Hotel Villa Fontaine Tokyo Nihombashi Mitsukoshimae — Hotel in Tokyo

We stayed here for 13 nights and loved it. I’d like to describe the place then give some tips for travelers.

First of all, this place is a nice cross between traditional Japanese accommodation and Western-style hotels (what everything is in Japan now) for half the price of the big places. This is no Hyatt or Holiday Inn folks. Do not expect to walk into a 500sqft-two-queen-bed-+kitchenette-+sofa-hotel room. Like I said; cross between tradition and modern. These rooms are about 7 to a floor on a narrow 12 story tower. Each room is about 15 feet deep from door to window. The front half from the door is a hallway that has the bathroom and a cubby for your baggage. After the bathroom wall it opens to a reasonable 10x10 space just big enough to put a double-sized bed and a desk with a mini fridge. This is all you need if you’re coming to Japan on business or vacation because you’re only ever going to be in the room to shower and sleep. The staff is extremely nice and very attentive. Most of them speak English very well and the rest know enough to get you exactly what you need without any effort. I recommend the breakfast option for a pretty good Japanese style breakfast (eggs, rice, yogurt, sausage, etc) every morning. If you choose not to do the breakfast option, I wish you luck combating the morning commute of 13 million busy citizens in search of few breakfast choices when most stores don’t open until 10:00AM. Your choice... If you’re like me and like to keep your mini fridge stocked with essential stuff like milk, waters, and snacks for trips, there is a 7/11 and a FamilyMart that are all within 60 seconds walk of the hotel’s doors, and they’re 24hrs.

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Now that I have listed all the pros, I’d like to list the—I hate to use the word—cons. They’re not really cons, but more like “culture-cons”. Being American, I am obviously used to certain things and found a few discrepancies I’d like to note. These didn’t really bother me much at all but I know people in my own family who would be thrown off of this place because of them.

The first thing we noted was the lack of wash cloths. I don’t do the loofah thing and prefer the cloth. This place has none and neither does any other place like it I stayed in in Japan. Either get a loofah, bring your own wash cloth, or scrub with your fingers. Next is the bed. It’s a nice sized double. Definitely big enough to fit me and my wife, and we’re average sized folks. The bed is a Japanese futon (go figure). The only way to describe the comfort is to tell you to set up a couple cinderblocks and lay a sheet of 3/4” plywood across it. Now cover that with about an inch of foam and put the fitted sheet on. If that’s not your type of bed, either don’t come to Japan, or pay three times as much to stay in a name brand American chain hotel. It really doesn’t bother you at all after a long day walking. In fact, I get back pain easily with my line of work and discovered that laying on this bed slab actually makes it feel better which baffles me. Lastly I want to describe the breakfast setup. The food is tasty and set up in a buffet style along the wall in the lobby. The seating arrangement took me some getting used to. There are essentially three cafeteria style tables that seat 8 people each. You’ll be sitting shoulder to shoulder with a total stranger every morning. If that sounds weird, again, don’t come to Japan. Coming downstairs on morning #1 for food after a 13 hr flight and 4 hrs of sleep and seeing that I will be eating my food in my neighbor’s lap really though me off at first. Then I stepped outside... I learned that this is totally normal in Japan and there are many restaurants that put you even closer than that. Like it said, not a con, just a “culture-con”.

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Overall, we loved the place and the price was well worth it. It was really fun and an eye opening experience to stay in the same style of hotel as all the local businessmen and families do. We certainly fit in and tried to mimic what everyone else did. Plan ahead for my “culture-cons” and you’ll...

