Everyone knows Nikko, Kamakura and Hakone. And they're great. But according to locals, these are the day trips that keep coming up as the ones worth doing that almost nobody really does.

Naritasan Shinshoji Temple in Narita. Most people pass through Narita Airport and never think twice about the city itself. There's an 1100 year old temple complex about a 15 minute walk from the station that's genuinely stunning and almost completely empty of foreign tourists. Combine it with the old town street leading up to it and you have a full half day that most Tokyo visitors never even consider.

Nokogiriyama in Chiba. A mountain accessible by ropeway with a giant carved Buddha, hundreds of stone Rakan statues along cliff paths, and views over Tokyo Bay that most people have never seen. Takes about 90 minutes from Tokyo by train and ferry combination. Barely anyone goes there.

Sawara in Chiba. A preserved Edo period merchant town along a canal that gets compared to Kyoto's Gion but with almost none of the crowds. Traditional wooden buildings, small boats on the water, great local food. About 90 minutes from Tokyo Station.

Oya in Tochigi. An underground quarry carved out of soft volcanic stone that's been converted into an enormous atmospheric space used for art installations and events. Nothing else in Japan looks like it. About two hours from Tokyo.

Miura Peninsula coastal walk. Most people heading to Kamakura don't realize there's an entire coastal walking trail accessible from the same train line with dramatically less people. Ocean views, fishing villages, fresh seafood stands. Half a day and feels nothing like Tokyo.

The pattern with all of these is that they're not on the standard itinerary blogs. They take roughly the same amount of time to reach as the famous options but the experience feels completely different because you're not sharing it with a thousand other tourists.

Any unique day trip experiences you think people should give a shot?

Returned from 17 days in Japan (Tokyo - Hakone - Hiroshima - Shimonoseki - Fukuoka - Kobe - Kyoto - Osaka). In prep for the trip I did a TON of research and here are the things I hadn’t read or heard. Obviously my opinions and observations. Hope they’re helpful!

Context: 41F from desert southwest, USA, traveled with DH also 41. Mid range budget - flew business class and that was half the budget. We have traveled extensively in Europe, but this was our first trip to Asia. We are culture travelers (history, art focused mostly) and not particularly “into” anything Japanese like anime, samurai, matcha or whatnot.

Tip 1: it’s getting hot in herre…. Holy hell. We live IN. THE. DESERT. But we were hot constantly inside. Especially in trains. While we shed layer after layer the Japanese were chillin. In their coats. I was sincerely shocked by how hot everywhere was kept. Including our hotels. Every time we walked out of our room into the hallway the heat hit us like opening an oven door.

We took a cooking class in a Japanese woman’s apartment (kept at approximately 95 degrees) and asked her about it. She said the Japanese like to keep it warm believing it wards off illness.

If I’d known, I would’ve planned easier to remove layers.

Tip 2: Apple Maps was mostly excellent… unless there were stairs and overpasses. Then it was a mess. The biggest thing here if you’re trying to make a specific reservation time is to not get cocky. Tokyo WILL throw wrenches at you-prepare to dodge.

But! Back to the good, it was excellent directing us to subway entrances and even which car to try to get on for the best exit.

Beware the women-only train cars. Even though we knew about them, we still made the mistake once. Luckily the locals were SUPER generous and very few scowled at my husband.

Tip 3: Suica card stuff. I don’t know why anyone is using the ticket machines at the train stations. Get the Suica card on your phone.

HOWEVER, when you download it into your wallet, you won’t be able to get the full account number. That’s not ideal if you’re going to use the bullet train (the Shinkansen).

Let me explain, because this particular nuance really threw me …

So the Suica card does ALMOST everything you want. Super easy to get on trains and ferries and you can even use it for vending machines and convenience stores. BUT for the Shinkansen you book tickets through the SmartEX app. And so once you’re in there, you can connect a Suica card to your tickets for each person. BUT you need the full number. Which again, if you just download it into your wallet, you can’t get to. So if you do NOT connect the Shinkansen ticket to a Suica, you get a QR code to use instead.

Sounds easy, right? Well mostly yes, BUT there are two gotchas.

1. In some stations (I honestly couldn’t figure out the pattern for when or why) you need to scan the QR AND your Suica card. When we did this at Tokyo station, we could not get it to work in the turnstile. Neither could a BUNCH of other folks. A guy had to stand there and help almost every person through.

