Where to Stay in Yokohama: Yokohama Station, Minato Mirai, Chinatown and Shin-Yokohama Compared

1. Six areas hold almost every hotel in the city

Yokohama City tags its official sightseeing spots with twelve area names. Only six of those areas hold a meaningful number of places to sleep, and five of the six sit inside a two kilometre circle.

The central five run together on foot

Put the top five on a map and they form one block. The stations are close together too. Sakuragicho to Bashamichi is 0.49 km, Bashamichi to Kannai is 0.67 km, and Sakuragicho to Minatomirai is 0.71 km.

Yokohama Station sits a little apart. It is 1.83 km from Sakuragicho and 1.33 km from Minatomirai, so from there most people ride one stop rather than walk.

Shin-Yokohama sits outside all of this

The shinkansen stop is 4.55 km from Yokohama Station and 6.33 km from Sakuragicho. It does not join the block, so it needs judging on its own terms. There is a full section on it further down.

What changes when you pick an area

Because the five central areas run together on foot, your daytime hours look much the same wherever you book. Three things do change.

2. Late-night trading runs from 3 per cent to 48 per cent

The share of restaurants still serving after midnight ranges from 3 per cent in Minato Mirai to 48 per cent in Noge. Both come out of the opening hours of the 2,174 places listed on the city’s official tourism site.

These places are ten minutes apart on foot and the gap is still that wide. If you eat late, or walk back after a drink, this table is the single most useful piece of information for choosing an area.

Minato Mirai keeps mall hours

Not one of the 158 listings in Minato Mirai trades past 2am. Most of the restaurants there sit inside shopping complexes, and those close on a fixed timetable.

Landmark Plaza publishes its own hours: shopping until 20:00, cafes and restaurants until 22:00, and the Mirai Yokocho food floor until 23:00. The 22:00 halfway mark in the table above follows straight from that.

Chinatown closes earlier than it looks

Chinatown looks like a late-night district and is not one. Of 147 listings, 16 run past midnight, and half are shut by 22:00. Yokohama City’s own page for the district says only that opening and closing times vary by shop, and in practice a lot of them stop serving around 21:00.

If dinner in Chinatown matters to you, arrive somewhere in the 20:00 hour. Yamashita Park next door is earlier again: none of its 11 listings pass midnight and half are shut by 21:00.

Late kitchens sit behind Sakuragicho

Noge sits directly behind Sakuragicho Station. Kanagawa Prefecture’s official tourism page describes it as a dense run of drinking places packed into a small grid. Of its 124 listings, 59 trade past midnight and 22 are still going after 2am.

Hinodecho and Isezakicho continue from there, at 63 per cent and 62 per cent. All three are within a ten minute walk of Sakuragicho Station.

3. Yokohama charges no lodging tax

Neither Yokohama City nor Kanagawa Prefecture levies a lodging tax. At check-in there is nothing to pay beyond the room itself.

A lodging tax is a local tax charged per person per night, separate from the room rate. It is usually missing from the total on a booking screen and collected in person, which is why plenty of travellers meet it for the first time at the front desk. In Tokyo you pay it. In Yokohama you do not.

Tokyo moves to a percentage

Tokyo currently charges two flat steps, 100 yen and 200 yen. From April 2027 that is replaced with a flat 3 per cent, with nothing charged below 13,000 yen.

Under a percentage the gap widens with the room rate. Two people for three nights currently differ by 1,200 yen between the two cities. Once the percentage applies, the same stay in a 30,000 yen room differs by 5,400 yen. It is still not enough money to pick a different city over.

That may not hold forever

The Yokohama city assembly has debated introducing one. The mayor’s answer was that no concrete study is under way at present. Nothing is charged today, but this is the kind of line that changes, so if you are booking a long way ahead it is worth reading the property’s check-in notes.

Bathing tax still applies at hot spring properties

Separately from lodging tax, a property with hot spring baths collects a bathing tax. Yokohama does have a place in town with a hot spring bathhouse attached, and those charge a small amount per person per night. It will not show on the booking screen, so it is settled at the property.

