pejpm1

Hi, I'm a visitor from the USA forum. I'm English, living in NYC. My gf and I really want to go to Tokyo in May/June 2010, thinking about doing 1 week to 10 days. We are late 20's, like restaurants and bars, not so much clubs but dont mind them occasionally, and we want to obviously take in as many sights as we can. Could anyone reccomend a good area of Tokyo to stay in? I've read some guidebooks but obviously theres nothing like having advice from a local.

Also, I was planning on budgeting around 18000 yen/200usd per night for the hotel. Am I likely to get anything decent or am is that wishful thinking. I'm presuming its comparable to NYC in terms of cost, and 200 per night is the definitely on the cheap end of the scale, but if anyone has any reccomendations that would be great!

DigitalGhost

Shinjuku or Shibuya probably but you would struggle to find a good place for $200 a night.

pinoybill

we stayed for 4 nights at park hotel shiodome about 14 months ago- booked through either expedia or asia rooms - then was approx £100 per night.
very central to everything- on top of trains/tubes-room was small but perfectly formed and immaculate-hotel itself starts on 25th floor-because of this you dont get the buzz of a ground floor lobby but would give it a huge thumbs up- brilliant views and location- didnt eat in as always too busy exploring- if you can bag a similar rate would say its exteremely good value

JonboyE

We'll be staying at the Shinagawa Prince in the second week of May. Shinagawa is not Shinjuku or Shibuya but its on a JR line.

We've not been to this hotel before but it has been recommended to us. We are paying less than CAD200 a night (booked through a travel agent in Vancouver).

DigitalGhost

To be honest, the transport links in Tokyo are good, if not a little bit busy for my taste, but I think that's a problem throughout Japan and isn't just specific to Kanto.

Just be wary as the subways and buses tend to stop running much earlier than they do in the likes of London, Paris and New York and it isn't unusual for the last train to a particular station to leave at around 10/11PM unless that station is Ikkebukuro/Shinjuku etc. Even here in Manchester a lot of buses run almost 24 hours a day, but in Japan there is none of that.

slapphead_otool

Shibuya for the GF shopping – its an amazing area and you will recognise the famous street crossing with the huge TV screens. (The hottest girls in the world seem to hang around here)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shibuya,_Tokyo
Look for the famous dog statue:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hachik%C5%8D

Akihaba for cheap and latest electrical goods.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akihabara

Ropungi used to have a lot of good bars, but it was getting expensive and westernised.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roppongi

Shimbash is still Japanese, not fashionable but worth visitng for bars and Izakaya small restaurants.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shinbashi

The Shinagawa Prince is great, and good value.
Try getting out of Tokyo for a day or two. Kamakura is on a train line, and has the biggest Bronze Budda in the world – huge temple complex. Nikko is about 2 hours by train from Tokyo, and has a lot of famous temples.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamakura,_Kanagawa
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikk%C5%8D,_Tochigi

Try a ryokan - a traditional Japanese hotel, bit expensive but an experience for a night or two.

JonboyE

Good to know - thanks.

Kamakura is definitely on the itinerary. OH is a Kansai girl so most of my sightseeing has been around there. It will be interesting to compare Kamakura to Nara.

Nikko is also a good idea. Thanks.

Done that!