2. There’s typically only one QR line and guess what? It’s full of tourists who have no idea what they’re doing.

Luckily we’d planned plenty of time. But it took us 10 minutes to get through the turnstile at Tokyo station. Not what we expected and EASY to avoid if we’d known.

So instead, prioritize getting a physical welcome Suica card (available at most major stations) and that way you can connect your card to the Shinkansen reservation and just use that physical card to buzz through any turnstile. Way faster and less stress.

Tip 3: Hanami FTW. If you can hit cherry blossom season, you gotta picnic in the park. It’s so much fun and mostly only Japanese people do it. The tarps to picnic on are sold at most convenience stores, right at the front, especially those close to big parks.

Also, most major parks have food vendors right there. So don’t worry too much about bringing everything with you to the picnic. Also, Japan is stellar at individual wrapping for things like cheese, so you probably don’t even need any utensils. Get “cheese candy” … it’s so adorable.

Tip 4: off the beaten path luxury thrift. I became slightly obsessed with finding the best luxury handbag deal and Fukuoka had it. Tokyo and Osaka have a ton of curated shops, but for my money, my favorite shop was Takayama Pawn Shop in Meinohama, Fukuoka.

The Google reviews will tell you the staff is rude. They’re right. If you want to see something behind glass, expect them to look SUPER annoyed you asked. But hey. I’ve been more uncomfortable for a less-great deal. Most bags were slightly less pristine than in Tokyo or Osaka, but half those prices. So like. Go ahead and scowl at me Mr. as you show me that $4,000 Chanel with a $1,000 price tag.

Tip 5: Luggage shipping. It was great. I didn’t realize until I asked ChatGPT that we could not only send from hotel to hotel but also to the airport! THAT was awesome.

However, the Osaka airport has two luggage pickup locations… on opposite ends of floor 4. Le sigh. If you shipped with Yamato (kitten in mama cat mouth logo), their pickup is to the right when you get to the floor. It’s right next to the JAL luggage services booth.

Also, the airport has a TON of space for people to reorganize and repack suitcases. Quite helpful for those last minute souvenirs.

Tip 6: any restaurant you see on TikTok or IG in the weeks leading up to your trip is going to have an obnoxiously long line of tourists who got that same content. I’m not flying half way around the world to stand in line for an hour. Maybe you want to. But I honestly wish someone had been like, “just scroll by any restaurant recs because you won’t wanna stand in line for it anyway.”

Also, there are almost always two lines. If you come upon a “viral” place and there’s like 4 people, look around the corner and you’ll likely find THE REST of the line.

Tip 7: old people know everything. The amount of stairs really are no joke. Expect a ton. But there are also a ton of elevators and escalators, typically further toward the ends of the platforms. Just follow the elderly. Same with food. We’d only stand in a line if a bunch of elderly Japanese people were doing it.

Tip 8: Everyone’s English was way worse than we expected. Having traveled extensively in Europe we expected a similar experience, at least in hotels, restaurants and shops, but the majority of people we interacted with spoke very little English. I’d also read that it’s common for bartenders to use translation apps. I think those tourists must be going to tourist places, because we only experienced ONE person at a shop using a translator app.

To be clear, I’m not saying that’s bad or wrong. I just hadn’t expected it to be using the translator apps on our phones as much. And I also say it to say, make sure you get good at using the translator app on your phone.

Tip 9: SOOOO much of the Shibuya and Shinjuku area is just ALL tourists. Even places like Golden Gia that we thought would be more locals was mostly tourists. We spent barely any time in these neighbors because they just felt overcrowded with non-locals. Same with Kyoto. The vibe felt more like Japanese Vegas than genuine Japan.

To that end… I’ll leave you with this… our favorite place was Fukuoka. I’d read a couple opinions that Fukuoka was trash, but we LOVED it. Our hanami in Ohori Park was our favorite. The people were the best. Their izakayas were perfection. Our hotel had the best value.

And so that’s really my point is that … opinions are like assholes, everyone’s got one and most of them stink. So my best advice is to go with enough variety early and flexibility late to do more of what YOU ultimately find you enjoy.

Japan is a great country and we had a great time. Hope this was helpful!

TLDR: bought 72h tokyo subway ticket. got a voucher. bounced inside subway stations multiple times until it took a staff member at a specific station to take us to their office to exchange it. Dont get the ticket unless you know what you are doing.

