Where have you stayed when visiting Japan?
I was looking around various websites about hotels in Tokyo when I realized we had never talked in depth about where we have stayed when we have visited so I thought it would be a good idea to make a post where we could share our info and experiences.
I've used two places so far on my trips: Sawanoya Ryokan and Aizuya Inn. Sawanoya is a family owned traditional style Japanese inn that is excellent for anyone interested in the ryokan experience. There are two hot baths which are excellent for resting a weary body after a day of exploring Tokyo and its a very quiet place. Price is 5040yen for a single person.
Aizuya Inn is more of a backpacker type place where you get your own room at a price you usually pay at a hostel for a shared room, roughly 3100yen. They've got an awesome tourist information center and free wifi in the rooms. Little noisier as its a younger crowd but not too bad. I'll include the website address with the pics and both of these places are highly rated on Tripadvisor. So, who's next?
http://www.sawanoya.com/
http://www.aizuya-inn.com/
I've only been to Japan once, spring of 2010. I stayed in the Prince Park Hotel near Tokyo Tower. It was rather expensive, but seeing as it was for my (delayed) honeymoon, we were willing to splurge.
Definitely hoping to find somewhere cheaper next time. ^_^;; Going this coming spring.
Gotta splurge on the honeymoon! I'm going back next April myself and can't wait. I prefer to get a cheap room and spend my money on stuff like food and figures.
My comrade said u can sleep under bridge like that Arakawa anime. Can it be done?
That's kinda sad.
ah lol...travel like a homeless person.
At least its cheap. LOL
exactly :D then more money can be spent for buying stuff XD
How is the location for those two places? I've always struggled to find good accommodation in Tokyo in decent locations. Always easier in other parts of Japan.
My Tokyo stays:
Ace Inn (Akebonobashi) - wooden capsule style hostel within 30mins walk from Shinjuku. Really horrible, wouldn't recommend it at all. But its cheap, in a fairly decent location, no real curfew, coin showers. Free wifi.
Green Plaza Capsule Hotel (Shinjuku) - one of the most famous capsule hotels. Its right in the middle of Shinjuku. You get a great experience here. They have about 5 floors and hundreds of rooms. One floor is a restuarant, another is for baths/saunas/massages etc. Highly recommended, the only downside is you have to exit by 10am, even if you are staying for more than one night.
Mayflower House (Roppongi) - avoid like the plague. They mucked up our order and thought me and my friend ordered just one room, when we wanted two. So they didn't have any rooms left, so after an hour of talking and phoning the owner, he let us stay in two single rooms in the "workers area". However, they didn't have locks on the doors and we had to ask him to go and cut us some keys for the main front door (otherwise he wanted a 9pm curfew!). Which then you couldn't lock from the inside, so I accidentally locked my friend out. Then you have to go to the main building for a coin shower, and he didn't tell us the combination, so I had to phone him again. Oh, and I saw a MASSIVE bug there. AVOID!
Sakura Ryokan (halfway between Ueno and Asakasa) - in the middle of nowhere, which is a shame. Its a nice tatami matted place. Free wifi. Has a fairly small common bath. No curfew. Your typcial Japanese tatami style place, nothing special, but a bit out of the way.
Sawanoya is behind Ueno Park and just a few blocks from the Nezu station of the Chiyoda Line. Most days, I actually walk around the park towards Ueno station as its a lovely way to start the day and quite interesting to see how people do things in the park area. Most of the time I take the Chiyoda line back to the ryokan as my feet are killing me and I'm ready for a nice soak in the onsen bath.
Aizuya is slightly more out of the way but for saving money while getting a private room, it can't be beat. Nearest station is Minami Senju on the Hibiya Line. I used Google street view to pick up a land mark before I went to make sure I could find the place. Been doing that a lot lately and its quite helpful.
I've used Tripadvisor for finding places and so far, they haven't let me down. There are options I haven't tried that look good like Kimi Ryokan in Ikebukuro so check out TA for some ideas.
BTW, the Green Plaza place looks interesting. Might try it next trip.