APA Hotel Asakusa Kuramae

Spent 5 nights here at the end of my latest trip to Japan. Location is good, close to Kuramae metro stations and the Sumida river, and a 10 min walk from Asakusa. Could check in when I arrived 15 mins before the official 3pm start, using the "scan passport" machines. These APA machines never work with my UK Passport and always print off a little ticket to take to the manned reception, where they do something and when retrying the machine it works. It's always like this with APA for some reason! Room usual - small but cosy, with a bottle of water on the desk. USB by the bed, fridge is one of those that you have to turn on (but the switch lights up, so you know when it's on). Aircon worked well. I had a great dual-aspect room, where the Skytree pretty much filled one of the windows, which was great (free light show each evening). Smaller than usual TV, but has the usual streaming, so I could connect my YouTube easily. Always a plus as most (not all) APAs have this. Was the best of the 7 hotels on this trip, hence a 5 from me.

APA hotel have many branches in Asakusa Ueno district of Tokyo, it is our go to hotel and has been to many of its branches around this area for the past years. I’ve also written lots of reviews for APA hotel and here we are again for the nth time another Excellent review for the newest branch we have tried - APA hotel Asakusa Kuramae!!! There are 2 draws why we keep booking APA hotel which is perfect for solo or couples alike. First, we love the location around Asakusa or Ueno area because their less crowded and peaceful compared to Shinjuku/Shibuya area and easy to get to Narita airport via Keisei skyliner. Second, the affordability - its cheapar than similar types of hotels especially on weekdays or non peak seasons. At just 543 SGD for 5 nights Double room it is one of the most affordable yet almost a 5 star hotel in Tokyo!!! At 11 sqm, its a bit small but the bed is huge double and has a compartment space below the bed. It is located outside Kuramae station in Tokyo Oedo line but is also accessible via Ekimae station in Asakusa station. The Kaminarimon gate in Senso-ji temple is about 10 mins walk. As mentioned, its my first time to stay in Kuramae area and I was surprised by the vibrancy of this place - lots of Foreigners and locals alike are here and especially staying at its numerous hotels. There are lots of Konbini, restaurants and most specially cafes in this area - lots of cute cafes actually surprised me. Just like any other APA hotels, checkin is self serve you need to scan your passports and manually enter your details to get your key cards. Yes, its self service but entering your details manually added more time. However, with Japan’s plentiful tourists this is the best idea for hotels like APA instead of waiting long lines at checkin counters. We were booked at 7F and our view is the adjacent bldg. The room as always was clean and ready!!! Toilet is on left with lots of APA toiletries and their famous Aromatic Body wash, shampoo and hand wash. Towels are clean and smooth. If you stay 5 days APA will clean your room on 4th night but you could request for change of towels/dispose of trash daily. Water heating is working perfectly and water pressures strong. Tub is small yet deep and easy to fill and drain but if you’re a big person it won’t fit you. It fits more Asian body. The room is centrally heated so our time there was pretty warm and we don’t have control of the heating - unlike other APA branches I didn’t experience this. The window is like our airconditioning so its covered by a wooden sliding door and if you open it cold air sips in from outside. Wall mounted flat screen TV is big and has complimentary movies and lots of local channels and BBC. WIFI is fast and stable. They provide compiimentary water on first night, free slippers and disposable ones, Yukata robes which you can use for sleeping and Onsen. They have big side table with mirror and bright lighting. Mini-fridge/kettle and glasses with complimentary coffee/match tea. There is a body wall mirror with shoe horns, wall hooks for clothes, purifiers and sandals for use outside. The huge Double bed has clean/comfy/soft/pluffy mattress, blankets and pillows which is expected of APA hotels high quality standards. We didn’t avail of their in-house restau and breakfast but we did try their Onsen nightly. Its pretty small but amazingly it can fit lots of people in turns especially you don’t stay that long in hot onsens. You must bring your own room towels when you come here. I loved their simple steps - put your sandals on the sandal boxes. Next is the changing area with lockers and just pick whatever is free. Then take shower right after the changing area before proceeding to their indoor onsen which is amazingly has the cleanest and perfectly controlled hot temperature its not too hot just perfect and I can stay longer here. But I prefer the outdoor onsen especially on winters. The cold air is perfect with the hot waters of the onsen. They have a view of Tokyo Skytree on the west and I loved the feeling of cold air and hot water combined. It really relaxes and soothes me. The outdoor can fit 3 people and indoor 6 people at same time. Check out was self servie just drop your key cards but they can store your luggages for free and you can get free newspapers from them And not to mention I love their Origami cranes placed on your room tables which is really cute and gives you a feeling of home!!! Keep up the Exceptional work and services provided APA hotel Asakusa Kuramae looking forward to book your place again. Arigato Gozaimasu!!! Matah neh :=) !!!

Well located near the metro and small shop, the Welcoming is warm. The rooms are certainly very small but it is common in Japan, there is provision washing machine and dryer by pity that the onsen is not accessible to tattooed people (in addition to the price we pay for the room ), it would be good considering the number of foreigners welcomed to make a small effort. Breakfast is fine