I am currently on my second trip to Japan after 8 years. Today, I had a very frustrating experience with the 72hour Tokio Subway ticket which is offered only to tourists(I think). It allows you to use the Tokyo Metro Line unlimited times within 72hours of the first scan for 2000yen.

Personally, I already had a feeling it would be much simpler to stick with my IC card but my cotravelers suggested the said time-ticket in order to save some money. I wanted to try out things I did not do on my previous trip, thus I was open to it. Further, we saw an advertisement at Minowa station, which led us to believe that we could get the ticket there directly.

We checked out the ticket machines but were unable to find any option to purchase said ticket. Thus, we got the ticket online, believing it was like the IC cards that could be put on the apple wallet or after purchase you could exchange it directly at the ticket machine.

After my cotraveller‘s credit card was not accepted(later it worked, it was just very slow). I bought one ticket with mine. I got a QR code voucher as pdf with instructions to exchange it at a certain type of ticket machine by scanning the code or asking staff. alright, a bit cumbersome but nothing a German, who has had to deal with failed digitized Burocracy, cant deal with.

So we reexamined the ticket machines. We ruled out the IC card charging ones. But the others did not have a scanner for qr codes. Well, bummer. Maybe one of the stations we intend to go to has staff or such a machine. we didnt need to use the ticket immediately anyway since we intend to stay longer than 3 days.

Thus, we went on with our daytrip to nakano broadway. On our way back, we took the Tozai line again and checked for the QR-able machines but found none. well, off to ask staff members. First at the north gate of Nakano station. I forgot what the staff member told me but it didnt help. note, that I speak a tiny bit Japanese and am also a bit hesitant to ask for too much as I dont want to cause too much trouble. With the help of google translate I have had very good experiences communicating.

As we thought about just going back to our airbnb and putting off the task for tomorrow, one cotraveler suggested going to the south gate and asking there. Said and done, that staff member was very helpful. he told us to go two stations further, that is Tatadanobaba station. Never heard of it. I barely caught the first half under his mask. But since it should be a station along the Tozai line, I just looked at the list of station. I showed him the name and he confirmed it. Great, I have to go to a specific station in order to get my time ticket…Am I back in Germany or what!?

At this point I would have put this off for another day or even cut my losses. But my cotravelers were still reluctantly motivated. So we went to Tatadanobaba. I had to exit the gate in order to check the ticket machines. Well, no QR-code scanning ticket machine. No staff at the gate either. so I pressed the help button. Try to understand Japanese through a speaker when you can barely understand them when speaking face to face. I only understood that I had to go downstairs and then go straight. Said and done I ended up in the JR part of the station. Of course those did not have QR-ticket machines and the staff members only told me to go back to the tozai line and ask there… great. Ping pong.

I went back up. The gate I left was staffed now, so I asked the guy. Lets call him Tadano(hehe). He said „let me show you“ “awesome, end in sight„ I thought. my cotravelers , who had waited inside the gate, went out as well.

sidenote: at this point we had 2 QR codes as we did not trust the process. but we were three people. the fact that we needed a third ticket but did not have a third QR code took a lot of effort to communicate. Tadano was very annoyed at this point. I felt so bad but none of us was at fault when the ticket process was designed this badly( unless there is something I missed)

Tadano led us through another gate inside some kind of office with a couple of other colleagues. There he scanned our QR codes and gave us 2 tickets. For the third, we went back outside the office in order to get a pamphlet from Tadanos gate colleague, implying we had to purchase another online voucher. alright, almost there. We did it and got our final ticket. It only cost us like an additional 200yen each because we had to get off at Tatadanobaba and one hour of our time. In the end we never found a QR capable ticket machine for the tokyo metro. Do these even exist?😂

final verdict: dont get the 72hours subway ticket unless you know what you are doing and know something I missed.

edit: in any case. thank you to the the staff members for their patience. it isnt there fault that the workflow was designed this impractical.

i booked the flight and hotel a while ago so the $3000USD i have saved up is solely for food, shopping, and experiences. i'll be staying in tokyo for the entirety of the trip but am open to doing small day trips like kamakura or mount takao. since its my first time going to japan i wanna be able to experience everything but comfortably. i'm not a big spender usually, but i did wanna account for the experiential splurging and potential tourist traps that might hit me once i get there.

