokan in Hakone. We splurged a little though for this one stay in Hakone since it was our honeymoon. We stayed at Aura Tachibana (http://web.travel.rakuten.co.jp/portal/my/info_page_e.Eng?f_no=13791) and got the room with the private onsen in our balcony. Soooooooooo worth it! Since Hakone was famous for onsens, we figured staying at a ryokan there would be better than Kyoto so didn’t try Kyoto.
Check out the rakuten site. Lots of great options for ryokans and at good prices too! When are you guys going to be in Beijing or Xi An? We’ll be there early june!
Jeremy & Shirlene recently posted..{Tips} When Less is More. Black and White Travel Photography
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{Japan} Accommodation in Japan http://t.co/EDCJS19I #travel #accommodation #Japan
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Hi Shirlene and Jeremy, great site so far! I was in Japan for my first time last month, and your posts are bringing back some great memories. And congratulations on your marriage!
