Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
13
WHICH AREA?
With Tokyo the size it is, and with each district boasting its own character, it's important to
consider which part of the city to use as your base.
Ginza
Highly central area with plenty to see
and shopping opportunities galore. Most
hotels here are, however, rather expensive.
Akihabara
Tokyo's electro-capital makes a
great base for those in the mood to see
maid cafés, robot shops and other quirky
facets of the city. There are plenty of cheap
business hotels here.
Ueno
Way up north and not terribly
convenient, though there are lots of sights
in and around the area. There are a few
good places south of the large park, and a
cluster of love motels further south again.
Asakusa
One of Tokyo's most characterful
areas, and the de facto choice for
backpackers thanks to its large
concentration of hostels. There are also
some great ryokan choices here.
Bayside Tokyo
The city's bayside area is
quite beautiful, especially when seen from
the upper floors of one of its upscale hotels.
Akasaka and Roppongi
Roppongi is
famed for its nightlife, and boasts some
of Tokyo's best hotels. Neighbouring
Akasaka is somewhat earthier, and
correspondingly cheaper.
Ebisu, Meguro and the south
Few
choose to stay way down south in Ebisu,
though nearby neighbourhoods such as
charming Nakameguro are surprisingly
convenient for the city's sights.
Harajuku, Aoyama and Shibuya
There's
so much to see in this wide area, both
historical and contemporary, that you're
unlikely to get bored. Most places are rather
expensive, bar the huge cluster of love
motels in Shibuya.
Shinjuku
For many visitors, Shinjuku
represents the
real
Tokyo, though there
are precious few budget places in this
neon paradise.
Ikebukuro
Not terribly convenient, or
all that interesting, few visitors use
Ikebukuro as a base, though it has
some good cheap options, including
several ryokan.
Whatever your budget, it's wise to
reserve
your first few nights' accommodation before
arrival. This is especially true of the cheaper places, which tend to fill up quickly,
particularly over national holidays and in late February, when thousands of students
head to Tokyo for the university entrance exams. Rooms are also in short supply during
holiday periods, as well as during the cherry-blossom season in late March and early
April. Good deals can be found
online
(try hotel websites and general booking sites;
see below), and it's always worth asking if there are any promotions on offer.
ESSENTIALS
Prices
Staying in Tokyo will cost you from around ¥2500
for a hostel dorm bed or ¥6000 for the cheapest private
room. You'll be looking at upwards of ¥10,000 for a more
comfortable en-suite double in a business hotel. Mid-range
rooms start in the region of ¥15,000, while top-end hotels
charge at least twice that and often many times more.
Rates in the text are given for high season (see box, p.136).
Taxes
All hotel rates include an 8 percent consumption
tax, on top of which top-end hotels levy a service charge,
typically 10 percent. If your room costs over ¥10,000 per
person per night, there's also a Tokyo Metropolitan Govern-
ment tax of ¥100 per person per night (¥200 if the room
costs over ¥15,000).
Reservations
A good general local booking site is
W
travel.rakuten.com, while
W
ryokan.or.jp/English also
has a list of good places to stay, mostly ryokan, in Tokyo
and beyond. Otherwise, the international standbys have
plenty of Tokyo options: try
W
trivago.com for hotels, or
W
hostelworld.com for hostels.
Internet
Connectivity has certainly improved in Tokyo's
hotels and hostels. Free wi-fi is a provided in the latter,
though in hotels and ryokan you may be charged for the
service; in addition, some places still have LAN cables
rather than wi-fi.
Breakfast
Breakfast tends to come as standard in ryokan
(though you can usually forgo it for a cheaper rate) but
rarely features in hostels. At hotels it's often included as
part of the room price.
HOTELS
There are a few discrete stripes of
hotel
in Tokyo. Running the gamut from budget to luxury, they all feature Western-style
rooms with en-suite bathrooms, TV, phone and a/c as standard; a few of the larger ones also offer a couple of tatami