4. Yokohama Station: the most ways out of the city

Six railway companies run into Yokohama Station, and the Minatomirai Line begins there. Whichever direction you leave in, the first leg is short.

JR East, Keikyu, Tokyu, Sotetsu and the Yokohama Municipal Subway each keep their own platforms under this name, and the Minatomirai Line starts from here. Every other station in the city carries two operators at most.

How far the rooms sit from the gates

Half the 11 properties in this area stand within 317 metres of their nearest station, about a six minute walk. Yokohama Station has long underground passages, though, so the walking carries on well past the ticket gates.

The sights are a train ride away

The city lists 18 official spots around Yokohama Station, fewer than half the number in Minato Mirai. Reaching the Red Brick Warehouse or Yamashita Park means taking the Minatomirai Line or JR.

Nights are well covered though. Of the 654 restaurants listed here, 251 trade past midnight and 106 are open after 2am. In raw numbers, that is more late trading than anywhere else in the city.

Book here if

People flying in and out of Haneda, people planning a day back in Tokyo, and people who expect to come home late. If you would rather wake up and walk straight to the water, this area adds one train ride to every morning.

5. Minato Mirai 21: large rooms, early nights

Add up the seven properties Yokohama City lists in this area and you get 2,274 rooms. That is the largest room count in the city, and it averages 325 rooms per property.

It also holds the most sights, 37 of them. The Red Brick Warehouse, the Cup Noodles Museum, Cosmo World and the Yokohama Museum of Art all connect on foot. If you want a room facing the water, this is the area.

There is almost nothing small here

The room count is high and the property count is low. A booking site placed only four properties here. There is almost nothing in the capsule or hostel range, so there is little room to bring the price band down.

The crowd leaves with the malls

As the earlier table showed, 4 of the 158 restaurants here run past midnight and none run past 2am. When the malls shut between 20:00 and 22:00, the crowd leaves with them.

For night views it works well. The Osanbashi rooftop is open 24 hours and free to walk onto. What you will not find afterwards is somewhere to sit down, and finding one means walking towards Sakuragicho. Minatomirai Station to Sakuragicho Station is 0.71 km.

Why people choose it

People who want a water-facing room, families back at the hotel by early evening, and anyone attending an event at one of the arenas here. If your plan involves going back out at 23:00, another area will serve you better.

6. Sakuragicho and Noge: the most properties, the smallest rooms

More places to sleep sit here than in any other area: 17 of the 70 Yokohama properties a booking site lists. Official sights number seven.

The mix is capsules, business hotels and small independents, which makes it the easiest area to bring the price band down. It is a different proposition from the large hotels in Minato Mirai.

How far from the platforms

Half the properties stand within 462 metres of their nearest station, about eight minutes. That is the longest walk of the six central areas: the deeper into Noge an address sits, the further it drifts from the platforms.

Everything radiates from this station

From this station it is 0.71 km to Minatomirai, 0.49 km to Bashamichi and 0.89 km to Kannai. Of the city’s 158 official spots, 96 fall inside a two kilometre radius of it.

One thing to know: the Minatomirai Line does not stop here. Sakuragicho is served by the JR Negishi Line and the municipal subway Blue Line. Getting to Motomachi-Chukagai means walking or changing once.

Noge is loud until late

Behind the station, 59 of Noge’s 124 listings trade past midnight. Hinodecho and Isezakicho continue from there at 63 per cent and 62 per cent.

A room deep inside Noge will not be quiet. If quiet matters, look north of the station, on the Minato Mirai side.

Who ends up here

People holding the price band down, people out late, and people who would rather walk everywhere than work out train fares.

7. Kannai and Bashamichi: closest to a station

Half the properties in this area are within 221 metres of their nearest station, roughly a four minute walk. That is the shortest of the six central areas.

Bashamichi, Kannai and Isezaki-chojamachi stations all sit within 700 metres of each other, with the hotels filling the blocks between them. The city lists 22 official spots here, second only to Minato Mirai.

