Rose Hotel Yokohama — Boutique 4★ Sleeping Right Inside Yokohama Chinatown
Picture this — you step out of the lobby in the morning, take a few steps, and you are already among the red-and-gold Chinese gates of Chinatown, the smell of freshly steamed dumplings drifting past, with the Kanteibyo Temple just three minutes away on foot. That is exactly what Rose Hotel Yokohama gives you — a 4-star boutique hotel set inside Yokohama Chinatown itself, not nearby. It has been here since 1981, with 184 rooms, and it is the home of Chungking Restaurant, one of the oldest Sichuan restaurants in the district. Motomachi-Chukagai Station is a five-minute walk, and the hotel holds a 9.0/10 guest score from 126 Trip.com reviews and 4.1/5 from over 700 Tripadvisor reviews. The building is genuinely old — but almost nothing in Yokohama beats this location.
Let's be honest up front — what makes Rose Hotel Yokohama special is not the building or the décor, it is the location. The hotel sits at 77 Yamashita-cho, in the very heart of Yokohama Chinatown, the largest in Japan. Open the door and you are already in Chinatown — no taxi, no long walk. Tripadvisor gives it a perfect 100/100 walkability score, and several guests describe it as being 'almost inside Chinatown.' The Kanteibyo Temple, the most beautiful Chinese shrine in the district, is just a three-minute walk away. The grand Zenrinmon main gate is the same three minutes, and seaside Yamashita Park is five. If you came to Yokohama to eat Chinese food and soak up the Chinatown atmosphere, this is the most logical place to base yourself.
Guests describe it like this: "Location wins over everything — walk out the door and you are right in Chinatown, hundreds of restaurants all around you. Rooms are far larger than the typical Japanese hotel, beds are soft, and the breakfast buffet has genuinely good dim sum and congee. A staff member named Junko looked after them so well it left an impression. The building is a bit old but clean, and great value."
There are 184 rooms in total, and the point most reviews agree on is that the rooms are noticeably larger than the typical Japanese hotel. The décor leans Asian — carved Chinese-style woodwork, floral wallpaper, an 'oriental' mood that suits the neighbourhood. Rooms begin with a Standard Twin/Double from around ¥13,000 per night in normal periods — a large bed, a work desk, a small seating corner. Step up to a Superior or a Suite Twin with Bath for more space and an in-room bathtub. At the top sits the Dynasty Suite at around 56 sqm, with a separate living area and lounge access. Every room has free Wi-Fi and an LCD TV. To be straight with you: if you judge by how modern the rooms are, this will not beat a brand-new chain hotel — but if you judge by space per yen, it gives you a lot.
Food is the other heart of this place. Rose Hotel grew out of Chungking Restaurant (重慶飯店), one of the first to bring Sichuan cuisine to Yokohama Chinatown. Today it has outlets on the first and third floors of the hotel, and the standout detail is that the ground-floor restaurant opens at 7:30 AM — one of the earliest in all of Chinatown, so you can have fresh dim sum first thing in a relaxed setting. On the French side there is Brasserie Milly Laforêt, an open-fronted restaurant in the middle of Chinatown with an open kitchen and a sommelier on hand for wine. The hotel breakfast buffet leans into dim sum and congee that reviews praise almost unanimously — a breakfast that fits the Chinatown theme exactly as it should.
Getting around is easier than you might expect. Motomachi-Chukagai Station (Minatomirai Line) is a five-minute walk, about 460 metres away. From there you can reach Tokyo within 30 minutes without changing trains, because the Minatomirai Line runs straight through onto the Tokyu Toyoko Line into Shibuya. To reach Minato Mirai for Cosmo World or Landmark Tower, it is just one or two stops by train. The Motomachi shopping street is a 10-minute walk, the Red Brick Warehouse around 17 minutes on foot or a short ride away, and from Haneda Airport buses and trains reach this district comfortably in around 30-40 minutes.
A few honest caveats worth knowing. The hotel is over 40 years old and it shows — a fair number of reviews mention an 'old building, dated décor.' Some rooms have low ceilings, the bathrooms are on the small side and a few drain slowly, and the air conditioning in some rooms could use an upgrade. The lobby and the surrounding streets can get chaotic and noisy on weekend evenings, simply because you are in the middle of a busy Chinatown. This is not a glossy, polished new 5-star chain — if you expect a marble bathroom with separated wet and dry zones, or sleek minimalist design, this is not it. But if you can accept 'old with character' in exchange for a location you genuinely cannot get elsewhere, it is very much worth it.
The short honest version: Rose Hotel Yokohama is the right pick if you came to Yokohama to sleep right inside Chinatown, eat Chinese food all day, and walk to Kanteibyo Temple and Yamashita Park. Almost no other hotel can match that location, and a 9.0/10 score on Trip.com alongside a #8-of-115 ranking on Tripadvisor confirms most guests are happy even knowing the building is old. Rates start from around ¥13,000 per night in normal periods, climbing to ¥20,000+ during peak times like Golden Week or the autumn foliage season. Book one to two months ahead, and if you are sensitive to noise, request a high floor on the inner side from the start.
Summary from Booking & Agoda
- ✓ Inside Chinatown — walk to Kanteibyo Temple, the main gate, Yamashita Park, and hundreds of restaurants
- ✓ Rooms are larger than the typical Japanese hotel with big beds at good value
- ✓ Dim sum and congee breakfast buffet is delicious and on-theme for Chinatown
- ✓ Motomachi-Chukagai Station 5-min walk, with easy direct access into Tokyo
- ! Building is over 40 years old; décor and some rooms show their age
- ! Parking is charged separately at approx. ¥2,200 per day
- ! Front desk service can be inconsistent at times
- ✓ Right inside Chinatown — step out of the door and start exploring on foot
- ✓ Chungking Restaurant (Sichuan) in-house, plus Brasserie Milly Laforêt for French
- ✓ Spacious Asian-style rooms, soft beds, kept clean
- ✓ Many staff go above and beyond — guests praise individuals by name
- ! Small bathrooms, some drain slowly, and a few rooms have low ceilings
- ! Lobby and streets get busy and noisy on weekend evenings
- ! Rooftop pool is summer-only and charged separately at approx. ¥3,500 per person
- 💡If you want a brand-new room with modern design — this is a 1981 building and the rooms and bathrooms show it. If newness matters to you, compare it against the more recently opened chain hotels in the Kannai or Minato Mirai areas first.
- 💡If you plan to use the pool — the Rose Beach Club rooftop pool is summer-only (June-September) and charged separately at approx. ¥3,500 per person. It does not run year-round, so you will miss it if you visit in other seasons.
- 💡If you are sensitive to noise and crowds — the hotel is in the middle of a busy Chinatown that gets crowded on weekend evenings. Request a high floor on the inner side, or for a quieter base, InterContinental Yokohama Grand over in Minato Mirai is an alternative.