Cheap and convenient places to stay in Tokyo

[KeithH]

Does anyone have suggestions for places they've stayed or heard about that they really like? I'm visiting in two weeks (I just found out last week) and still need to book a room. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Keith

[Belton]

I haven't been to Tokyo so I can't personaly recommend anywhere.
But I found this site very useful to book hotels on my trips to Kansai.

http://travel.rakuten.co.jp/en/

[JB]

If you want to stay in a dormitory then you can start at around 3,000 yen and the sky's the limit...

For cheap hotels in relatively good areas I have heard good things about Villa Fontaine http://www.villa-fontaine.co.jp/eng/index.html. You can book online in English.

がんばって

[patchmonkey]

there are plenty of youth hostels in Tokyo. If you google for something like...cheap hotel tokyo you're bound to find something.

In addition, you can try searching for "rakuten english" and you may find hotels through that as well - often with special deals.

And there's always sleeping on the street, or living at a manga cafe.

[KeithH]

I ended up staying at the Oak Hotel near Inadari station in Ueno. The single room was pretty small, but it was comfortable and plenty big for one person. It was also cheap, less than $40 a night. I would definitely stay there again.

[nutts]

A bit late for Keith, but I just wanted to put in a word for the ryokan I always stay in when I'm in Tokyo: Sawanoya
http://www.tctv.ne.jp/members/sawanoya/

It's a really friendly place run by a nice family, all japanese-style as you'd expect, and with free internet access in the reception area and broadband in the rooms (own laptop/cat5 cable needed).

It's in the Ueno area in the Yanaka area which, while walking around the streets there, really reminds you of what old tokyo used to be like.

I've stayed there 3 times now, and am staying there again in a week or so when I head back out to Japan

[Katharos]

Too late for Keith, but for anyone else reading this thread, we stayed at Katsutaro - http://www.katsutaro.com/ - if you want a ryokan rather than a hotel, this one is very affordable, and the owner was nice too. Short walk from Nezu station, and 10-15 minutes from Ueno station. Also, the owner has an awesome map of restaurants around the ryokan, and his directions from the train to the ryokan were really complete and easy to follow. The best directions we had to any of our 5 ryokan in Japan! (A good thing too, because the neighborhood is pretty twisty.)

-Katherine