hi it's Amy from cakes with faces now
like some of you I've been booking
hotels for my Japan trip so today I
thought I'd share the process with you
of how I choose a hotel there's so many
hotels in cities like Tokyo that
sometimes it can be overwhelming to know
which one to pick so here's my guide to
picking a hotel that suits you and as
always I'm sure we'll have a few tips
about other things along the way there's
lots of tips for booking your trip in my
Japan guidebook I've also made a video
about Tokyo hotels that I've stayed in
although don't limit yourself to those
ones because there's loads of others and
recently I made a video about affordable
Tokyo hotels with a view and just this
morning my calendars arrived so I just
wanted to give you a quick first look at
them each month has the dates of
Japanese festivals and holidays the
weather and what's special about each
month if you've pre-ordered I'll be
sending them out over the next couple of
days and they're also available on cakes
dot Co dot UK they'd make a good present
if you know someone who's booking a trip
or trying to decide what time of year to
go
now on to how to choose a hotel first
choose which area you want to stay in do
you want to have lots right on your
doorstep or do you want to stay in a
more chilled area for me I like staying
in a major area and having lots right
outside my hotel I think it's nice to be
able to drop into games arcades at night
before going back to your hotel because
they're open really late and that's
something I kind of missed when I stayed
in shimbashi last time there's loads of
places to eat there but it doesn't
really have games arcades and that's why
I really like staying in Shinjuku in the
evening you can go out to eat go to a
bar go to karaoke and then just stroll
back to your hotel room but Shinjuku is
very hectic so if you want somewhere
calmer and more relaxed and peaceful to
stay you might want to pick somewhere
away from the main areas and remember
that Tokyo doesn't have just one city
center it has lots of them don't worry
about being out in the sticks pretty
much anywhere in Tokyo has a convenience
store or several role within walking
distance there's so many of them and the
same goes for vending machines so
wherever you stay you'll still easily be
able to get a drink or a snack even in
the middle of the night also I've never
found noise to be a problem even when
I've stayed in Rowdy City Center areas
I've always found my hotel rooms being
quiet although that might not be the
case everywhere from what I've heard
residential houses in Tokyo tend to have
paper thin walls but that doesn't seem
to be the case for hotels but that is
something to check in the reviews on
TripAdvisor when you're choosing an area
to stay in think about which places
you'll be visiting because if you can
stay near them you'll save a bit of
money on train fares and you'll also
save time do you want to be on the east
side or the west side for example when I
was staying in shimbashi it felt like a
bit of a drag to get over to the other
side and go over to places like
ikebukuro which actually takes about
half an hour bear in mind that you can
walk between some Metro Station which
will also save you a bit of money on
train fares so for example you can walk
to Harajuku from both Shinjuku and
Shibuya walking around the city can be a
good way to discover unexpected things
and if it's a nice day it can be a
really good way to spend your time the
whole of Tokyo isn't walkable unless you
have really comfy shoes and no other
plans but if it's just one or two metro
stops you can usually walk it the first
time I went to the Imperial Palace I was
at a station and looking up the route
and someone approached me to help which
does happen sometimes and they said no
you don't need to get another train you
can just walk to it from here it's down
there and you could virtually see it
from where I was if you want to know
what's walkable and what isn't there's
this really useful map with how many
minutes it takes to walk between each
Metro station the easiest way to find it
is to search for Tokyo Metro walking map
and the links on Tokyo Cheapo which is
also a really interesting and useful
website so another reason why I like
staying in Shinjuku is because you can
walk to Harajuku and Shibuya it's only a
few stops along to Ike vicaro and it's
also on the churro line which is this
really thin line on the metro map that a
lot of people Miss but it's really
useful the rapid service goes from
Shinjuku through your Yogi and ochano
Mizu to Tokyo station in just 14 minutes
if you go on the Metro depending which
route you take it could take twice as
long so it's really useful for getting
from one side of the city to the other
quickly the Metro zigzags around and has
lots of stops Tokyo is a huge City and
it does take a while to get across it so
that's why the churro line is so useful
and also our old friend the Jr yamanoto
line which is this dotted Loop line on
the metro map wherever you're staying in
Japan if you're going on lots of day
trips on the bullet train it might be
useful to stay near a shinkansen station
in Tokyo that the main Tokyo station
ueno station has bullet trains going
north or east to tohoku and Hokkaido and
shinagawa station has bullet trains
going south or west towards Kyoto Osaka
and Kyushu although in my opinion
shinigawa is a little bit out of the way
and not the most convenient and the main
Tokyo station has them all in fukuroka I
stayed near the main station Hakata
station which is a little bit away from
the main city center but I knew I'd be
doing lots of day trips around Kyushu on
the bullet train so it was more
convenient and I've done the same in
Kyoto the area around the main Kyoto
station isn't the prettiest place it's
not how you imagine Kyoto to be but it's
convenient if you're going to be going
on the bullet train to Osaka himeiji
Kobe Hiroshima and other places
especially if it's a long day trip you
can save time and you don't have to get
