Hello! I am a wheelchair user from Ireland looking to travel to Japan in July for a week by myself as a solo trip. What advice would anyone give me in regards to best hotels in Shinjuku, accessibility etc so I can plan!
Josh Grisdale5 Comments-
Hi, Brady. We used Hilton in Shinjuku. Room was quite nice and it, and the hotel more generally, was quite wheelchair accessible. The location was good as well. The one downside is that it was spendy.
Do you have any specific needs or budget?
There are some hotels listed on my website, Accessible Japan, you can use that to get started and then ask any questions you have here on tabifolk!
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APA hotel chain is generally affordable, some branches do have accessible rooms, but it is best to call the hotel itself. Don’t rely only on sites like Bookings.com regarding how accessible it its.
1. The barrier free rooms for APA were generally always unavailable, I highly recommend booking well in advance or like i did – ended up using a normal room with step free entrance to the bathroom.
2. More stations than expected are actually quite accessible with lifts etc.( I used Google maps for this, and its generally quite reliable). Just beware that there may be different entrances to the same station that are not close to each other ( ones that have elevators , others with escalators, stairs only). Made this mistake many times only to figure out that the entrance with the lift is on the other side of the road lol.
Train staff are pretty helpful though and friendly.
3. If you plan to visit Mt Fuji ( Kawaguchiko station side), go to the information office there and ask for the most accessible bus route. An officer will highlight the route on a pamphlet.
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@Kiah I found taxis to be accessible as well, in Hiroshima. They were able to fold my chair & place it in the trunk.
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If you are going to Hiroshima or Kobe (or both), I can recommend tour guides who can help tailor your sightseeing to what is accessible.