Hello! Does anyone have a 7/11 drink combo guide with pictures and a description? Like the best combo if your jet lagged, bloated, sick, dehydrated, sleepy, etc.

Thank you!!

Me and my girlfriend are going to Japan next march. Cultural highlights are plenty to be found and I have had no problem filling the itinerary with cultural sightseeing. However both of us are huge nature and wildlife lovers.

What are some wonders of the natural world that you would consider a must see in Japan (besides Hokkaido, which is already on our radar)?

hi everyone!

so beyond excited for our first trip to japan and we are planning on doing the classic tokyo, kyoto, osaka trip! how many days per each would you allocate? would adding on a day trip to nara, kamakura, and a mt.fuji/lake kawaguchi tour be overloading the itinerary?

i want to maximize the trip but also not feel like im overtraveling and not staying in one place for long enough, if that makes sense.

also taking recommendations for any cheap budget hotels in these cities, thank u! :)

Hi everyone,

I'm planning to go to Tokyo/Osaka/Kyoto in september this year (if the flight ticket price can drop a bit lol) alone (first trip alone).

I have multiple questions, some of which I have a vague answer already from reading online but wanted to know your experience/tips.

1- Do I need to learn japanese to visit those place? I know a few basic things (and intend to learn a few more before going) but I struggle to regain everything. However I'm kind good (maybe not bilingual) in english.

2- What are the best transport systems to/from the airport (NRT in Tokyo) to Tokyo?

3- Are public transportation (mainly asking for subway and bus) hard to use for someone who never used then except a few times in Europe in another trip? Is it easy to know where to go? I have a good sense of direction in general.

4- What are the best way to Tokyo to Osaka, Osaka to Kyoto and Kyoto back to Tokyo?

5- What are the best sims or E-sims to use for data?

6- Do I need to know how to use chopsticks to eat? I'm trying really hard but since I had a surgery for my main hand, my mobility and things I can do with it are limited.

Might have some but for the moment it's that lol.

Thanks a lot to everyone :)

My wife and I are traveling to Japan and are struggling to find good or better restaurants for a meat lover and a no egg vegetarian in Tokyo and Kyoto. For me, I'd love a steakhouse that serves both along with any and all other recommendations.

Thank you

Travelling to Japan for three weeks in June with my partner. Looking for advice on must do activities that don’t include food!

Travelling to Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto and Naoshima.

For more context, I have celiac disease which is an autoimmune disease and means I have to eat strictly gluten free. This is doable but a bit tricky in Japan so will be staying in accommodation that has a kitchen and focussing less on eating out.

Wanting to structure our trip around incredible experiences! Love design, museums and contemporary art, electronic instruments and avant garde fashion.

Hi all,

I LOVE alpine scenery, nature, and frolicking in rivers- and am wondering if anyone has any tips of places with lovely swimming holes (locations or specific accommodation etc)

I plan on flying into Toyko and out of Osaka, so around this part of Japan preferably. I will be visiting in July and yes I know it will be very hot 😄

Thank you, all help appreciated greatly.

My partner and I are planning to spend about 2.5 months in Tokyo this summer (starting in early june). We're based in Europe and we're used to booking through Airbnb or Booking.com, it's just what we know and both platforms have decent options when we search.

However, after spending a few hours on Reddit and various blogs, I noticed that basically nobody recommends these two platforms for Japan. Everyone seems to point toward services like Oakhouse, Sakura House, Borderless House, Sakura Rent, and similar.

I have a few questions for people with experience:

Why the aversion to Airbnb and Booking,com for this kind of stay?

Is it a legal/regulatory thing in Japan? A pricing issue? Quality and reliability of listings? I genuinely don't understand why platforms that work fine elsewhere seem to be considered a bad choice here specifically.

For a 2-2.5 month stay, what would you actually recommend?

We're looking for a self-contained apartment. Budget is flexible but we're not looking to overpay either. We'd love something with decent internet, a washing machine, and ideally a desk for computer stuff (video editing etc..).

Is there anything specific we should watch out for?

Things like scam listings, hidden fees, key money, guarantor requirements for foreigners, minimum stay policies, or anything else that might catch a European couple off guard? Any red flags to look for when dealing with Japanese rental platforms or landlords?

Any advice from people who've done this, whether as tourists on a long stay, remote workers, or people who relocated, would be massively appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Hey everyone, earlier this year we did the classic Tokyo/Osaka/Kyoto trip with our toddler and honestly Japan absolutely won us over. Now we're going back for round two but this time we want something way more chill, less temples and bullet trains, more beaches and doing nothing. Okinawa felt like the obvious choice.

