Where to Stay in Japan: Choosing the Right Places and Hotels

Choosing a hotel in Japan can seem remarkably straightforward.

Search for your destination, choose your dates, look at the reviews and find the best property within your budget.

There's nothing particularly wrong with doing that.

But it misses one of the decisions that can have a much greater influence on your holiday.

Where is the hotel?

That might sound obvious, yet it's surprising how easy it is to become absorbed by photographs of bedrooms, rooftop bars and breakfasts without really considering what happens when you walk through the front door.

In Japan, particularly in the larger cities, the neighbourhood you choose becomes part of the experience.

Tokyo demonstrates this better than almost anywhere.

Stay in Shinjuku and you'll step outside into one of the most energetic parts of the city, surrounded by restaurants, shops, railway lines and people seemingly at almost every hour of the day. Stay in Asakusa and your experience will feel very different, with Sensō-ji, older shopping streets and a more traditional side of Tokyo on your doorstep. Ginza offers something different again, as do Marunouchi, Shibuya and the quieter residential neighbourhoods beyond the places most visitors initially consider.

None is necessarily better.

The question is which one suits you.

This is why we don't believe choosing accommodation should begin with the hotel.

It should begin with how you want to spend your time.

If you enjoy going out for dinner and wandering back to your hotel afterwards, being surrounded by good restaurants may matter considerably more than having a larger bedroom. If you're travelling with children, convenience and easy transport connections can transform the beginning and end of each day. If you prefer quieter evenings, staying in the middle of one of Tokyo's busiest entertainment districts simply because a particular hotel receives excellent reviews may prove to be the wrong choice.

Kyoto presents a different version of the same problem.

Staying close to Kyoto Station is extremely convenient, particularly if you're making day trips or only visiting briefly. Stay closer to the historic districts, however, and you may find yourself experiencing a completely different Kyoto once many of the daytime visitors have left.

Neither choice is wrong.

They simply produce different holidays.

There is another temptation worth resisting, particularly when comparing accommodation online.

More expensive doesn't automatically mean better for your particular journey.

Japan has some exceptional luxury hotels, but there are occasions when we'd choose a smaller property in the right location over a more impressive hotel somewhere less convenient. Equally, there are times when the hotel itself is worth making part of the experience and spending more becomes entirely justified.

Traditional ryokan are perhaps the clearest example.

A good ryokan isn't simply somewhere to sleep. The room, bathing, dinner, breakfast and hospitality are all part of the stay, which means it should be thought about differently from a conventional hotel.

For many first-time visitors, one or two carefully chosen ryokan nights can provide a wonderful contrast to stays in Tokyo or Kyoto. Staying in traditional accommodation every night simply because you're in Japan, however, doesn't necessarily make the holiday more authentic. Futons, Japanese breakfasts and communal bathing can be wonderful when they're part of an experience you've chosen, but that doesn't mean everyone wants them for two weeks.

Comfort matters.

So does variety.

We've found that some of the most successful itineraries mix different styles of accommodation rather than maintaining the same standard throughout. A contemporary city hotel might be followed by a traditional inn in the mountains, then perhaps a smaller independent property somewhere less visited. Each changes the atmosphere of the journey and helps give different destinations their own character.

It's also worth remembering that your hotel room is probably where you'll spend the least interesting hours of the day.

That doesn't mean accommodation isn't important. Quite the opposite. A wonderful hotel can add enormously to a holiday.

But the things that often matter most aren't always the ones that look impressive in photographs.

Being able to walk to dinner. Having a station nearby. Stepping outside in the morning and immediately feeling that you're somewhere interesting. Returning in the evening and enjoying the neighbourhood rather than simply disappearing into the hotel.

Those small things happen every day.

Across a two-week holiday, they matter.

The best place to stay in Japan therefore isn't necessarily the hotel with the highest rating, the largest bedroom or the most recognisable name.

It's the place that works best for the experience you want to have outside it.

‍