Hotel Metropolitan Tokyo

My Experience at the Hotel Metropolitan Tokyo

My experience was amazing! This hotel is about a 2 minute walk from a major train station (Ikebukuro Station) which from Tokyo-Narita International Airport you can take just one train, the Narita Express, to get to. The hotel’s staff was beyond helpful the minute I entered the lobby, taking your bags before you even reach the Check-In counter. My hotel room was extremely clean and the quality of the room amenities were way better than I was expecting them to be. This hotel also has a Fitness Center, Chapel, and several high-quality restaurants, including an All-Day diner with a buffet which was absolutely delicious. If you want to explore Japan but don’t know where to start, they have friendly personnel to assist you with some site-seeing suggestions (the purchase of a Japan Rail Pass BEFORE traveling to Japan is highly recommended and required if you want to use most of their train systems without having to pay each time you ride). I highly recommend this hotel to anyone traveling to Japan and are planning to stay in the Tokyo area.

Take the Shinkansen Train (Bullet Train) from Tokyo Station (or wherever you are staying) to Kyoto and Hiroshima (again, having a Japan Rail Pass BEFORE traveling to Japan is required if you want you use their trains for UNLIMITED travel, and if you’re going to be traveling vast distances such as this, it is highly recommended). Kyoto has so much Japanese history, most of it being more on the traditional side, which is a great experience if you’re looking for more historical aspects of Japan. There are lots of old temples, the Kyoto Imperial Palace, Japanese gardens, etc. For temples, I recommend the Kiyomizudera Temple. Hiroshima is a must see, because this is where the United States dropped the first Atomic Bomb in human history during WWII. I do not want to ruin this experience, so I will leave it at "just go see it".

Tokyo on a Budget

Soulless, functional and cheap for Tokyo, The Hotel Metropolitan Tokyo is easy to get to door to door by Limousine Bus from Tokyo Narita International airport. It is also in short walking distance to Tokyo Ikebukuro Railaway and Subway Station with the all important Yamanote Sen (green line) with circles Tokyo city centre. Internet access by lan cable in the room is included in the standard room price which is still amazingly enough a novelty in Tokyo hotels, who in the main charge extra. I stayed for three weeks and had no issues with the hotel. The rooms are small but clean and are adequate for a business stay. The gym that the show on the web site is charged extra and is not cheap, but remember this is one of the most expensive cities in the world, which means some of the worst value for money for hotel stays in the world and certainly in Asia. Ikebukuro has lots of convenience stores (near the hotel) so you can stock the small in room fridge. BBC World and CNN make up the list of available English TV channels or you can use the hotel video system to watch last year’s movies at a heavy cost, so bring a book. There is a good selection of restaurants around the railway station and most importantly of all there is a CitiBank ATM on level B1 of the Metropolitan Plaza next door to the hotel which will accept no Japanese ATM cards and Credit Cards.

Travelling by rail in Tokyo is a must as Taxi’s are extortionate. The Suica prepaid rail card makes Tokyo rail travel much easier. It is available in the JR ticket office in the nearby Ikebukuro Station. You pre load credit on the card then just wave it at the railway ticket barriers entering and leaving the stations, conveniently it works for all Tokyo Trains JR and Private and Buses, it also works on a lot of the vending machinmes and kiosk shops in the stations.

Nice Size for Tokyo

We had heard stories about how cramped Tokyo hotel rooms were, however the Metropolitan was very nicely sized, about what you would find in a comparable New York City hotel. The staff was very friendly and helped us get set up with a tour of the city. There is a train and subway station close by, so it makes it easy to get to the sites of Tokyo.