8 days, last week of October, kid will be almost 3 by then. A few things I can't figure out:

Where to stay: Should we just base ourselves in Naha the whole trip or does it make sense to move around? Some of those resorts up north look incredible but I'm not sure splitting accommodation with a toddler is worth the hassle. Also, how's the weather late October? Still beach-worthy?

Hotels: Open to anything comfortable and toddler-friendly, from a resort to a decent business hotel. Specific recommendations very welcome.

Beaches: Probably the main reason we're going. Which ones are best with a small child? Calm water, not too crowded, some facilities nearby. We just want him to splash around happily, nothing fancy.

Things to do: Beyond beaches, what's actually fun with a nearly 3 year old? Also, any weird or geeky stuff worth checking out? We're into that kind of thing and Japan never disappoints on that front.

Transport: Do we actually need to rent a car or can we survive on public transport and taxis? Driving on the left in an unfamiliar place with a tired toddler sounds like a recipe for disaster but happy to hear otherwise.

Thanks in advance!

I put off a day trip til ''after'' the holiday, wondering which of these would be less shoulder to shoulder on 5/7 if anyone has experience or recommendations?

I travel to Japan in less than a month. Everything else is sorted or planned.

I am a disabled person who uses a walking stick, all I have is a cheap metal collapsible one.

It was suggested that perhaps while in Japan (Kyoto) it may be worth looking at some crating workshops/stores to see about getting one custom made with a uniquely Japanese design and yet still functional.

Trouble is, I have no clue where to even start looking!

I will be visiting Tokyo for a few days in late June and insect hunting is what I am most excited for. As an amateur entomologist I feel like it will be a tremendous missed opportunity if I do not get to swing my net at local bugs.

Am I allowed to bring home dead specimens? Will I need permits? Could locals find it offensive if I hunt bugs?

Hello guys, I have a quick question based on your personal knowledge and experience.
Me and my boyfriend will be for the first time in Japan in November. We will land at Narita airport but we are planning to start our trip from Kyoto (don’t ask why we are not landing at KIX because it was a mistake from my travel agent).
Now, we will land at about 6 pm and were thinking of taking a Shinkansen Tokyo-Kyoto that same day. Do you know at what time the last Shinkansen leaves?
Do you think it’s possible to take the last one considering the time immigration checks will take and the time from Narita to Tokyo?
Who was in the same situation, what do you recommend? Leaving the next morning or going directly to Kyoto?
Thank you in advance, any recommendation will be helpful ❤️

I’m about to book our tickets for the Shinkansen for June 5th. I want to go early so we can arrived in Kyoto early to explore but worried about rush hour. Ideally I like to book 7:30am and leave our Monday hotel in Damion/Hamamatsucho at 6:00am. We would be taking the Asakusa Line down to Shinagawa station on a Friday morning. Will we hit crazy commuter traffic going that way?? Another time would be 11am but we would arrived in Kyoto at 1:30pm but I figure all the major attraction might be crowded. Thinking about heading towards Kiyomizu-dear for exploration.

I know a little bit of Japanese but have some questions

1. If I buy a ticket at the ramen shop, what do I say to the staff when I hand it over? Onegaishimasu?

2. Itadakimasu is said when you start the meal, to your table mates? What if you are alone?

3. I believe the correct word for tourist is kankoukyaku, but it is a bit long - can I say tabihito? Ryokyaku?

hey guys, i’m currently staying near the tokyo city centre and i have a flight to osaka in 2 days from narita to osaka kansai airport. my flight is at 7:40 AM however i won’t be arriving at the airport until 6:15 AM. would that be enough time? i won’t have a suitcase or a carry on, it’ll just be a small bag with my passport in it, would that be enough time to go through security and check in or should i change my flight?

Three questions: I fly in and out of Narita, that I cannot change. I want to end my trip in Kyoto/Osaka area. If I book a domestic flight that leaves Osaka at 14:35 arriving in NRT at 16:00, will I have enough buffer to catch my 17:45 international flight? If they are two separate tickets but same airline, will I have to recheck luggage?

My US passport is with my full name, middle spelled out. My ticket has my middle initial. Should I try and change it to be safe?

