Stay in Shibuya or Shinjuku?
 

Each district has its own benefits, and I would ideally travel to both districts during my stay but I cannot decide which district to stay in.

I can either stay at:
the Tobu hotel in shibuya
or
shinjuku prince hotel in shinjuku

Anybody stayed in either? any help will do?

Why not stay at both?

As a Tokyoite, I can't really see why this is so important because whichever district you choose to stay in, you can hop over to the other in just 10 minutes.

+1 to that, and if you get the JR tourist pass it's unlimited train use to nearly anywhere, which is awesome.

Which would be a royal waste of money if one is only traveling around Tokyo. On my last trip to Tokyo I spent on average 300 to 700 yen a day on the train.

A 14-day JR rail pass works out to over 3200 yen a day. And that doesn't include subways which are often easier than the loop line.

That's five to ten times a downward crash in value, unless you are doing some real traveling.

I just checked out the prices online, a friend of mine got it and saved a bunch of money but he went from Tokyo to Hiroshima and back passing through Kyoto and Osaka both ways.
But yeah, it's a waste of money if you stay in one city.

Just Tokyo to Osaka and back is about the price of the 2 week pass, so adding Hiroshima instantly makes it a better deal, plus the local usage. I mostly rode subways on my last trip... I think I was on the Yamanote line only a couple times, and the subways tend to be cheaper, in my experience.

I stayed at the Sunroute Hotel in Shinjuku

I dug Shinjuku more then Shibuya but it depends on what you want. Also the two districts are side by side. You can easily walk to which ever one your not staying in.

To throw a wildcard in, staying in Shibuya and Shinjuku are the noiziest and busiest places, pick a quieter nearby yamanote line station and stay near there. It won't take you above 15mins on the train to get into that area, and as said they two districts are next to each other and you can easily hop on a train or even walk between them.

I like the toyoko inn chain, they are all on google maps so google the yamaote line and look to see which of their hotels is hear by.

I think about budgeting a lot though, maybe cost is of no issue to you? :)


Regarding the JR pass, worth it if you intend to travel between cities a lot, if you just want to travel a lot around Tokyo are in the day there are many different types of "day pass" for the systems, some let you use trains, some trains and subways, some trains, subways and even the dreaded, confusing Japanese bus :eek:

Thank you for all the advice guys. I won't be getting a JR pass as it will be much cheaper to pay as you travel, and I won't be leaving Tokyo.

I know its not far away from each other but I was thinking about when the trains actually stopped running around midnight, as I heard shinjuku never sleeps with everything staying open...

Can anybody confirm what Shibuya is like at night in comparison?

It's easier to book one hotel for my stay with travel company.

Thank you for your input

If money is no issue there are taxis way into the night, and depending where you can walk between Shibuya and Shinjuku in under an hour through all main roads so if you are planning to stay out all night and worried about getting back to your hotel, it is not too much of a concern.

A quick look over at hyperdia suggests that trains run till around midnight 1am ish then restart at 4am ish. I would imagine you could kill that time by going to a 24hour food place then for a walk around if you wanted?

All of central Tokyo tourist areas have that never-sleep feel as conbini stores stay open 24/7 and the neon glares through the night. I don't really know much about how late bars and such stay open though. Many times though I would get up at 7am and on my way to the station see drunks wandering the streets home, so they must have found somewhere to party all night!

I'd guess you want to get up and do things in the morning, so you won't be staying out super late all night everynight, so don't plan your entire holiday around the logistics of those situations.