The shortest walks in the city

A home game changes the whole area

Yokohama Stadium is a three minute walk from Kannai Station and three minutes from Nihon-odori as well. It seats more than 34,000. On a home game evening the streets here fill up and the rooms go early.

Checking the fixture list before you fix your dates will help. If you are coming for the baseball, no other area is as convenient.

Nights are well covered

Of the 389 restaurants listed around Kannai, 180 run past midnight and 86 are open after 2am. Only Yokohama Station has more late trading. Bashamichi is a little earlier, at 10 of 48, or 21 per cent, with half shut by 23:00.

Best for

People who do not want to drag a suitcase far from the gates, baseball crowds, and anyone who wants Chinatown and Minato Mirai both within walking distance.

8. Chinatown, Yamashita Park and Motomachi: the earliest nights

Half the properties along this stretch are within 304 metres of their nearest station, about five minutes. The nights, however, end earlier here than anywhere else in the city.

Of Chinatown’s 147 restaurant listings, 16 trade past midnight. Next door at Yamashita Park, not one of the 11 listings does. The Motomachi shopping street manages 6 of 27.

Which station each room sits beside

The stations here are not interchangeable

The stations along this stretch are not interchangeable. Nihon-odori and Motomachi-Chukagai carry only the Minatomirai Line. Ishikawacho carries only the JR Negishi Line. Which one your room sits beside changes which trains you can reach on foot.

For getting into Tokyo, the Minatomirai Line side is simpler. From Motomachi-Chukagai the Tokyu Toyoko Line runs through to Shibuya with no change. If your plans lean on JR instead, book near Ishikawacho.

Dinner has a cut-off time

Plan to sit down somewhere in the 20:00 hour. Yokohama City’s own page says only that opening and closing times vary by shop, and in practice a lot of kitchens stop around 21:00.

As a place to eat it holds up well. Among listings that publish a dinner budget, Chinatown sits lowest in the city, and larger groups find round tables here more easily than elsewhere.

Yamate above Motomachi is quieter again

Walk up the slope from the Motomachi shopping street and you reach Yamate. Seven Western-style residences stand up here and all of them are free to enter. There is almost nowhere to sleep: a booking site placed just three properties on this hill.

The trips this fits

People who want the sea within walking distance, people who eat early and turn in early, and people travelling in and out through Shibuya. If you expect to be out past midnight, this is the wrong side of town.

9. Shin-Yokohama: the shinkansen and 87,000 seats

Shin-Yokohama sits outside the central block and still holds 1,177 rooms. The city lists only six sightseeing spots here. There is a reason the beds outnumber the sights.

Two of Japan’s larger venues stand within walking distance of the station. Nissan Stadium holds roughly 70,000 and is a 12 to 14 minute walk. Yokohama Arena holds 17,000 and is a 4 to 5 minute walk. Together that is about 87,000 seats.

Almost all of it is by the station

There is now a through train into central Tokyo

Reaching central Tokyo from here used to mean changing onto the JR Yokohama Line. The Sotetsu and Tokyu Shin-Yokohama lines now connect through to the Tokyu Toyoko and Meguro lines. Shibuya is 41 minutes on the fastest service and Meguro is 34 minutes, with four to six trains an hour through the middle of the day.

The Tokaido Shinkansen also calls here. If Kyoto or Osaka comes next on your route, a night at Shin-Yokohama saves you carrying luggage across the city in the morning.

An event night wipes out the area

About 87,000 seats stand within a 14 minute walk, and the area holds 1,177 rooms. Those two numbers do not match. On concert and match days the rooms here go first and the price band moves with them.

Unless the event is why you are coming, check the calendars and step your dates around them. If the event is why you are coming, nowhere else in the city is this convenient.

Nights hold up better than you would guess

The sights are few but the restaurants are not: 145 listings, 67 of them past midnight. At 46 per cent that matches Kannai. Business travel keeps late kitchens open around this station.

Worth it when

Shinkansen arrivals and departures, and anyone with tickets to Nissan Stadium or Yokohama Arena. If you came to see Yokohama itself, this address adds 4.55 km to every trip into town.

