CYPRESS HOTEL Nagoya-eki Mae

For my first stay in a city-center hotel in Japan, I found it charming and cozy, even though the rooms are small. The staff are helpful, and breakfast is really good.

I loved the room’s atmosphere, and the staff were really nice. Hotel Sunroute Plaza has a great location and a lovely-looking lobby. The room matched the photos, but there wasn’t much room to move around with all our luggage, and the bed was firm. That’s why I gave it four stars.

The lobby and most guest rooms have good wifi coverage. The bathroom holds onto steam well, which is nice for a hot bath or shower, but the ventilation was poor and it took a long time for the moisture to clear. We were on the second floor, facing a pedestrian lane and a brightly lit subway entrance. The light stayed on all night and shone through the single window, though rooms facing elsewhere may be better. The twin room was small, with too little floor space to open two suitcases, and the lifts were tight. There are no hot spring facilities.

I left at midnight. The walls were so thin I could hear the neighbors talking, sneezing, showering, and everything else. Even the non-smoking room smelled like someone had smoked in it recently. The mattress was incredibly hard, like a wooden board with a blanket, and the staff weren’t very helpful.