Shinjuku - Hotel The KNOT
Quick run down of the first hotel we stayed at.
Hotel The KNOT - Shinjuku. https://hotel-the-knot.jp/tokyoshinjuku/en/rooms/
This is a recently revamped older hotel which has had a pretty amazing facelift. Looking out onto a massive park (some rooms and you pay a premium which we didn't really care too much about) it is further removed from the bustle of the shopping areas either side of Shinjuku station so it is far quieter traffic wise than other closer hotels.
The check in is electronic - punch in your name on a machine that is not unlike an ATM, scan a passport and you get a room card (or a PIN if you prefer) and a room number. It was all pretty technologically fancy, but they have staff ready to assist if you look as vague as we did having just travelled all day.
The Knot was certainly one of the better priced hotels that I looked at in the area. Although you will have to really like walking as it is at least a good brisk 17 minute walk from the main Shinjuku station.
If I had my time over I would pay the extra for the twin rooms with a little more room, the 14m2 that we had was just a little too small in the standard twin. When my mum joined us we moved her in with the children into a triple and it was glorious. 21m2 seemed to be almost double our room size and we tended to hang in there comfortably (3 adults and both children) until bed time.
I was pre-warned that the rooms in Japanese hotels could be quite small but I am not sure that you can prepare yourself for how small they are. The old adage about not big enough to swing a cat, let's just say that the cat would have had a headache before you turned a quarter of a circle and we'll leave it at that!
The only thing I can fault it on (apart from the tiny rooms which I knew about when I booked) is the bathrooms. They are sort of like a prefab box that was added to each room, and as such they have a hefty step up and down to get into them, which took some getting used to. I'll bore you with my love of their bathrooms later, but after walking all day (12k steps most days) getting up and down out of them when your legs were aching and your feet felt like they were going to fall off, it wasn't the highlight of my trip.
Other perks we found useful:
Proximity to food!
On the ground floor they had a bakery which sold fresh baked goods for most of the day. They were reasonably priced, not super fantastic cheap, but ok in a 'hey, we are hungry, lets grab something to eat before we start walking' kind of way.
At the end of the park is a great little supermarket called Maruetsu Petit Nishishinjuku which sold everything from ceramic mugs to grapes and everything in between. We brought our own cup of soups from home for quick night time snacks and coupled it with a massive french bread stick that was freshly baked. (Mixed in two ceramic mugs we bought on the first day, both of which made it all the way back home without breaking!)
There is also a Family Mart less than 5 minutes walk away. If you want to walk further there is a Lawsons in the same direction as the Family Mart but another 5 minutes walk.
Taxi trips from the Station were under 800Yen one way. For four tired people that was a bargain!
Small additional note - as I am already looking into our next trip to Japan and because we really liked the proximity to everything in Shinjuku I am considering the following hotels as well.
Hotel Gracery
Hotel Sunroute Plaza
Both of which are comparable in price and are much closer to the station so slightly more convenient.
I am going to suggest that if you are sold on a place to stay book as early as you can, the websites (official hotel ones) will offer great deals on booking 60 and 90 days in advance, and usually bookings will become available 5-6 months before you travel. {{Disclaimer - ok, so one of our chosen hotels didn't put their availability up until only 3 months before we left, but most of the major chains will have them up within 5 months - just keep on checking!}}
Don't be concerned if they don't include breakfast because unless you are a buffet lover, and are ok with spending $25+ per night just to get breakfast, there are usually a host of places to eat at reasonable prices. We found ourselves at the Family Mart most mornings, getting baked goods and apple juice at a fraction of the cost a room with breakfast would have cost us. It's a great way to save money to be spent elsewhere!
Hotel The KNOT - Shinjuku. https://hotel-the-knot.jp/tokyoshinjuku/en/rooms/
This is a recently revamped older hotel which has had a pretty amazing facelift. Looking out onto a massive park (some rooms and you pay a premium which we didn't really care too much about) it is further removed from the bustle of the shopping areas either side of Shinjuku station so it is far quieter traffic wise than other closer hotels.
(The not so exciting view from the 5th floor looking out onto the back streets)
The check in is electronic - punch in your name on a machine that is not unlike an ATM, scan a passport and you get a room card (or a PIN if you prefer) and a room number. It was all pretty technologically fancy, but they have staff ready to assist if you look as vague as we did having just travelled all day.
The Knot was certainly one of the better priced hotels that I looked at in the area. Although you will have to really like walking as it is at least a good brisk 17 minute walk from the main Shinjuku station.
If I had my time over I would pay the extra for the twin rooms with a little more room, the 14m2 that we had was just a little too small in the standard twin. When my mum joined us we moved her in with the children into a triple and it was glorious. 21m2 seemed to be almost double our room size and we tended to hang in there comfortably (3 adults and both children) until bed time.
I was pre-warned that the rooms in Japanese hotels could be quite small but I am not sure that you can prepare yourself for how small they are. The old adage about not big enough to swing a cat, let's just say that the cat would have had a headache before you turned a quarter of a circle and we'll leave it at that!
The only thing I can fault it on (apart from the tiny rooms which I knew about when I booked) is the bathrooms. They are sort of like a prefab box that was added to each room, and as such they have a hefty step up and down to get into them, which took some getting used to. I'll bore you with my love of their bathrooms later, but after walking all day (12k steps most days) getting up and down out of them when your legs were aching and your feet felt like they were going to fall off, it wasn't the highlight of my trip.
Other perks we found useful:
Proximity to food!
On the ground floor they had a bakery which sold fresh baked goods for most of the day. They were reasonably priced, not super fantastic cheap, but ok in a 'hey, we are hungry, lets grab something to eat before we start walking' kind of way.
At the end of the park is a great little supermarket called Maruetsu Petit Nishishinjuku which sold everything from ceramic mugs to grapes and everything in between. We brought our own cup of soups from home for quick night time snacks and coupled it with a massive french bread stick that was freshly baked. (Mixed in two ceramic mugs we bought on the first day, both of which made it all the way back home without breaking!)
There is also a Family Mart less than 5 minutes walk away. If you want to walk further there is a Lawsons in the same direction as the Family Mart but another 5 minutes walk.
Taxi trips from the Station were under 800Yen one way. For four tired people that was a bargain!
Small additional note - as I am already looking into our next trip to Japan and because we really liked the proximity to everything in Shinjuku I am considering the following hotels as well.
Hotel Gracery
Hotel Sunroute Plaza
Both of which are comparable in price and are much closer to the station so slightly more convenient.
I am going to suggest that if you are sold on a place to stay book as early as you can, the websites (official hotel ones) will offer great deals on booking 60 and 90 days in advance, and usually bookings will become available 5-6 months before you travel. {{Disclaimer - ok, so one of our chosen hotels didn't put their availability up until only 3 months before we left, but most of the major chains will have them up within 5 months - just keep on checking!}}
Don't be concerned if they don't include breakfast because unless you are a buffet lover, and are ok with spending $25+ per night just to get breakfast, there are usually a host of places to eat at reasonable prices. We found ourselves at the Family Mart most mornings, getting baked goods and apple juice at a fraction of the cost a room with breakfast would have cost us. It's a great way to save money to be spent elsewhere!
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