A Guide to Hamamatsucho – All About its Attractions, Hotels and Transportation

As I wrote in Accommodation Advice, Tokyo is a large city with many interesting districts and hundreds of hotels.

In this post, I show you how fascinating the district around Hamamatsucho Station is. (I know it’s so hard for many people to pronounce the name of this station. To make it easy, divide it into 3 parts, “Hama- matsu-cho.” In Japanese language, it is written in 3 characters.)

I suppose some of you are looking for a hotel in Tokyo and confused with the place-names like Ginza, Shiodome, Shinbashi, Tsukiji, etc. For example, you might wondering, “Is Inter Continental Tokyo Bay good enough for me?”

The key to find the best hotel for you in Tokyo is to understand the map and the train stations. I hope this post will be helpful for you!

First of all, open The Easiest JR Train Map.

Link: The Easiest JR Train Map by Tokyo Direct Guide (open in a new window)

As I have written some times, it is a good idea for you to make sure where in Tokyo you want to visit. 

How Convenient Hamamatsucho Is

First of all, Hamamatsucho Station is a very convenient place to catch a train of JR Yamanote Line and JR Keihin Tohoku Line. This enables you to go ANYWHERE IN TOKYO so easily! I think this can be a great reason to stay there.

If you will arrive at Tokyo Haneda Airport, Hamamatsucho is the terminal station of Tokyo Monorail to go to Tokyo City. So when you land on the airport, you can just jump into the monorail, be there until it stops at the last station and check in the hotel soon. It’s so easy! It’s convenient to have a domestic flight, too.

Hamamatsucho is a good place if you plan to join a local tour. Many international tourists are looking for the bus terminal to join Hato Bus tours. Here is the link to the map.

cf: Link to a Map to Hamamatsucho Bus Terminal: https://www.hatobus.com/

But not only the convenience. The point is that the district has beautiful views of Tokyo’s bay side area. Some attractions are there, too.Let’s see them with many photos! There are some cherry blossoms as well…

Tokyo Tower

Tokyo Tower

It has not been working as a broadcasting tower since Tokyo Skytree opened, but it is still be loved as a symbol of Tokyo. You’ll see how attractive the red tower is in all-silver building scenery of Tokyo. At night, it is lighted up.

The important fact is that Hamamatsucho is the nearest JR train station to Tokyo Tower!

New Post: How to get to Tokyo Tower – the simplest explanations & maps

Link: Tokyo Tower Official Website

Hidden Gem: Kyu-Shiba-Rikyu Gardens

Everyone knows Tokyo Tower, but I know a “hidden gem” just in front of Hamamatsucho Station. There is a beautiful Japanese Garden just in front of the busy train station.

Built by a samurai in the 17th century, it is one of the oldest samurai gardens which remain today, along with Koishikawa Korakuen Gardens. Now it is registered as a Place of Scenic Beauty of the country.

It’s calm in the middle of the megalopolis. Beautiful, isn’t it?

The Japanese garden of Kyu Shiba Rijyu by Hamamatsucho Station

[Opening Hours]

9:00 – 17:00

Entrance Fee: 150 yen for an adult

The entrance

I visited there in late March, Tokyo’s cherry blossom season. For cheery blossom viewers, they held an event. It was a Japanese traditional music band.

A Japanese music event at Kyu Shiba RIkyu Gardens

Their music was so cool with full-blooming sakura. This park hold some small, free events in high seasons like this.

Wisteria would bloom in the rack of left side in early May.

Wisterias in Kyu Shiba Rikyu Gardens

Kyu-Shiba-Rikyu Garden is famous for fall leaves in autumn as well.

You see, this garden is made up for a large pond and plants surrounding it. There are photographers, people visiting the local theater, tourists with suitcases waiting for the time to go to Haneda Airport, picnicking families, office workers around Hamamatsucho Station, etc.

Cherry blossoms in Kyu Shiba Rikyu Gardens

It’s like a hill that is full of cherry blossoms.

“Sakura Hill” in Kyu Shiba Rikyu Gardens

Fully Blooming Cherry Blossoms by the pond

On Sakura Info of Shinjuku Gyoen Park, I wrote the meaning of bridges for Japanese gardens.

A bridge in the large pond – It’s a typical beauty of Japanese gardens.

In this garden, the island represents for Horai-san, a mountain where holy ascetics live in Chinese legends. This sign explains so.

Cherry Blossoms and Tokyo Tower

Turtles are sunbathing on a rock.

Easy-going turtles

Do you want to know in what way this garden is so good? In my opinion, it is excellent and compact at the same time.

It is far smaller than famous Shinjuku Gyoen Park, Hama-Rikyu Garden, etc, but it has every essence of beauty of Japanese gardens. I’m sure you will experience the most without being exhausted by walking too much. The entrance fee is very cheap. (In my opinion, these parks should be free, anyway.) In cherry blossom season, you’ll easily enjoy full-blooming sakura on a bench.

Tourist attractions which are on every travel guidebook are not all. I proudly recommend this for international travelers.

5-Star Hotels near Hamamatsucho & Shimbashi Station

If you have searched for a good hotel, one of the hotels below may be in your mind.

There are a lot of 5-star hotels in Tokyo. Actually, some of them are not located in very convenient places, (I strongly hope you avoid them to make your travel better!) but these hotels are convenient to visit anywhere in Tokyo. Some are international luxury hotel chains and others are run by Japanese hotel companies, but undoubtedly, all of them are 5 Star Hotels.

Browse them and find your best choice. If one of them is in your mind, no need to hesitate to book it!

• Conrad Tokyo (5 minutes walk from Shinbashi Station)
• InterContinental Tokyo Bay (Free shuttle from Hamamatsucho Station, facing the bay!)
• The Royal Park Hotel Iconic Tokyo Shiodome (3 minutes walk from Shinbashi Station)
• Daiichi Hotel Tokyo (2 minutes walk from Shinbashi Station)
• The Prince Park Tower Tokyo (12 minutes walk from Hamamatsucho, neighboring to Tokyo Tower!)
• Tokyo Prince Hotel(10 minutes walk from Hamamatsucho, 3 minutes to Tokyo Tower!)

Hamamatsucho is the district of Tokyo Tower and Tokyo Bay. Expect excellent views! And in my opinion, Monorail is the best way to go to Haneda Airport because of the beautiful bay side views which make me excited, “Oh, I’m flying today!”

If you are going to visit Asakusa and/or O-Daiba, the beautiful modern bay side district, Shinbashi has good connections by Ginza Subway Line and Yurikamome Line.

cf: The Easiest JR Train Maps & The Easiest Subway Maps by Tokyo Direct Guide – You will understand complicated Tokyo City soon with these maps!

More Hotels around Hamamatsucho & Shimbashi

Imperial Palace, Ginza, Tsukiji Market, Tokyo Tower…. You’ll learn which is where by scrolling the Google Map.

When you book a hotel in Tokyo, what you should check is the nearest STATION.
You’ll find many hotels in the wide range of features and prices.
Not only 5 Star hotels, there are also reasonable hotels near Hamamatsucho Station.

Link: Hotel MyStays Hamamatsucho (Easy to find in the street, good reputations on Booking.com)

I strongly wish you’ll have a comfortable trip in Tokyo – This is one of the missions of Tokyo Direct Guide.

Tokyo is known as a very complicated city, but if you learn some tips that locals know, you can travel so FREELY and enjoy much more of Tokyo.

Glad if this post is helpful for you!