SQTraveller

This is another one of my shorter reviews [the original review is on my website here]

In December 2013, I finally made the big decision to make my first trip to Japan and after carrying out a lot of research, I decided my first few days should be spent in Tokyo and near public transport.

Mitsui Garden Hotel is part of a chain and my experience of the Ueno branch was pretty favourable. The hotel is very well maintained and well located near Ueno JR station and even closer to the Metro entrance. Having said that, it is important to recognise that Tokyo is not what one would describe as a luggage friendly city (even on the metro network). So being this close to the station doesn’t guarantee an easy journey with your bags. There are lifts, but might take some locating.

Another thing I think that must be remembered is that this hotel is in central Tokyo, one of the most expensive cities in the world so don’t expect big rooms. Despite the size, the rooms were comfortable and reasonably quiet. They also come with the full gamut of toiletries and accessories, though I must say that even these throw away accessories are of pretty amazing quality (as was the case pretty much across Japan). I visited almost 2 years ago and some of the slippers are still going!
The quality of English among the staff was mixed – ranging from excellent to really poor. In most cases though they really made an effort to help.

One bonus is that there are a lot of little eateries nearby. If you like to explore local culture through food, there were lots of yakitori and ramen shops within 5 minutes walking distance.

evergrn

Thanks for the review. This is actually very relevant to the discussion that comes up here every now and then: what's a decent place to stay at in Ueno. Ueno is potentially a very useful location for those with an overnight NRT layover, but it suffers from dearth of acceptable choices for someone who demands a full-service, high-end accommodation.

I've never stayed at this particular Mitsui Garden hotel. When I look at the website, it seems quite decent with modern-looking rooms and nice breakfast spread. There're several room types >20m2 (personally 20m2 is the room size cutoff, below which I'd get claustrophobic). I will say the hotel's current 3.8 score on Rakuten Travel is disconcerting. I generally avoid any place that's below 4. However, your review is certainly encouraging.

wideman

I've also stayed here, and found it to be a good value for a business-type hotel. I did reserve one of the larger rooms (and even that was relatively small), which certainly helped. It's easily the best choice I've found in the Ueno area.

Hotel is adjacent to a subway entrance, across the intersection from the JR station, and a 5- or 7-minute walk to the Keisei station. Biggest downside for me was the elevators -- two elevators for about a dozen floors of the hotel.

evergrn

Those are the operative words. Still a business hotel, but the best in the Ueno area. Maybe Mitsui Garden will be FT's hotel of choice in Ueno for now.

msb0b

I haven't stayed at the Ueno property, but I have stayed at another Mitsui Garden property. IMO, they are a rung up from the run of the mill business hotels because... Their bathrooms are tiled, not one piece molded plastic unit bath. The room photos on MGH Ueno shows it.

It may seem trivial, but there's a saying that you can tell how much a hotel has spent on a guest room by looking at the bathroom fixtures.

SQTraveller

I went through my photo album for my trip to Japan and unfortunately I didn't get any decent photos of the room that I stayed in.