hctogia: The Guesthouses

The Guesthouses

1 Holy Milk

Some general terms about lodging in Japan:

Ryokan. Best japanese sleep a money can buy.

Ryokan: A traditional Japanese hotel. Ryokan tend to be luxury stay, you will get a traditional breakfast & dinner (kaiseki). Ryokan featured with tatami matted room, futon bed, communal bath (ofuro), and complimentary (or rent) yukata robe for sleeping at night. A night at budget ryokan will charge you 4,000 to 7,000 JPY, while a "real" ryokan will charge up to 50,000 JPY.

Most Guesthouse are very tourist friendly, small place, warm people, enjoy the party as a family.. Yay!

Guesthouse/Youth Hostel: A budget lodging for everyone, if you need basic place to stay, then guesthouses is for you. Bed (often bunk), in-room bathroom is possible with higher rate. Very tourist friendly, english-speaking receptionist, guesthouses comes with different various facilities. Guesthouse will offer you 2 types of room; dormitory and private.

Dorm Room. Beds, beds everywhere.

Dormitory room: In dorm room, you will share with other 4 to 8 other people usually using bunk bed. Good for low budget travel. Female only dorm or male only dorm are possible. There's no bathroom inside dorm room, you could use shared one, usually available 3-4 bathroom stalls per floor. A night at dormitory guesthouse will charge you 1,000 JPY to 3,000 JPY (per person).

Private room at guesthouses could be kinda fancy.

Private room: How private room different from dorm is, you could stay with your groups in same room. In private room you pay per room, not per person. However most guesthouse limit the guest to 3-6 guests per room. In-room bathroom is usually available. A night at private room guesthouse will charge you 1,500 JPY to 6,000 JPY (per person average).

As a human being I hate capsule hotel.

Capsule Hotel: I don't really like this. You're a person not a thing, it's like being stored in a drawer. You might think they cheap, but they don't. Apparently the cost 2,800 to 4,000 JPY (busy neighborhood like Shinjuku will have higher rate)

Manga cafe. Bed, bath, internet, & manga

Manga Cafe: For urgent short stay, e.g you've missed the last train, rather than go home by taxi (which is very expensive) you could try to spend a night at manga cafe or net cafe. If you plan to go to Tsukiji fish market, you have to be there at 4am, so find a manga kissa near the market instead sleep at your inn. A night at manga cafe will charge you 2,000 to 4,000 JPY (different rate for weekday & weekend. Plus, free internet as much as you want during your stay)

Tips:

Choose a place near subway or train station
Kitchen is potential for cutting meal expenses. Consider to book a room in guesthouse with equipped kitchen.
Every guesthouse have their own rule and facilities distribution and may be different from I mentioned above. Check every detail and choose wisely. Everybody want a cheap stay, but you need good sleep too. No one want to be sick or feeling sore during vacation :)

Read more about budget accommodation here.

Review of guesthouses I stayed at:

Khaosan World

Asakusa, Tokyo (website)
Nearest station: Tsukuba (2 mins walking), Tawaramachi (10 mins walking), Asakusa Toei (10 mins walking)
Budget: approx. 2,200~3,400 JPY/person for dorm & 1,800-5,000 JPY/person for private

Hallway inside the guesthouse. It used to be a love hotel in 80s.

Pros:

Nice stay with excellent facilities.
Providing free wifi, equipped kitchen, laundry room, PC, luggage keeping, even massage chair; renting wifi device, towels; selling adapter, locks and all things helpful for your stay at the front desk.
If you go pass curfew, there's always backup door for you.
Very very tourist friendly, helpful front desk staffs.

Cons:

None so far.

Tips if you planning to stay at Khaosan World:

If you're in group, take the private room. It's better than dorm room with little cost different.
For Indonesians bring instant noodle Indomie to cut up budget on meal. I ate Indomie as breakfast for 5 days, HA. Kitchen is always ready and full equipped (also food storage), bring extra food & instant beverages for stock won't hurt.
Don't throw up empty bottle, re-use it, fill with free water at the guesthouse before you go out.
Use massage chair at manga room, it works after all-day walking. Complete with analgesic balm!
For cheap eats, just across the main road you'll find matsu-ya and around the corner there's pakupaku bento shop both cost less than 500 JPY per meal.

Our tatami-futon room <3

All touristy information you need at front desk.

Rakuza Guesthouse

Higashiyama, Kyoto (website)
Nearest bus stop: Shijo-keihan-mae (5 mins walking)
Budget: 3,000 JPY/person for female-only dorm & 2,300-4,700 JPY/person for private

This one is used to be an Ochaya, home to geishas & maikos :))

Pros:

Nice stay.
Providing free wifi, PC, luggage keeping, adapter, you can use various electrical devices at front desk for free that usually sold in other guesthouses.
If you go pass curfew, there's always backup door for you.
Very very tourist friendly, helpful front desk staffs.
Filled with that "Japan" experience.
Excellent atmosphere & ambient. This guesthouse is used to be a real ocha-ya, a place for geisha and maiko serving tea & entertaining the guests.

Cons:

No equipped kitchen, laundry room.
All rooms shared the same two bathrooms. One of them locked after 10 pm.

Tips if you planning to stay at Rakuza:

If you're in group, take the private room. It's better than dorm room with little cost different.
This is a small guesthouse, if you're too noisy you might be bugging someone else next to your room.
Don't throw up empty bottle, re-use it, fill with free water at the guesthouse before you go out.
Wake up early to get the bath first before other guests lining up for the bathroom.
Around the guesthouse is an entertainment district, there's many bars at night. However in my 2-days-stay there, I always go home late, around 10 to 11 pm and it's a very safe area.
You can buy the one-day Kyoto bus pass at the front desk for 500 JPY

See full list of my Japan post series

About Post Author

Firda Syafrida

Everybody's weird cousin who you run into at a family event and neither of you wanna talk to each other but your moms forcing, then you make painful small talk.

The Guesthouses