10. The remaining five areas are not worth booking

Five of Yokohama City’s twelve area tags are not places to sleep. Either they are too far from the centre, or there is almost nothing there to book.

Yokohama covers a lot of ground, so a property carrying the city name can sit more than ten kilometres from the waterfront. Search for Yokohama on a booking site and these areas come back mixed in with the rest.

Hakkeijima can be an exception

Yokohama Hakkeijima Sea Paradise sits more than ten kilometres south of Sakuragicho. If you intend to spend a full day there and be through the gates early, sleeping nearby is defensible. You will spend the return trip every other day of your stay, so it only works on a one-night plan.

A Yokohama address can be far from Yokohama

Eleven of those 70 properties fall outside the five central areas, one of them more than 12 km from Sakuragicho. The name alone will not tell you where you are sleeping.

Put the address into a map before you book and confirm which station is actually nearest. There is a short checklist further down.

11. Stations carry between one and six operators

Yokohama’s stations range from one railway operator to six. You can only reach the lines that stop at the station beside your room.

Book beside a Minatomirai Line station and that is the line you will be using. Book at Yokohama Station or Sakuragicho and the choices widen.

The Minatomirai Line starts at Yokohama Station

Its six stations are Yokohama, Shin-Takashima, Minatomirai, Bashamichi, Nihon-odori and Motomachi-Chukagai. Because Yokohama Station is the terminus, a room beside a Minatomirai Line station means riding back to Yokohama Station whenever you need another operator.

Yokohama to Motomachi-Chukagai is 230 yen one way. A day pass is 460 yen, the same as one return trip, so it pays from the third ride onward.

Sakuragicho is not on the Minatomirai Line

The names invite confusion, so it is worth stating plainly: the Minatomirai Line does not stop at Sakuragicho. Sakuragicho Station and Minatomirai Station are separate stations 0.71 km apart.

Staying at Sakuragicho and heading for Motomachi-Chukagai means either walking to Bashamichi or riding JR to Ishikawacho. Sakuragicho to Bashamichi is 0.49 km.

12. Your first move on the day you leave narrows the area

Fix how you arrive and how you leave, and the area is largely settled. The daytime hours look after themselves, because the central areas run together on foot.

Haneda is one train

Keikyu runs Haneda to Yokohama Station in 27 to 28 minutes with no change. The fare is 370 yen from Terminal 3 and 400 yen from Terminals 1 and 2.

Staying in Minato Mirai or Chinatown adds one more ride at Yokohama Station. With heavy bags or a late arrival, that extra leg is the part you will notice.

Narita is where the money differs

From Narita, the Narita Express reaches Yokohama Station. The foreign passport round trip ticket costs 5,200 yen regardless of distance, so riding all the way to Yokohama opens a 3,760 yen gap against the standard fare. Stopping at Tokyo Station makes that gap 1,080 yen.

The Shibuya side needs no transfer

At Shibuya the Tokyu Toyoko Line runs through onto the Minatomirai Line and continues to Motomachi-Chukagai without a change. Shibuya to Yokohama Station is 310 yen.

If you are spending several nights in Tokyo and then moving down, this is the simplest way to do it with luggage. Our Tokyo accommodation guide covers that side area by area.

Shinkansen means Shin-Yokohama

With Kyoto or Osaka next, consider spending the last night at Shin-Yokohama. Whether a rail pass pays for that leg is worth checking too. The station is 4.55 km from the centre, and this way you are not crossing that gap with your bags on departure morning.

13. The hotel inside Landmark Tower is closed

Yokohama Royal Park Hotel has suspended operations. The building is undergoing major refurbishment, and the operator has announced a reopening in the 2028 financial year.

It is the hotel that appears most often in writing about Yokohama, so its absence from booking sites confuses people. Reservations are simply not open.

The lower floors still trade

What closed is the hotel and the observation floor. Landmark Plaza below carries on: shopping until 20:00, cafes and restaurants until 22:00, the Mirai Yokocho food floor until 23:00.

Dockyard Garden beside the building is also open. Anyone staying in Minato Mirai will end up eating inside this complex on at least one evening.

