Tsumago
Popular with foreign visitors, this traditional-looking inn benefits from modern construction and has a prime location on the top of the hill – all rooms…
Must-see hotels in Japan
Nikkō
Only steps away from the trailhead to Kanman-ga-Fuchi Abyss, this tidy, comfortable inn offers Japanese- and Western-style rooms, plus river views from…
Yaeyama Islands
This sumptuous offering from the renowned team at luxury brand Hoshinoya certainly delivers. The best part about these decadent digs is that after dark it…
Around Tokyo
The 12 elegant rooms (Western-style on the 1st floor, Japanese-style on the 2nd) at this luxurious ryokan are decorated in natural tones, and each has a…
Hotel MyStays Premier Kanazawa
Kanazawa
Spacious (guest rooms are 32 sq metres!), stylish, fresh and current: this tourist hotel a stone's throw from the station is a good-value choice. It has…
Central Honshū
This quietly upscale ryokan near Shin-bashi faces a lovely garden. Some rooms have private facilities; plans with or without meals are available.
Izu Peninsula
A beautifully restored old house with mixed and female-only capsule-style dorms, one tatami twin and friendly young staff.
Harajuku & Aoyama
Part of Tokyo's new wave of boutique hotels, Trunk's main selling point is its proximity to fashionable neighbourhoods Harajuku, Aoyama and Shibuya. And…
Shinjuku & Northwest Tokyo
The big draw of this huge (970 rooms!) hotel is the enormous Godzilla statue atop it (you, and taxi drivers, will have no trouble finding it). It's fairly…
Shinjuku & Northwest Tokyo
If bookstores are your happy place you'll feel right at home at this hostel where the beds are fitted into bookshelves. The capsule-style bunks have…
Tokyo
This is a rare opportunity to sleep within one of Tokyo's most eccentric architectural landmarks. The two apartments – one has one bedroom sleeping two,…
Hokkaidō
Part Lost Boys hideaway, part loopy summer camp, Momoiwa-sō is a very special place, which you will either love or hate. It has very strict rules, but…
Kansai
This hostel is in a modernised kayabukiya, with both Japanese- and Western-style bedding. It's out by its lonesome in the far west of the village – ideal…
Izu Peninsula
Built in 1929, Kanaya Ryokan is fabulously traditional, although the cheapest rooms are relatively simple. The star attraction is the biggest all-wood …
Hokkaidō
The nicer of the two Prince hotels offers comfortable, classy, though not terribly stylish, rooms, decent restaurants and efficient service – all at the…
Kansai
This six-room ryokan, running for over 200 years, occupies a wonderfully rambling old building roughly halfway between Gekū and Naikū. There's a nice…
Toipirka Kitaobihiro Youth Hostel
Hokkaidō
A great place to break for the night is this attractive log house with a hammock on the front porch and cosy sofas around a wood stove in the lounge. The…
Ebisu, Meguro & Around
In rapidly developing Gotanada, this little two-storey ryokan stands out. While the building is old, the inside was renovated in 2018, so the tatami rooms…
Kansai
On a hill overlooking the bay, about a 10-minute walk from the northern end of Amanohashidate, this old but well-kept hostel has both Western- and…
Shinjuku & Northwest Tokyo
One of Tokyo's cooler concept hostels has beds tucked inside bookshelves (most books are in Japanese, but some are in English). 'Compact' bunks have 80cm…
Kansai
In business for two centuries but marvellously up to date, Katō has English-speaking staff who cater well to international travellers. Especially…
Sapporo
This is a popular backpackers' spot with all the fixings: friendly, bilingual staff, clean rooms with modern bunks, private lockers, free coffee and tea,…
Kyūshū
The lobby is ageing, but the 53 well-maintained rooms (mostly Japanese style, with private facilities) are a great deal. The rotemburo (outdoor bath) is…
Nishimuraya Hotel Shōgetsu-tei
Kansai
A bit far from town and in a rather ordinary building, this modern property is managed by the same family that runs Nishimuraya Honkan and offers a more…
Shibuya & Shimo-Kitazawa
This new Shibuya capsule hotel has cabin-style rooms: single-decker, divided on the sides by walls, but with curtains for doors; they're literally the…
Yaeyama Islands
Just above Kabira-wan on the north coast, Iriwa is a comfortable guesthouse with dorm beds, two large private rooms, a small self-contained cottage and…
Ebisu, Meguro & Around
The Claska is one of Tokyo’s most stylish hotels, though you wouldn't know it from the retro business-hotel facade. No two rooms are alike: some have…
Niseko
The world's only ski-in, ski-out capsule hotel, Moiwa Lodge 834, in front of the Moiwa lifts, is popular with powder hounds who have no patience for the…
Yaeyama Islands
Truly a retreat, this spacious, fully equipped beach house affords privacy and peace in beautiful abundance. On Ishigaki's sparsely populated northern…
Dormy Inn Express Meguro Aobadai
Ebisu, Meguro & Around
If you prefer to base yourself somewhere less hectic – but no less fun – try this business hotel along the canal in Naka-Meguro. This chain sets itself…
ANA Holiday Inn Resort Miyazaki
Kyūshū
This shiny white, semi-cylindrical, beachfront tower with glass elevators has ocean-view rooms and onsen above the treetops (day use ¥1050). Low-season…
Osaka
Inside a restored, century-old townhouse down a quiet lane, U-en has seven upstairs rooms with a variety of bedding – futons and tatami mats in private…
Nara
Founded in 1909, this grande dame has hosted everyone from Edward VIII and Albert Einstein to Audrey Hepburn and the Dalai Lama. It retains a Meiji-era…
Southern Higashiyama
With a cracking location and a 'novel' idea, this hostel is a unique option for those looking for budget accommodation in the heart of Gion. As expected,…
Kyūshū
This towering hotel has two buildings: the west wing, and the more recently remodelled east wing (with room prices ¥2000 to ¥3000 more per person). Even…
Southern Higashiyama
Perched at the base of the Higashiyama mountains at the top of Maruyama-kōen, Yoshimizu is surrounded by greenery and it’s like staying in the countryside…
Hokkaidō
Marumi prides itself on its gut-busting seafood banquets, making this a good choice if you've worked up a calorie deficit in the mountains. The Japanese…
Hiroshima
Hana has a choice of Japanese- or Western-style private rooms, some with a private toilet or full (if very small) en suite. Cosy lamp lighting and…
Asakusa & Sumida River
Anne is an efficiently run and friendly operation. Spacious dorms (with between four and eight beds) offer broad bunks constructed from sturdy steel…
Fukuoka
Its rates aren't the cheapest in town and its rooms are pretty cramped, but that doesn't tell the whole story. The Dormy Inn has a natural onsen (hot…
