10 Day Free and Easy Trip to Shikoku – First Night Stay at Toyoko INN Takamatsu Hyogomachi

On the first day of our 10-day, 9-night self-drive trip around Shikoku, Japan in 2024, we didn’t have any scheduled activities. Since we took an afternoon China Airlines flight to Takamatsu Airport, it was already evening when we arrived.

After taking a bus to Toyoko INN Takamatsu Hyogocho, we dropped off our luggage and went out for dinner. Afterward, we returned to the hotel to rest and prepare for the next day’s journey.

For dinner, we went to Butaman Takamatsu kita , and by the time we finished, it was already 9:00 PM Japan time. While waiting at the traffic light across from Toyoko INN Takamatsu Hyogocho, I took a picture of the building’s exterior. Inside the lobby, there’s a cabinet with amenities like pajamas, toiletries (including toothbrushes and toothpaste), and tea bags, which guests can help themselves to. I didn’t take the pajamas because it was too hot in summer, and I find it easier to sleep in my own sleepwear.

Our family of three booked two rooms, as Toyoko INN hotels don’t offer triple rooms. Thankfully, the price for single rooms is quite reasonable. On the first night, our rooms were on different floors, which made it a bit inconvenient to grab items from the suitcase. For the following nights, we requested rooms on the same floor, ideally adjacent or nearby, which the front desk arranged for us for the next six nights.

The layout of Toyoko INN’s rooms is very standardized across locations, so it felt quite familiar after staying in several of their hotels in 2023. Each room has the same air conditioner, TV, bathroom, desk, and bed setup, with an evacuation route map displayed on the door, showing the room’s approximate location and size.

After a night’s sleep, we enjoyed a fairly rich breakfast buffet with both Western and Japanese options. I started by taking a small portion of each item and went back for seconds of anything I really liked. The breakfast offerings vary across Toyoko INN locations, so you sometimes discover a real treat. Last year, for instance, we had amazing bread at Toyoko INN Sasebo Station and Toyoko INN Kumamoto Castle Tori Cho Suji in Kyushu. This time, they offered two different kinds of toast, which were quite nice.