The view has a replacement

With Sky Garden shut, the high vantage points in Minato Mirai are thinner than they were. The Osanbashi rooftop is open around the clock and free to walk onto. At 15 metres above ground it is low, but the harbour is directly in front of it.

For a view from your own room, several of the large Minato Mirai hotels let you pick the water-facing side at the time of booking.

14. A hotel opened in the old city hall

The former Yokohama City Hall administrative building, opposite Kannai Station, has reopened as a hotel. The complex is called BASEGATE Yokohama Kannai, and OMO7 Yokohama by Hoshino Resorts occupies it with 276 rooms.

It stands directly in front of the south exit of JR Kannai Station. Check-in is 15:00 and check-out is 11:00. Because it is recent, some booking sites do not carry it yet.

Why this address matters

Kannai grew up around government offices, so it is full of older buildings and new hotels rarely appear. This project added a large block of rooms to the area at once.

Eight companies developed it, led by Mitsui Fudosan, with Kajima, Keikyu, Dai-ichi Life, Takenaka, DeNA, Tokyu and Hoshino Resorts. Alongside the hotel it holds a permanent live-viewing venue and an immersive attraction.

What shares the site

If it does not appear on your booking site

New properties reach different booking sites at different times. If one does not list it, check another, or go to the property’s own page.

It is missing from the 70 properties a booking site returns for Yokohama, and present on Yokohama City’s own accommodation list. Search one site only and this is exactly what you miss.

15. Event days empty the rooms first

Yokohama holds five large venues, and their seats add up to more than 150,000. Those seats cluster by area, so when something is on, the rooms in that area go before anywhere else.

The city’s official accommodation list totals fewer than 6,000 rooms. Set against the seating, the arithmetic is tight. For anyone visiting as a tourist, the event calendars are the practical guide to when to book.

Shin-Yokohama moves the most

Nissan Stadium and Yokohama Arena together come to about 87,000 seats, both within a 14 minute walk of the station. The area holds 1,177 rooms.

On a large event day Shin-Yokohama sells out first, and the overflow moves to Yokohama Station. The two stations are 4.55 km apart, which is close enough for people to sleep in one and travel to the other.

Baseball lands on Kannai

Yokohama Stadium is three minutes from Kannai Station. Home game evenings fill Kannai and Chinatown together. Since games finish around the time Chinatown kitchens are closing, eating afterwards on that side can be difficult.

K Arena sits behind Yokohama Station

K Arena Yokohama seats 20,033 and stands a 9 to 11 minute walk from the east exit of Yokohama Station, or five minutes from Shin-Takashima on the Minatomirai Line. A show there fills Yokohama Station and Minato Mirai at the same time.

16. The horticultural expo runs for half a year

Yokohama hosts GREEN×EXPO 2027, the International Horticultural Exhibition, from 19 March 2027 to 26 September 2027. That is six months of raised demand, so book early if your dates fall inside it.

The organisers are targeting more than 10 million paying visitors and 15 million total participants. It is the first top-tier international horticultural exhibition held in Japan since Osaka in 1990.

The site is not in the centre

The venue is the former Kamiseya Communications Facility site in western Yokohama, well away from the sightseeing areas. None of the six accommodation areas above is within walking distance of it.

Even if the expo is your reason for coming, book in one of the central areas and travel out on the day. There is almost nothing to book near the site itself.

It will move prices

Six months of extra visitors will thin out the rooms in town, and the opening weeks and the summer holiday overlap look likely to be the tightest.

If you are travelling during that window, hold a free-cancellation booking early and compare again closer to the date.

The lodging tax question may return

The expo was part of the reason the lodging tax came up in the city assembly at all. Nothing is charged today, but if the rule changes before the exhibition opens there will be something to settle at check-in. The property’s booking notes will say.

17. Stay in Tokyo and visit, or sleep in Yokohama

Yokohama is close enough to Tokyo that you can visit without moving hotels. Tokyo Station to Yokohama Station is 27 minutes on the JR Tokaido Line, 528 yen with an IC card. A few situations still favour sleeping here.

