We stayed in the district of Shinagawa for our last Tokyo trip in November. While Ginza or Shinjuku were our usual choices as far as location is concerned, I wanted to give a shot to this IHG property called The Strings next to the train station.
Getting to the hotel was fairly easy – with Shinagawa being one of the stops on Keikyu Airport Line from Haneda and took us only 20 minutes after passing through Immigration and Custom (and thank God that was a fairly quick process this time around) The hotel was located right in the commercial district on the high floors of one of those skyscrapers. No view of Mount Fuji or Tokyo Tower from the location and direction of the hotel, but we did enjoy a good view of the city high from above.
Room was spacious in Tokyo hotel standard with all the nice amenities you could imagine from a high-end property, though I was a little surprised that noise from the train station – some 30 levels below – did get to the room from early morning on, so if you want something quiet, better ask for the side away from the train station. I did find the lobby a bit small though for the hotel of this size and caliber. It got super crowded from time to time especially when there's events going on and people just overflowed to the lobby.
There isn’t much to do and see in Shinagawa so basically to get to anywhere, subway and train is the only option. Shinagawa Station is a major train station with several Shinkansen lines running through, so it’s a perfect spot if you need to get on those high-speed train before or after your stay. It’s also midway between Shibuya and Tokyo on the circular JR Yamanote Line so either way it’s a quick 15 minute away. I was out real late one night drinking with some friends and it was great to know the line ran late and got me back home quickly and safely (on the other hand, Subway tend to stop service before midnight – just so you know) From here you could also hop on to the train into Odaiba, so it's convenient if you happened to have that on your itinerary.
Our hotel package didn’t come with breakfast (nor my IHG membership level is high enough to get this for free) but it came with hotel dining credits which we used to eat at the café downstairs for a couple mornings. It was never crowded when we were there and the food was decent - pretty standard Japanese style breakfast buffet. We took it easy on our travel itinerary this time so being able to grab a bite right downstairs to start the day was a good option to have.
I take this as a decent business hotel to stay if you happened to work in this neighborhood, or if you are passing through Tokyo on train or flying in to Haneda and want something comfortable and convenient for a quick stay.
No comments :
Post a Comment