Any Kyoto and/or Tokyo recs?

sorry meant specifically for hotels in tokyo. im still an open book on what to do

but 3 nights at the shibuya hyatt house and 2 nights at the park hyatt

We used the park Hyatt conceriege to help us get reservations to certain things.

The best one was the moss temple in Kyoto.

Kyoto is best treated as one giant walking park. Pick an area of the city with a handful of temples and shrines and just walk them.

A few are open at night and can be self explored. Not a bad option to consider when you likely will still be a bit off your sleep schedule.

Very hungover so my recommendations are going to be short and without much thought, so I'll come back to this Few quick food and drink ideas...

Tokyo - Sake Bar KoKon, Aloha Whiskey, cocktail barbolla, The Bellwood, Sushi Teppen, Yakitori Shochan Koenji, Beer Bomb

Kyoto - Wagyu Burger 4th, Hamburg Labo, Ginza Music Bar, B, Kyoto Beer Lab, Gion Omakase

We stayed at Hilton Tokyo and Kyoto.

Fortunate enough to travel to Japan for work as well as some vacations. May is a great time to-go.

Couple of notes. Keio hotel in Shinjuku for Tokyo is solid. Nice hotel, not insane pricing, and right at the station to bounce around to anyplace in Tokyo. Don't overspend on Tokyo hotel as you won't be there but to sleep. Most other business/tourist hotels in area are fine too.

Kyoto -> get an Airbnb vs. hotel. Trust me on this one. price is likely cheaper too. Stay in the Souther Higashiyama area vs. central Kyoto. Public transportation in Kyoto is mostly buses but still works well.

Day trip to Nara and river trip with historic train are musts.

Personal presence, unless you have specific plans in Tokyo, I would spend 5 days in Kyoto vs. Tokyo.

Best part of Japan is honestly just wondering around in either town.

I am taking my parents in late October and then back again for work....I don't know a few times (hopefully) in the next year.

good news is once you pay for airfare and avoid the most obvious tourist traps Japan is pretty cheap.

Happy to answer any questions as well!

quote:

---

The bamboo forest and arishiyama were about the only thing we did in Japan that I thought was a little overrated and would skip with limited time in Kyoto.

---

noted

definitely considering himeji

quote:

---

Soaking naked with a bunch of Japanese dudes is . . . kind of great.

---

I stayed at the Centara Grand in Osaka and the Century Southern Tower in Tokyo. I highly recommend both and the Hilton if you decide to venture out to Hiroshima for the day and decide to stay. All 3 are great hotels.

My plan is to do one night in Hiroshima

quote:

---

Any flexibility to extend your stay in Kyoto/Osaka?

---

Possibly but I doubt we will want to. Will be travelling with an infant. Which location would you consider better to base?

No idea the name of it, but one of my absolute favorite meals was okonomiyaki is a little restaurant bar nearish to the baseball stadium. It was game day, we didn’t have tickets but was fun to just be around the stadium. We ducked into this tiny little place and just had a killer meal.

I may or may not have brought shame upon my family and name trying to find a scalper to buy a couple of tickets. I don’t think the Japanese do that.