APA Shinjuku Kabukicho Hotel Review

So, you’re visiting Tokyo and looking to stay right in the heart of the city? Perhaps you’ve even stumbled upon the APA hotel in Kabukicho and come across some of the - ahem - less than favourable reviews that you’ll find online.

Well, the good news is that we did the work; we stayed in the APA Shinjuku Kabukicho and we’ll tell you all about it. Get ready for the good, the bad, and - well, just all of it really. This is our full APA Shinjuku Kabukicho hotel review.

Remember you can book your APA Kabukicho hotel stay here.

The Room

Let’s get it out of the way straight away. The room is small. As in really, really small. I’m talking so small that you can reach out to touch both walls at the same time, using your hand and your foot. And yes, we tried it. It is an absolutely teeny tiny room, but really, did anyone ever visit Japan with expectations of a large hotel room? Certainly not!

The room itself was tidy, clean and practical. You could almost reach everything in the room from your position on the bed. There were USB chargers as well as a refrigerator in the room, which is always a huge plus.

The only real downside to our room, excluding the lack of space, was that the window didn’t really open. Yes, it makes sense, due to the high floors, but it made it near impossible to air out the room. Although we did appreciate that the hotel provided a complimentary air freshener, being able to open a window would've been nice (because when the shower and sleeping quarters are that close, things are gonna feel the teeniest bit damp, and no air freshener can help that). All in all, it didn’t really bother us that much, but we did want to give you a truly honest review.

The Bathroom

Again, things were small, but we were really, really impressed by the bathroom. First up, there was a bath. Pretty crazy stuff when the room is so tiny, but after a busy day exploring Tokyo, soaking in that little bath felt like the best kind of reward.

Now, we have to also take a moment to talk about the bathroom design. It was such a good use of space - the faucet in particular. To combat the small size of the bathroom, the faucet functions as both the place to wash your hands and as the bath tap. It literally swings from one side to another; from the basin to the bath. It’s so clever!

The Location

Okay, time for one of the big perks, the location. If you are looking to party your way through Tokyo, then Kabukicho is a pretty darn good place to start. And the APA is right in the heart of it. Kabukicho isn’t considered a particularly favourable place by locals. It’s noisy, can be quite messy (a sharp contrast to the rest of Tokyo) and the later you get, the more you’ll find heavily intoxicated patrons wandering the street. Some people consider this to be one of the more dangerous parts of Tokyo. We genuinely didn’t have any trouble whatsoever, but going off the general crowd that frequent the area, it’s not hard to see why. Look after yourself and be aware of the people around you, and you should be fine.

In terms of food in Kabukicho, you’re extremely well set up. There’s a range of food available, from Japanese restaurants to several Italian and western favourites. There’s only thing to be aware of: queues! Be prepared to wait at some of these restaurants - it is a popular area after all. If you’re in more of a hurry, you can always visit one of the many, many convenience stores in the area.

As for entertainment, if drinking is what you’re after, you are totally all set. You are very close to the Shinjuku 3D cat billboard, but the most impressive sight of all has to be Godzilla. Yep, that’s exactly right. They erected an 80-ton Godzilla head on the top of the Shinjuku Toho building and he now looks down over the entire Kabukicho district. Even better, he puts on a show every hour on the hour from 12pm - 8pm.

And because Tokyo is highly dependent on the train system, you’ll want to know your local station. And that will be Shinjuku. It’s a close walk from Kabukicho; between 5-10 minutes, and you’re surrounded by those iconic Tokyo buildings and signage the whole way.

Extra facilities

This hotel has its own onsen! Yes, really! On the top floor you can visit the onsens, which, FYI are split into genders. It’s a very calming space where you can happily lower yourself into the soothing warm water to forget about your troubles - or just rest those weary feet after a day of Tokyo exploration. Just a note - if you have tattoos, unfortunately you're not able to make use of the onsen facilities.

Also on the top floor - a washing machine and dryer. It only costs a couple of yen to completely launder your outfit. You can bet that we made good use of that service. It was really handy, especially after a few muggy days in the capital city.

Customer service

You might think that, given it’s a cheaper hotel in central Tokyo, that customer service may be a little, well, less than adequate. And considering that one of us, me, is a fairly tattooed individual, a quality that isn’t well received in Japan, that it would be reflected during the check in process. We had absolutely no trouble whatsoever. All of the staff were s welcoming, friendly, and the check in and check out process all went completely smoothly. We were both really impressed!

So should you stay at the APA Kabukicho?

We really enjoyed our stay and would totally do it again! The location was excellent, the hotel itself was clean, and the price was great. The only downside for us was not being able to open up a window. We love fresh air! Other than that, it was perfect.

Remember to book your APA Shijuku Kabukicho stay here.