Shibuya Stream Excel Hotel Exists in a Maze

Shibuya Stream Excel Hotel offers a central location, less than a block from a major transit hub (Shibuya Station), a few blocks from the famous Shibuya Crossing, and in the midst of countless restaurants, department stores, upscale bars, and nightlife. It also has a well-decorated lobby and adorable "meisters" on each floor providing additional services such as laundry and shoe cleaning. Though the "Active Meister" (i.e., gym) only included two solitary workout bikes, the rest of the hotel was just what we needed.

Lobby of Shibuya Stream Excel Hotel

Amenities located on each floor were small but cute

The extent of the "Active Meister", which is the only gym in the hotel. Minimal is too kind a word.

Our room was spacious enough for the price ($282 per night for a Standard Double), and the bed was extremely comfortable. Everything was perfectly clean, well organized, and beautifully decorated. In short, the hotel met our expectations.

However, this is not an accommodation I would recommend. Once we left the relative comfort of our room, we had to navigate out of the overwhelming snarl of pedestrian crossings that loop around three main buildings and a cluster of busy roads. The hotel lobby ("L" in the above photo) is on the 4th floor. To exit, guests must enter a different elevator and choose from options on the second, first, and basement floors. Selecting the correct floor for the exit strategy is the first battle, as each one will deposit the pedestrian in an entirely different section of the multi-level maze. What is more, the second floor itself has multiple exits, depending on which direction one takes.

Unfortunately, the hotel staff were inept at providing directions. When we asked about the fastest way to specific destinations, we received only generic responses. What is more, since crossing the street requires climbing two flights of stairs and determining the correct direction from a circular pedestrian overpass, one wrong turn can cost both time and considerable effort. Relying on trial-and-error and Google Maps, we braved the entanglement and learned to allocate additional time to extricate ourselves before proceeding to our final destination. Even after three days of comings and goings, we failed several times at finding the right direction and became more frustrated with every wrong turn.

No matter how nice the rooms were, this hellish intersection is reason enough to book a different accommodation. Shibuya is a great, central location to stay, but I recommend looking for places at least several blocks away from anything near Shibuya Stream Excel Hotel.

Photo taken from the pedestrian skywalk with views of three layers of transit

View of the Shibuya Stream, center, with mall / hotel to the right and subway entrance to the left

If this looks overwhelming, that's because it was

A view of Shibuya's multiple levels, as seen from our hotel window