The Heart of the Hotel

Japan

Top luxury hotels, ranked

Why I keep going back to Japan

Japan is the country I'd send almost anyone to first. The service is the best in the world (someone will chase you down the street to hand back a coin you dropped), the food is ridiculous at every price, and the hotels have quietly become some of the most exciting anywhere.

Tokyo is where the big names are fighting it out right now…the Aman, the Four Seasons at Otemachi, the Palace, the Ritz-Carlton up in the sky, the Park Hyatt back from its renovation, and new towers like Bellustar over Shinjuku. Kyoto is the opposite. The hotels are smaller and calmer, and the garden, the hot spring or the pagoda in your window is the whole point. And Osaka is the one people skip, which is exactly why the value is so good.

Below is every Japan hotel I've reviewed, ranked by Heart Score. If you only read two, read the Four Seasons at Otemachi, my pick for most trips to Tokyo, and the Park Hyatt Kyoto, for the old lanes and that pagoda.

10 hotels reviewed · Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka

Our Japan hotel reviews

8.7

Park Hyatt Kyoto

Higashiyama, Kyoto, Japan

This is where I'd stay in Kyoto, and I wouldn't think long about it. The address on the old lanes of Higashiyama, with the Yasaka Pagoda in the window, beats every pool and spa the rivals can offer, and the staff are some of the best in Japan. It's very expensive though…and in a room without the view, you've wasted your money.

8.5

Four Seasons Hotel Tokyo at Otemachi

Otemachi, Tokyo, Japan

The Four Seasons at Otemachi is the Tokyo hotel I'd book on almost any trip. You get the Imperial Palace gardens and Mount Fuji in your window, a deep soaking tub, a lovely pool and a bar that's one of the best in the city, for about half the price of the Aman next door. Breakfast can get busy and the neighbourhood is quiet at night…but it's the smartest luxury stay in Tokyo.

8.4

Hotel The Mitsui Kyoto

Nijo, Kyoto, Japan

Hotel The Mitsui Kyoto is the calmest luxury hotel in Kyoto, built on the old Mitsui family estate across from Nijo Castle, with a real hot spring under the garden and staff in kimono who remember everything. The rooms are understated for the price and breakfast gets busy…but if you want a quiet, beautiful place to come back to, this is it.

8.4

Palace Hotel Tokyo

Marunouchi, Tokyo, Japan

Palace Hotel Tokyo is the grown-up's Tokyo hotel: a balcony over the Imperial Palace moat, a beautiful spa, some of the best service in the city and a short walk to Tokyo Station, for about $650 a night. The rooms are starting to show their age and the best restaurants are hard to book…but for the money, nothing in Tokyo does this much this well.

8.3

Four Seasons Hotel Kyoto

Higashiyama, Kyoto, Japan

The Four Seasons Kyoto is built around an 800-year-old pond garden, and that garden is the reason to book it. Add the best hotel pool in Kyoto and a real welcome for children, and it's the Kyoto hotel I'd pick for a family. It's big, though, the rooms could be in any good hotel in Asia, and one restaurant does most of the work…for a couple on a short first trip, I'd book the Park Hyatt.

8.2

The Ritz-Carlton, Kyoto

Nakagyo, Kyoto, Japan

The Ritz-Carlton Kyoto is built along the Kamogawa, and for a longer, slower trip it's where I'd stay. From a river-view room you watch half of Kyoto come down to the banks in the evening, the staff are the warmest in the city, and Pontocho is a short walk downstream. Inside it could be a good hotel in any Japanese city, and breakfast is patchy…so pay for the river view, and you'll be very happy.

7.9

Aman Tokyo

Otemachi, Tokyo, Japan

Aman Tokyo has the most beautiful hotel room in Tokyo, and a bath with a view I still think about, but that's mostly what you're buying. The food is good without being memorable, the service is very good but not quite legendary, and the rates have roughly doubled in a few years. I'd book two nights for the room…then move to the Four Seasons down the road.

7.9

The Ritz-Carlton, Tokyo

Roppongi, Tokyo, Japan

The Ritz-Carlton Tokyo sits on the top nine floors of a tower in Roppongi, and I loved being up there, with the whole city laid out below me to the bay and staff who looked after us more warmly than at any big hotel I know in Tokyo. But the rooms are dark and dated, and they feel a decade behind the rest of Tokyo's top hotels…at about $750 a night, I'd want them redone before I paid peak rates here again.

7.8

Bellustar Tokyo, A Pan Pacific Hotel

Kabukicho, Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan

Bellustar Tokyo has the most dramatic night view of any hotel in Shinjuku, from a bathtub 40 floors above Kabukicho, at about half the price of the Park Hyatt. The rooms are new and beautiful, the free lounge is a lovely surprise and the sushi counter is a steal. But the service trips over itself, there's no pool, and the street below is Tokyo at its seediest…so know what you're signing up for.

7.5

Park Hyatt Tokyo

Nishi-Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan

Park Hyatt Tokyo is overrated, and it trades on its name and on Lost in Translation. The renovation that finished in December 2025 left the rooms very bland, and at about $1,000 a night that isn't good enough. The real pleasures are a late evening in the New York Bar with a jazz singer in front of Shinjuku's lights, and an hour under the bamboo in the Peak Lounge…I'd go up for a drink and sleep somewhere else.

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Why go

Nowhere else eats like Japan, or looks after you like it. Tokyo has more Michelin-starred restaurants than any other city, Kyoto keeps the temples, gardens and kaiseki cooking of the old capital, and Osaka is where the country goes to eat and let its hair down. The trains between them are fast, clean and on time, so one trip can take in all three.

Tokyo

Tokyo is really a collection of towns: glass towers and quiet moats around the Imperial Palace, neon and crowds in Shinjuku and Shibuya, old temples in Asakusa. Otemachi and Marunouchi, beside Tokyo Station, have most of the top hotels and the easiest bullet-train connections, though the streets are quiet at night. Shinjuku is livelier, and Roppongi and Azabudai Hills suit travellers who want galleries and bars.

Haneda airport is much closer to the centre than Narita. The best sushi counters book out weeks ahead, so tell your hotel what you want early.

Kyoto

Kyoto rewards early mornings, slow walking and at least three nights. Higashiyama and Gion put the old lanes and the best-known temples on foot. The centre, around the Kamo River and Nijo Castle, is better for restaurants and the subway, and Arashiyama, in the western hills, suits a slower stay.

Kyoto has no airport. The bullet train from Tokyo takes about two and a quarter hours, and Kansai International is around 75 minutes by train. Taxis are often the easiest way between temples.

Osaka

Osaka is big, loud, friendly and full of street food, and it's the easiest base for day trips: Kyoto is about 15 minutes by bullet train, Nara 45 and Kobe 20. Umeda and the river island of Nakanoshima, in the north, have most of the luxury hotels. Namba and Dotonbori, in the south, are the heart of the nightlife.

When to go

Late March to early April for cherry blossom, and October to early December for clear skies and autumn colour. These are the best weeks and the most expensive, so book early. June to mid July is the rainy season and August is hot and very humid. Winter is cold, dry and the best value, with the best chance of seeing Mount Fuji from Tokyo.

Good to know

There's no tipping. Send your large bags ahead to your next hotel by courier, which is cheap and reliable, and ride the bullet train with hand luggage. The best small restaurants usually need booking through a hotel concierge, and never skip a booking, because it reflects on the hotel that made it.

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