When visiting is the better call

If your Yokohama list is Minato Mirai and Chinatown, and half a day covers it, do not move. The train takes 27 minutes and 528 yen; packing, checking out and checking in again costs more time than that. Hakone and Kamakura are the other Kanto days people pair with a Tokyo base.

The same holds if you have already committed to several nights in Tokyo and Yokohama is one day of the trip.

When sleeping here is the better call

Comparing against Tokyo prices

Yokohama tends to sit in a lower price band per room than Tokyo, and it adds no lodging tax. Tokyo varies enormously by area, though, so read our Tokyo accommodation guide alongside this one before you decide.

If you plan to split the trip, the Tokyu Toyoko Line from Shibuya runs through without a change, so moving between the two cities takes one train.

18. Room size differs sharply by area

Count by rooms and one area leads. Count by properties and a different one does. It is worth knowing which measure you are looking at.

Room totals below come from Yokohama City’s official list of 27 providers; property counts come from a booking site’s 70 listings.

Why the order flips

By rooms, Minato Mirai leads. By properties, Sakuragicho and Noge leads. Minato Mirai holds only hotels of several hundred rooms, while Sakuragicho and Noge holds capsules and small independents.

You will feel this at the booking stage. Minato Mirai does not drop into a lower price band even when rooms remain, while Sakuragicho and Noge gives you plenty of ways down.

How the price bands fall

Dinner budgets also differ

Among listings that publish a dinner budget, the midpoint runs to 3,500 yen around Yokohama Station and Kannai, 3,000 yen in Minato Mirai and 2,500 yen in Chinatown. Room rates and meal prices do not rise together here.

19. What to check on the booking screen

Yokohama covers a lot of ground, so a name is not a location. Here is what to confirm before you press book.

Which station is actually nearest

A property with Minatomirai in its name may sit closest to Shin-Takashima. Those two stations are 0.77 km apart and they are not the same place.

Put the address into a map and read the station name for yourself. Measured by coordinates, several of these names do not match where the building actually stands.

Which lines that station carries

As the earlier table showed, operator counts run from one to six. If your station carries only the Minatomirai Line, that is the line you will be using, and leaving for Haneda means riding to Yokohama Station first.

How many minutes, and from which exit

Yokohama Station has long underground passages, so there is walking after the gates. Check which exit the stated walking time is measured from. On a wet day, an underground connection is worth more than two minutes saved.

What is on that night

If a night comes back unusually expensive, an event is usually the reason. Look at the venue calendars and see whether shifting a day either way helps.

The cancellation terms

For dates far ahead, such as inside the expo period, hold a free-cancellation rate first and compare again nearer the time.

20. Practical notes

A few things worth knowing once the area is settled.

Bags before check-in and after check-out

Most hotels will hold luggage on either side of your stay. Yokohama Station and Sakuragicho Station both have plenty of coin lockers. If a large case is going onto a shinkansen, read the size rules first. Since the central areas run together on foot, dropping bags frees the whole gap.

The Minatomirai Line day pass

Yokohama to Motomachi-Chukagai is 230 yen one way and a day pass is 460 yen, the same as a single return. From the third ride the pass wins. It covers the Minatomirai Line only.

Payment and data

Large hotels take cards without question. Some capsules and small independents settle in cash only, so read the booking screen. Sorting data before you land makes maps and reservation screens easier to reach, and an IC card covers every train in this guide.

Rainy days

September and October bring the most rain in Yokohama. Minato Mirai connects under cover for much of its length. Chinatown and Yamate involve longer outdoor stretches.

Travelling with children

Minato Mirai works best. It is flat, the complexes join up, and Cosmo World and the Cup Noodles Museum are both walkable. It also fits an early evening.

Two adults planning late nights

Sakuragicho and Noge, or Kannai. Plenty stays open past midnight and you can walk back to your room.

Read next

Getting around the city, admission prices and closing days are covered in our Yokohama travel guide. For moving around the capital, see Tokyo transport passes; for a comparable city write-up, see where to stay in Kobe. Trip-wide planning sits in our Japan travel guide.

Where to stay in Yokohama: common questions

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