I had heard many good things about IKEA being child-friendly and a great place for families to visit and shop, so I finally made the trip to Ikea Kohoku in Yokohama this week to check it out! Here’s a video and some photos about my experience with baby in tow:-)

IKEA Free Shuttle Buses:

– There are two free shuttle buses to get to the IKEA Kohoku store – from Denen-chofu Station and Shin-Yokohama Station. See the information about the buses on the Ikea website. Both buses take about 15-20 min to get to the Ikea store.

– Make sure you get to the bus stop 15min before departure to ensure you get a seat. The bus from Denen-chofu doesn’t run very frequently, so if you can’t get on one bus, you will have to wait about an hour for the next bus! Highly recommend to check the timetable and plan ahead.

– The Denen-chofu bus travels on the highway, so every passenger needs to have a seat, and all luggage and prams need to be folded up and stored in the cargo area. This means that if your baby is in the pram, you are going to need to take your baby out and hold him/her on your lap.

– When you arrive at Ikea, make sure you get a ticket for the bus to return to Denen-chofu Station. I went on a Monday at lunchtime, and all the tickets for the afternoon buses were gone! So I had to return by catching the bus to Shin-Yokohama and then catching the train home. Highly recommend going to Ikea in the morning in order to get a ticket for the bus going back!

– The Shin-Yokohama bus doesn’t go on the Highway, so it is okay to stand and it is not necessary to fold up your pram. If the bus is crowded though, you may be asked to fold up your pram so more people can fit on.

– If you are catching the train to Shin-Yokohama via Kikuna Station, be warned that there is no elevator or escalator connecting the Toyoko-Line to the Yokohama-Line. There are two flights of stairs, so if you are on your own with baby and pram, ask the train station staff for help. See video above for details!

IKEA Baby Nursing Rooms:

– There are two baby nursing room areas on 1st and 2nd floors. The baby nursing room on the 2nd floor is next to the restaurant and is just one VERY TINY room with three chairs. The baby room on the 1st floor is much bigger and has 3 separate private rooms. Still, they were both very crowded and there were mothers waiting outside to get in. I strongly encourage IKEA to make more baby nursing rooms to cater for all the mums and babies (^^)!!

– Baby change tables are located in the women’s toilets and in the wheelchair-access toilet.