up quite so early if you can just get
the long distance train from your
closest station rather than having to
get a couple of local trains or Metro
trains to get to that before you've even
started once you've decided which area
you want to stay in go to your favorite
hotels website like Expedia booking.com
or hotels.com and search for just that
area so it narrows it down a bit rather
than looking at the whole city next set
your budget there's no point looking at
hotels that you can't afford unless it's
just for fun you might be on a budget
trip and looking for hostels and the
cheapest places or they might not be for
you so set your budget to filter out
what's not in your price range so you
can see your options more clearly next
go to the map view and pick somewhere
that's near a Station trains are the
main way to get around you'll probably
be taking them every day so it makes
life easier if you can be on the train
in just a couple of minutes rather than
having a long walk to the station every
morning and night have a look at the
Metro map and see what connections your
stay Asian has and whether they're going
to be useful to you some stations are on
just one single line and others have
lots I always think it's good to have
lots of connections so you can get to
lots of places easily but on the other
hand stations that are on just one line
can be quicker and easier to navigate
and less overwhelming and confusing than
bigger stations with larger stations you
can be walking quite a long way before
you even get to the platform it's
nothing like the subway in New York
where you just go downstairs and you're
on the train major stations in Japan can
be like whole cities underground another
thing I look at to compare hotels is the
room size the room will probably be
quite small especially if you're used to
American hotel rooms they're a lot
smaller in Japan especially in the city
where there isn't so much space on
Expedia if you go to the section with
the rooms and the prices it tells you
the rim size in square feet for
reference the smallest room I'm stayed
in in Tokyo is 129 square feet now when
I'm on a trip I'm the sort of person who
doesn't unpack I tend to live out of my
suitcase and in that size of room you
can't leave your suitcase lying open you
have to zip it up and have it upright or
there's no room to move anywhere but
it's fine it was a good price so that's
129 square feet in comparison a room
that I found a bit more spacious but
still pretty small in the grand scheme
of things was 194 square feet so that's
the sort of range you're looking at
unless you have a larger budget but you
might be lucky or if you stay outside
the main areas you're more likely to get
somewhere more spacious for the same
price or if you pay more of course you
can have a bigger room for me it's fine
I know the room's going to be small and
it's okay but if you're traveling as a
family it might be difficult staying
somewhere like that so I'd look for
somewhere more spacious away from the
main busy areas or on a part Hotel where
you get more of an apartment or an
Airbnb next do you have any other
special requirements do you want a room
with a view like those hotels with views
of Tokyo from my video before or do you
want any special facilities honestly
most hotels are pretty similar but there
are some with a small kitchenette or
even in the city a few of them have a
shared hot spring bath next I usually
check Google Street View outside the
hotel to get an idea of what the area is
like is it a large building is it a tall
building with a view are there lots of
shops around or is it just offices you
might not care about this but it's a way
to get an idea if it's the sort of place
you want to stay if you want to see more
of what the rooms are like have a look
at the photos on cheerful advisor or
look for videos fish and tips is a
really useful website with very detailed
reviews and loads of photos I usually
check the reviews but I do take them
with a pinch of salt different people
have different expectations and some
people are never happy people might be
expecting larger rooms than you get in
Japan or I don't know what one thing I
do look for is whether people are saying
the room is noisy because I think people
would mention that and you want to get a
good night's sleep to have lots of
energy for exploring Japan everywhere
I've stayed in Japan has been clean with
polite staff and that doesn't mean
everywhere is but the point is Japan
isn't a place you need to worry about
booking somewhere dodgy it's important
to make sure there's free cancellation
especially these days when things are a
bit unpredictable just in case you need
to cancel if you do your search and it
looks like there aren't many hotels it
might be too early some hotels don't
take bookings more than six or even
three months in advance and you can
check that really easily by trying
different dates and seeing if more
hotels become available once you've
chosen somewhere before you make your
booking just have a quick check to
compare prices because because they do
sometimes vary on different sites
there's comparison sites that can do
that for you like Trivago or even just
on Google on this section on the right
or stick to your favorite site to get
loyalty benefits some of them give you
free nights or discounts or access to
special hotels if you book a certain
number of nights with them you can use
sites like quid code to get cash back on
your booking it might only be a small
percentage but it's not bad if you're
spending a few hundred pounds or dollars
or use a credit card that gives you air
miles to count towards your next trip so
I hope that helps there's more videos
about booking your trip on my channel in
the G planning playlist and there's also
lots of help in my book and if you take
my book with you to Japan please send me
a picture I've really loved seeing them
so far and I'll see you not next week
but the week after on Thursday bye
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