Tokyo Travel Resources
Everything we’ve published on Tokyo, plus the order we’d plan a trip in.
Start here
- Choosing a neighbourhood: Where to Stay in Tokyo — the decision framework, district by district
- Going deep on one area: Where to Stay in Akasaka
- Picking an actual hotel: The 4 best hotels within a 5-minute walk of Akasaka Station
Plan in this order
Most people book these in the wrong sequence and then work around their own mistake. The order that avoids that:
- Fix your dates. Everything downstream depends on them, and Golden Week or blossom season changes the whole calculation.
- Pick the district. Not the hotel. In a city this well connected, the neighbourhood decides how the trip feels.
- Pick the hotel inside that district. Now the details matter — room size, laundry, the walk to the platform.
- Work out transit passes last. Whether a pass pays for itself depends on where you’re sleeping and what you’re doing, so it can’t be decided first.
The one rule worth remembering: book for the station, not for the sight. You’ll visit the attraction once and use the station twice a day.
What we’ve published
| Post | Type | Covers | Last verified |
|---|---|---|---|
| Where to Stay in Tokyo | Neighbourhood guide | District selection framework, 7 districts compared | Sep 2026 |
| Where to Stay in Akasaka | Area guide | Akasaka’s four sub-areas, transit, trade-offs | Sep 2026 |
| 4 Best Hotels Within a 5-Minute Walk of Akasaka Station | Ranked list | 4 properties, measured distances, review patterns | Jul 2026 |
| Tokyo Subway Passes: The Break-Even Math | Cost calculator | Break-even ride count for all 4 Tokyo subway/metro passes, from official fare tables | Sep 2026 |
| Is the JR Pass Worth It for a Tokyo-Only Trip? | Cost calculator | 2026 JR Pass pricing vs a Tokyo-only itinerary, and the ticket that replaces it | Sep 2026 |
| Akasaka vs Shinjuku vs Asakusa: Which Base Saves Time? | Comparison | Transfer-count comparison across 10 destinations from each base | Sep 2026 |
| Where to Stay in Shinjuku | Area guide | Kabukicho vs the quieter edges, 6 properties compared | Sep 2026 |
| Where to Stay in Asakusa | Area guide | 6 properties across budget/mid/upper tiers | Sep 2026 |
| Best Hotels Near Tokyo Station for an Early Shinkansen | Ranked list | 6 properties, ranked by walk time to the platforms | Sep 2026 |
| Best Hotels Near Haneda for Late Arrivals | Ranked list | In-terminal vs nearby, 6 properties compared | Sep 2026 |
| Best Business Hotels Under ¥15,000 in Central Tokyo | Ranked list | 6 properties across 5 districts, all under the ¥15,000 typical rate | Sep 2026 |
| 3 Days in Tokyo: A First-Timer Itinerary | Itinerary | Geography-first route, admission prices, verified hours | Sep 2026 |
| 5 Days in Tokyo: Adding Day Trips | Itinerary | Kamakura and Hakone day trips, real train and pass costs | Oct 2026 |
| Tokyo in 48 Hours: A Layover Itinerary | Itinerary | Realistic 2-day route for a long layover | Oct 2026 |
| Where to Stay in Tokyo Without a Metro Pass | Cost calculator | Operator-transfer fare math, which bases minimize it | Oct 2026 |
| Akasaka and Roppongi: What’s Worth Your Time | Attraction guide | What to plan around vs skip in the two districts | Oct 2026 |
In progress
Being honest about the gaps rather than linking you to pages that don’t exist yet. Next up:
- How far a "5-minute walk" really is, measured across 40 Tokyo listings
- Asakusa and Ueno: a half-day that isn’t just Senso-ji
- Tokyo hotels with in-room laundry
How these posts are made
Every figure on this site comes from somewhere, and we say where. The short version: official sources for prices and rules, map data for distances, review platforms for patterns — and nothing published that we couldn’t verify.
We also haven’t stayed in these hotels, and we say so on every post rather than writing a travel memoir we didn’t earn.
The full method, including how we read reviews and what happens to a fact we can’t confirm: How We Research.
Where our booking links go
We link to Agoda and Trip.com. Both are booking platforms with broad coverage in Japan, and linking to more than one lets you compare rather than take our word for a rate.
Three things worth knowing about how we use them:
- We don’t rank hotels by commission. Rankings come from ratings, review volume and measured distance.
- Every recommendation names at least one real drawback.
- If we can’t give a specific reason to recommend a property, we don’t link it.
Frequently asked questions
Why only Tokyo so far?
Because a site covering forty cities badly is worth less than one covering a single city properly. Tokyo gets finished before anywhere else starts.
How often is this updated?
Each post carries its own "Last verified" date. Prices and availability go stale fastest, so those get rechecked most often. This index page updates whenever a post goes live.
Can I suggest a topic?
Yes, and we keep a list. Use the contact page.
Do you accept sponsored posts?
No. Not for coverage, not for placement, not for a better ranking. That’s on the About page too.
Last verified: October 2026.