spreadyourwingsandflyy

So I went to Tokyo recently with my parents and I decided that I’ll be doing multiple posts about my trip to cover different stuff ~

So for the first – Lodging!

We stayed in Citadines Shinjuku Tokyo, located near the Shinjuku-Gyoenmae station and Shinjuku-Sanchome station. That’s of course, within the Shinjuku area (by the way it’s a 20+ min walk to Shinjuku station).

As avid fans of the Ascott Group (i.e. Ascott, Somerset and Citadines), I have to say, we were quite pleased with this Citadines 😛

We were in a Studio Executive Twin for 1 night and Studio Executive Double for the next 4 nights. (arrangement as such cause of some changes in our flight booking)

Both are more or less the same. In terms of space, not very spacious for 3 (since the sofa-bed in the living area will be taking up a fair bit of space) but it should be alright for 2, where the sofa-bed will be left as a sofa and there will be more walking space available. *Note: The sofa-bed is chargeable*

      

        Sofa Bed                                                Queen Sized Bed

     

TV and Table

Sink outside the bathroom (door on the left) and next to the sofa bed

     

The kitchenette is neat with basic utensils provided. Sponge and soap for dish-washing is available upon purchase from the front desk.

The bathroom is fitted with a washlet *for first-timers: this is a toilet bowl equipped with functions such as water spraying – Google for more info!* and a bathtub with handheld shower. The sink is right outside the bathroom, next to the sofa-bed (as shown above).

Amenities such as shower caps, shaving kits, toothbrush sets, etc, are not provided in the rooms but can be collected from the reception counter daily. Slippers (and slipper-sheets) can be found in one of the two cupboards, while the other has an electronic safe and ironing board. The room also has a DVD player.

Bathroom

Kitchenette

Free WiFi is provided in all rooms (there’s a unique one for the lobby too). Room WiFi details can be found on a paper in the room, while lobby WiFi details can be retrieved from the front desk upon request.

Oh do take note! Water is complimentary on the first day but on the subsequent days they’re not. However, you can bring your empty bottles to the gym and fill it up from the drinking water fountain.

Coin laundry services are available at Level 1 in the Laundry Room (24/7). It’s 200 Yen for every 1 load (4.5kg washing machine) of washing, and 100 Yen for 30 mins for every load of drying in the dryer. Washing powder can be purchased in small packets from the reception counter at 54 Yen each. Take note that there’s only 4 washers and 4 dryers, so you might need to wait for a fair bit for your turn especially at night. There’s also a vending machine in the Laundry Room where you can get cold drinks 🙂

A small gym can be found at Level 1 near the entrance and is open 24/7. While running on the treadmill, you can actually look at the road outside 😛 A small breakfast area is also at Level 1, next to the Reception Counter. Note that charges apply for breakfast.

Speaking of which, the staff at the reception counters are able to speak in English quite well – some of them being extremely fluent too! They’re also very friendly and helpful 🙂 Housekeeping is available on a daily basis 😀

Lawson and two eateries can be found about 2 blocks away by turning right upon exiting the

You can ask reception for a map to the train stations, and it should be able to show you roughly where some places are. Take a walk along the street especially in the direction of 7-11, until Isetan (where the Shinjuku-Sanchome station C7 exit is) and you can find plenty of shops (Lawson Grocery Store), eateries, duty-free shops, etc.

By walking towards the Shinjuku-Gyoenmae Station (turn left to 7-11 and turn left again), you can also find quite a few eateries hidden within the smaller lanes and streets! Walking the same way but all the way straight to the end (with a left turn, and more walking) will lead you to Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden – a great place to view the sakura when they’re in bloom!

A random suggestion for those who fly in to Japan at night and are pretty hungry yet exhausted – go towards where Lawson is (go out, turn right) – there’s an eatery called Matsuya (松屋) which is open 24/7. The food there is really good and it’s quite hassle-free in terms of ordering!

Simply use the vending machine located next to the sliding door – place in some cash (or you can use your Suica Card for payment if you have one), press the button for the item you would like to order (names of the dishes are available in English too!!) and press the big button that blinks in red once you’re done. You can then collect your food tickets at the bottom left and your change on the right.

       

Left: Food Ticket Machine  ;  Right: Food Tickets

Just sit around and when the staff comes to you (they give house tea by the way!), just hand the tickets to them 🙂 They might ask something like if you would like to have it as dine-in or take-away/to-go/take-out, or if the ticket is for 2 dishes, which you would like to have.

I do strongly recommend their poach eggs (cold half-boiled egg, actually). It’s really delicious if you were to mix it with your rice! ^_^

Check out the room prices on Agoda here! (Psst it’s an affiliate link that helps me sustain this travel blog ☺️)

Do check out TripAdvisor and the Citadines website for more info about Citadines Shinjuku Tokyo! 😀 The factsheet is available at the Citadines website, where floor plans and other details can be found. 🙂