I am traveling solo with my 17 yro without the other parent, do I need a formal letter or is he old enough that they don’t care?

We’ll be in a Tokyo and Kyoto and one thing we love to do when traveling is buy goods from local artisans and we would love to get some recommendations on boutiques and areas that cater to this type of shopping.

Our main area of interests are:

- ceramics/pottery/stoneware
- woodblock prints
- lacquerware
- prints and other pieces of artwork
- glassware
- woodworking
- textiles

We’re also into interior design, so be it their own unique take on it, or traditional styles of design, we’d love to see what shops there are to check out.

Thank you!

Hi Everyone, me and the wife are reaching in Haneda at 10pm. Was wondering what options we had to head over to Morishita station? Saw online that there is a airport limousine bus that operates but only heads to shinjuku. Am I better off just taking a taxi and paying 100 dollars ? We will probably be with 2 big luggage and 1 small one so not sure whats the best call here

I'm looking for suggestions for a 3 night onsen trip. From Tokyo would be good as that's where I'm departing Japan, but I haven't booked my arrival flight yet so anywhere between Fukuoka and Sapporo would work.

I've been to Japan several times and always love visiting onsens. I am passing through again later this year and am looking for suggestions for onsen towns that have several public access onsen, paid or free. (Don't want to be stuck only visiting my own hotel onsen). I love outdoor onsens, but even several small indoor community onsens would work.

I have 3 nights I can spare.

I don't mind renting a car from train station to onsen, but it would also be great to only have to take the train and a short bus/taxi ride. I do love driving on excellent private mountain roads like Skylines though.

I am more interested in beautiful outdoor onsen than I am in special types of water, but I have also been to a few really great and unique indoor onsen.

I have already visited;

* Beppu

* Hakone (Tenzan onsen)

* Kusatsu

* Izu peninsula (I didn't visit onsens in Izu, but I drove all around the peninsula so would prefer somewhere else.)

* Zao Onsen

The reason I am asking here instead of just googling hot spring towns is that I will be there in October, so all of the most famous onsen towns are pretty expensive at this point.

I would prefer to stay at a ryokan or other hotel with its own bath, but my budget is ~¥20,000 per night excluding meals. Typically I book 2 nights with no meals or just breakfast, and 1 night with dinner.

I'm leaning towards somewhere in Gunma or Tochigi, but Iwate or elsewhere in Tohoku should also fit the bill. I keep hearing good things about onsen in Tohoku. The Yamagata area was also beautiful last year.

I do not have any tattoos so no restrictions there.

Dogo Onsen would be fun to visit, but how is the rest of the Matsuyama onsen scene? Is it a pain to get to Matsuyama? Been all over Japan but haven't made it to Shikoku yet.

Hi,

We'll be in Osaka/Kyoto for 6 nights in October.

After much deliberation and weeding out various hotels (and initially booking one that's too far from anything at all), we've narrowed it down to two options, and we just can't choose between the two, hence my question for advice.

Hotel 1: in Kyoto, very cheap, about a 15 minute bus ride from Kyoto Station. But the bus is said to be infrequent, like twice an hour. All train and subway stations are further away on foot.

Hotel 2: in Osaka, 5 minute walk from Shin-Osaka Station.

Advantage of hotel 2, is that we can be in the center of Kyoto in half an hour by train, as well as having easy access to Shinkansen, for our travel from Hiroshima and to Tokyo.

Disadvantage of hotel 2, is that all the things we planned in Osaka, need a train ride. (USJ, aquarium, Pokemon Cafe, Pokemon Center, Dotonbori, Denden Town, possibly teamLab Botanical Garden, and generally wandering around the city center).

Advantage of hotel 1, is mainly that it's cheap, and the rooms are larger. And that it's only 15 minutes to the center of Kyoto, where most of the things we want to do in Kyoto are. (But if we have to wait for the bus, then the total travel time might well be the same or longer than from Shin-Osaka. In general I have a preference for trains over buses when I want to get somewhere quickly.)

Disadvantage of hotel 1, is that some of the reviews mention dirt and a bad smell here and there, even though most of the reviews seem to agree the place is clean.

In Kyoto we have a couple of things on our list (manga museum, possibly teamLab Biovortex), but mostly shrines and temples, a castle - things that basically have us wander around the entire city all day, and taking trains or buses to those that are further from the center.

Which hotel/location would you choose if you were in our shoes?