Only a thirty minute train ride south of Tokyo, Yokohama is a modern, bustling port city with great sightseeing opportunities and more than one luxurious Yokohama hotel waiting for you. This is Japan’s second largest city, but with its broad streets, compact downtown area, laid back attitude and cheap hotels Yokohama is a welcome change from the often disorienting capital, Tokyo.
When planning your stay, remember that like much of Japan, hotels in Yokohama offer a contrast between luxury high rise palaces and humble family-run ryokan (traditional inns). Though you may find available rooms at one of the larger international hotels, the smaller ryokan often fill up quick; so remember to book these Yokohama hotel reservations well in advance.
For cheap hotels Yokohama offers a number of reasonably priced ryokan. Remember, though, that ryokan can be quaint affairs with excellent food and helpful staff, or they can be dingy holes with run by surly families serving second rate food. Belonging to the first category, and one of the best cheap hotels Yokohama has is the Matsusima Inn. This traditional ryokan has been around since 1884, offers student rates, comfy futons and great food.
Arguably the best, and without a doubt the highest of hotels in Yokohama is the Royal Park Hotel Yokohama. Occupying floors 49-70 of Japan’s tallest building, the 972 ft Landmark Tower, the 630-room Royal Park Hotel Yokohama offers a fitness club, aromatherapy salon, and a Japanese tea ceremony room. One of the most accessible and centrally located hotels in Yokohama, the Royal Park Hotel Yokohama is near the Yokohama Museum of Art, Maritime Museum, and Yokohama’s famous Chinatown.
The first 48 stories of the Landmark Tower—which takes as its architectural model the seemingly earthquake proof Japanese pagoda—are devoted to office and retail space.
And as an added bonus you can tell all your friends back home that you rode the world’s fastest elevator—at one floor a second, you can travel from street level to the lobby of this Yokohama hotel in less than a minute. How you choose to spend all the time you’ve save on elevator trips is up to you.
To the world at large Yokohama is known primarily for its eponymous tire company, but a weekend sojourn reveals a friendly, fun city with enough nightclubs to satisfy a college student, enough cultural attractions to satisfy your mother, and one high speed elevator that is sure to keep every 7 year old thoroughly satisfied.
