Overview
The rooftop open-air bath and sauna are why travelers still book Ikebukuro Royal Hotel Main Building (West Exit)—a retro Showa-era property where you can soak under the sky and reset in a steam sauna without leaving central Tokyo. That combination is genuinely rare this close to Ikebukuro Station, and it is the feature that kept me interested even when the guest room itself felt like a time capsule from 1990.
The hotel opened in 1990 and wears its age openly: rough wallpaper, plain furnishings, and a training-camp simplicity that some will love for nostalgia and others will find tired. What saves the experience is the eleventh-floor bathhouse—indoor and outdoor tubs, a small steam sauna, relaxation space with massage chairs, and even coin laundry on the same floor so you can bathe while a load spins.
My May 2025 stay was in a single room on the seventh floor. Important note before you book: Ikebukuro has two Royal Hotels—the east-exit branch does not have the open-air bath or sauna. If bathing is your reason for staying, confirm you are reserving the Main Building at the west exit.
Room & Amenities
The single I booked was straightforward and compact—a small bed, plain color scheme, and wallpaper with a distinctly Showa texture that made me laugh the moment I opened the door. The view faced the building directly opposite, so this is not a skyline hotel; think functional city window rather than postcard panorama. Semi-double beds are available if you want a little more sleeping space, but the overall footprint still reads classic Japanese business hotel.
Amenities cover the basics cleanly: washing cups, toothbrush sets, razors, a hairbrush, tea set, electric kettle, desk lamp for laptop work, deodorizing spray, hair dryer, mini fridge under the TV, and Wi-Fi credentials posted by the bedside. POLA face wash, lotion, and milky lotion in the bathroom elevate the kit slightly above bare-minimum business hotels, and yukata-style loungewear replaces the usual pajama set—a small nod to the bath-focused stay.
The bathroom shows its 1990 origins more honestly than the lobby. The unit bath works fine and the toilet is a washlet, but the pink shower curtain, manual hot-and-cold faucet, and aged fittings give away the era. There are no functional deal-breakers—water pressure and cleanliness were acceptable—but travelers expecting renovated wet rooms should adjust expectations before arrival.
Check-in and check-out run through lobby machines after you collect your card key, which keeps arrivals efficient even when the front desk area is quiet. A vending machine sits at the back of the ground floor, though bottled water was sold out during my visit; mineral water and canned beer are available at the front desk instead. Next-door convenience store and nearby supermarket fill any gaps if you arrive late.
The real amenity story is upstairs. The large public bath on the 11th floor is open to guests at any time of day—a freedom I appreciated after evening sightseeing. Indoor and outdoor baths, a compact steam sauna, and a relaxation zone with massage chairs ( dangerously nap-friendly ) complete the circuit. The coin laundry on the same floor means you can run a load, soak, sauna, and collapse into a chair without riding the elevator multiple times. Bring your floor towels; the bath area follows standard Japanese hotel etiquette with lockers at the changing room.
Dining & Breakfast
The second-floor restaurant doubles as the morning breakfast venue and stays open from 7:00 to 23:00, with a renovated feel that contrasts the older guest floors. Even on room-only plans, you can drop in for breakfast without a formal reservation—a practical touch when your schedule shifts.
Breakfast runs 7:00 to 9:00 as a buffet, but manage your alarm: oversleep and you will miss the window entirely. The spread is modest—lettuce and cabbage dominated the salad corner during my visit, natto was available, and overall variety felt limited for a buffet label. Some dishes had not been replenished when I arrived, which reinforced the video’s honest take that breakfast needs improvement. Paid separately, breakfast costs ¥1,050 (approx. $7 at 150 yen/U.S. dollar); if you skip the bundled plan, the set-menu options in the same restaurant may feel like better value.
Outside breakfast hours, the welcome-drink service is the lobby hospitality highlight: choose coffee, café au lait, American coffee, or cocoa from a self-service station available 24 hours a day. After a sauna session, a hot drink in the dining area genuinely hits differently—the kind of simple pleasure retro hotels sometimes get right. The ground-floor restaurant beside the front desk shares the building’s partially updated personality; chandeliers overhead hint the space may once have hosted banquets, and the atmosphere feels warmer than the guest corridors.
Location & Access
Location is the hotel’s steadiest strength. From Ikebukuro Station’s west exit, Theatre Street leads you to the red-signed facade in about four minutes (~240 meters)—easy with a suitcase and straightforward even if Ikebukuro’s maze of exits confuses you on arrival. Seibu Department Store anchors the east exit while Tobu sits west; keeping that landmark in mind prevents the wrong-exit wander that catches many first-time visitors.
The address is 2-41-7 Ikebukuro, Toshima-ku, Tokyo 170-0014. A convenience store sits beside the hotel and a supermarket is nearby, which matters when vending machines run dry or you want late-night snacks without riding the train again. Ikebukuro’s west-side theater district, game centers, and evening energy are steps away, though this review focuses on what happens inside the property.
Terminal-line convenience means Saitama and broader Kanto connections pass through Ikebukuro constantly—useful if you are chaining day trips and want a bath waiting when you return. Just remember the east-exit Royal Hotel is a separate property without the rooftop bath; double-check your booking platform listing so you do not accidentally reserve the wrong building.
Final Verdict
Ikebukuro Royal Hotel Main Building (West Exit) is a bath-first hotel wearing a retro business-hotel shell. The guest room alone can feel small, dated, and slightly overpriced for the furnishings—but the eleventh-floor open-air bath, anytime access, sauna, and massage-chair recovery loop deliver value that newer station hotels rarely match in this neighborhood. I would return for a soak-and-sleep night before an early train, not for a design-forward city retreat.
Book the west-exit main building if bathing matters; skip the bundled breakfast if you are picky about buffet variety and consider the restaurant’s set meals instead. Travelers who love Showa nostalgia will grin at the wallpaper; travelers who need polished rooms should weigh the bath benefit carefully. Rates vary by season—check current prices on Agoda.
