First time in Tokyo
 

My family, two adults and a 6 yr old, are very excited to visit Tokyo for the first time. We are planning to be in Tokyo for 5 days before taking the JR train to Kyoto for 3 days.

Can anyone offer suggestions on where to stay in Tokyo? We prefer an area where it is convenient for eating, entertainment for a 6 yr old, and shopping for my wife. And convenient to see the best of Tokyo for 1st time tourists.

We are thinking either shibuya ir shinjuku.

Welcome to FlyerTalk, Stan.USA.man!

Your question is one oft asked in our forum; though our regulars will likely be along to give you some great advice, I recommend that you do a search to see what information you can gather first to help give you some ideas.

I wouldn't worry too much of the exact area to stay as long as it's not too far from the Yamanote Line:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yamanote_Line

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...eAreaLines.png

Have you read a guidebook for Tokyo yet? They can be found in the Travel section of any large bookstore, and some are available in Kindle form.

Most of your questions, including suggestions for hotels and which area to stay in, will be answered in it.

Anything that is within or just outside of the Yamanote commuter rail line (which circles the central city) will be convenient. Tokyo is huge and sprawling (more so than even Los Angeles), but its public transit system is amazing, and between the subways and the commuter rail lines, you can go all over the city.

Once you have read the guidebook, come back with questions you still have.

when will you be in T&K? hotels in both cities sell out.

since you are spending a lot of money to get there, just take cabs, $10 or 15 will get one to most places.

Cabs? That's how to do things the most expensive way possible and miss much of the point of visiting Japan. Yes, cabs are great when you are moving luggage or have stayed out past the trains, but if you're sightseeing, you're going to want to move around the city, and those (more like) $15-20 trips add up.

On trains and subways, children under 12 travel for a lower price, so with three of you on the subway or train, the price will be closer to $6-8 per trip. Get a Suica card (they come in adults' and children's versions), and you can pay your train and subway fare simply by touching your card to the sensor on the turnstile. If your Suica card runs out of money, you can add value to it at any train or subway station.

The train/subway system can SEEM intimidating. When I first went to Japan many, many years ago, I stayed in the YWCA until my apartment was ready, and there were some women from Australia who had come to attend an international convention. They had not been out sightseeing, because they were intimidated by the train system, so I took them on my next scheduled outing. I think we went to Ueno Park and Ginza. At the end of the day, they said that they regretted not venturing out before, because the train system was really less confusing than they had thought.

There is nothing like Tokyo's transit system in the U.S., and I consider it an essential part of the Tokyo experience.

I would agree that this is poor advice for most visitors to Tokyo unless they are elderly or infirm, or perhaps just in a hurry.

Cabs might make more sense in Kyoto, where the subway is of limited value and some folks might prefer not to use the excellent bus system. Many Japanese tourists move about Kyoto by cab, visiting the major sites quickly. In Tokyo, the excellent subway/train system is the better choice.

Difficult to answer this question without knowing more about the specifics of your trip. But you can't go wrong with Shinjuku if you want your hotel to be in the middle of shopping/dining and want convenient transport access to most everywhere in Tokyo.

In Shinjuku, try to pick a hotel that's within 5min walk from Shinjuku Sta. I often stay at Hyatt Regency but, to me, that place is too far of a walk from everything. Hilton's even further out from the action. Century Southern's the best for location imo, and Keio Plaza is also reasonably close to the station. Then again, Hyatt and Hilton are nicer than Keio Plaza, and you may not mind a 10min walk few times a day as much as I do. If shopping/dining/kids are more of priority than anything, you could stay in Odaiba... although the summer heat can make you sick just walking from one Odaiba complex to another (then again, I'm not even sure if you're going when it's hot). Summer hotel rates can be incredibly high in certain parts of Tokyo. Tends to be more reasonable in places like Shinagawa and Asakusa in my experience. But not as good shopping/dining in Shinagawa (although very convenient in terms of transport) and Asakusa is not the most centrally located transport-wise. If you want to spend less on everything, Kawasaki has tons of shopping/dining and still convenient to many parts of Tokyo.

I'm kind of rambling on here, but maybe this gives you a sense that there's just a lot of variables involved and that you're best off narrowing things down a bit yourself and then coming back to ask more specific questions as others have said.

Also, you don't have to go high-end in Japan. I'm a solo traveler, and it's easy to find clean and safe hotels for $50- $100 a night for a single (obviously more for a family). The rooms are small, but they have a private bath (sometimes tiny) and sometimes include breakfast.

In addition, there are all kinds of price levels between the business hotels and the Hyatt Regency.

This is where a guidebook comes in handy.