We spent 4 nights at this hotel (29th December 2024 to 1st January 2025) and thoroughly enjoyed our stay.| |We used metro station Nihombashi exit D4, where it was less than a 5-minute walk to reach the hotel and easy enough to find.| |We also utilised stations Miksukoshimae (5 min walk) and Ningyocho station (5mins walk). We used Ningyocho station entrance A5 to get the train directly back to Narita airport.| |It was based in a quiet little street where access to reception was achieved by going under ground 1 level via elevator.| |We arrived before check in time where the room was all ready and we were allowed to check in.| |Check in was very smooth and quick and the team members on the front desk were very friendly, professional, helpful and spoke excellent English.| |Courtesy Coffee, tea and water were provided in reception during an afternoon.| |There were free travel guides and maps provided in reception.| |If you forgot any travel essentials the hotel provided the following for free and were available on the shelves in reception – nightshirt in multiple sizes, hairbrush, toothbrush, shaving kits and shower caps. You could also rent hair tongs and hair straighteners. There was also two washing machines and an ice cube machine on the same level.| |The hotel offers breakfast and presents it within the area in front of reception. There is also a microwave available which you can use for free throughout the day. We used it several times to cook our sausage and egg muffins that we purchased from the 7 eleven.| |For the smokers out there is a smoking shelter/booth within reception so you don’t need to leave the premises. We were amazed by it and hadn’t seen anything like this before. Once you stepped into the booth the extractor fan comes on. You couldn’t see or smell any smoke| |If you have a late check flight but don’t want to drag your suitcases around reception will store them safely for you.| |Our room was cosy and found the double bed quite comfortable. The following were provided as standard –slippers, hairdryer, kettle, mini fridge. There was plenty of charging points and sockets (same sockets as England so didn’t need to use a convertor), a large mirror, air freshener, there was enough hangers and shelf space to house our clothes. Couldn’t see an iron but we had brought our own travel iron. There was a retractable washing line within the shower/bath area. Couldn’t find any English-speaking channels on the TV. The WI-FI worked excellent within the room. The shower had excellent pressure with the hot water kicking in as soon as you turned it on. The bathroom featured handwash, shampoo and shower gel. Couldn’t figure out the settings on the remote for the heater/air-con unit so just turned it off. The windows opened which as good for letting some fresh air in. We slept well during our stay, there was no noise on a night and the streets were so quiet. Your room would only get a fully automatic clean if your stay was more than 4 nights. Should you want your room fully cleaned you need to arrange with reception before 10am. If you chose not to have a full clean housekeeping will daily empty the bins, replenish toilet toll and change the towels as standard.| |We really admired the location of the hotel; it was close enough to several metro stations with several 7 elevens and a family mart’s dotted within the vicinity.| |This was our first time in Tokyo and we really loved it – we would come back in a heartbeat. Furthermore, we had a fantastic stay at this hotel, it was both set in a great location and decently priced. It had everything we needed to make our stay comfortable and memorable. Furthermore, all the staff we encountered during our stay were friendly, helpful, and hard working. Thank you...

We travel standby and make hotel reservations at the very last minute. So, we typically panic a bit and cross our fingers we've made a solid decision. We really scored with this hotel. Excellent choice if you want a room with breakfast to start your day of explorations nicely. The staff was helpful and communication was very good. It helped that my wife could make a connection with her limited Japanese but the staff at the front desk spoke English well enough for us. No complaint. Adjust your expectations...rooms in Japan are small by western standards but we were not at all cramped in this room. Cozy!|| The room was a solid "A" for cleanliness. The bed was comfy, the aircon efficient and not noisy, the amenities all you'd want (kettle, refrigerator, fast wifi, nightlight, emergency flashlight). Lots of baseball and cartoons on tv but that was only for pre-nap noise. The bathroom had a deep tub to soak your muscles after a long day of walking - you will walk a lot each day. The shower was wonderful and the typical Japanese "magic" toilet seat should be required in the USA! The mirror over the sink had an anti-fog coating, too. Sound insulation is perfect as we never heard a peep from adjoining rooms or the street and only a faint muffle from the hallway if someone was right outside our door. Laundry facilities available at modest cost.|| Breakfast suited out tastes. I enjoyed the 2 soups each morning and the matcha swirl bread, toasted and buttered. Each day's breakfast was different and we did not repeat until the 4th day. The little circles of meatloaf in a tomato sauce were also a favorite. The scrambled eggs were sometimes cold but you can nuke them in the microwave. The small breakfast room was never crowded for us. || The hotel is quite small and well located. We had a very easy walk from the nearest train station after a no-transfers ride from HND. There are inexpensive places ($7-14 per person) to eat along the main street within 15 minutes walk. Our routine became one of enjoying the day and tiring ourselves out exploring the city, then taking a late afternoon to early evening nap. Then, we'd walk to find some dinner and enjoy the less hot part of the day. Note, we visited during an unprecedented heat wave. The best budget places to eat were nearer the Kanda Station and that's where there was some night life if you're into that. There's a Family Mart, 7-Eleven or Lawson's store seemingly every block and the Family Mart 3 minutes from the hotel was perfect for a late night ice cream or a few cans of Kirin to bring back to the room. A few doors down there's a good ramen place that's open very late. || Everywhere we felt safe. The people are uncommonly friendly, helpful and English was spoken and understood at important places like the train stations where we could verify what platform, etc, we should be on. Take the trains everywhere. There are station accesses all along the main street near the hotel. || Enjoy. We'd return to this hotel...