Tokyo has more starred restaurants than any city on earth, and almost none of them seat more than a dozen people. The counters that matter hold eight. They open at six and again at half past eight, they take one seating each, and the reservation is often made by your hotel concierge weeks ahead because the restaurant does not answer unknown numbers or take foreign cards.
That is the fact that should decide where you sleep. Tokyo is enormous and its transit, while superb, stops around midnight. A twenty-minute train each way with a change is the difference between a relaxed dinner and watching the clock through the last three courses.
Why the ward matters more than the hotel
The dining density is not evenly spread. Ginza and the Marunouchi and Nihonbashi blocks beside it hold the greatest concentration of serious counters in the world, sushi especially. Roppongi, Azabu and Aoyama hold the next tier along with most of the international cooking. Shinjuku is a world of its own, weighted toward izakaya and yakitori under the tracks. Shibuya is younger and more casual.
Pick the ward that matches how you want to eat, then pick the hotel. Doing it the other way round is how people end up commuting to dinner in the most restaurant-dense city on earth.
The seventeen below are grouped by ward.
Marunouchi, Nihonbashi and Ginza
The centre. Imperial Palace on one side, Ginza's counters on the other, and Tokyo Station in the middle for the whole country.
Palace Hotel Tokyo faces the palace moat with the best rooms in the city for the view and a level of Japanese service that no international brand matches.
Palace Hotel Tokyo
Marunouchi · 5★ · $$$$
Palace moat views and the best concierge in Tokyo
Check availabilityAman Tokyo occupies the top floors above Otemachi station with a lobby of stone and water on the 33rd floor, and the most serene public space in Tokyo.
Four Seasons Hotel Tokyo at Marunouchi sits in a small tower off Marunouchi with 57 rooms and the most personal service of the group.
Four Seasons Hotel Tokyo at Marunouchi
Marunouchi · 5★ · $$$$
57 rooms and the most personal service in the centre
Check availabilityFour Seasons Hotel Tokyo at Otemachi is the newer, larger sister property in Otemachi, with a rooftop spa and a bar looking over the station.
Four Seasons Hotel Tokyo at Otemachi
Otemachi · 5★ · $$$$
Rooftop spa and a bar over Tokyo Station
Check availabilityMandarin Oriental, Tokyo occupies the upper floors of a Nihonbashi tower with two starred restaurants in house and views to Fuji on clear winter mornings.
Mandarin Oriental, Tokyo
Nihonbashi · 5★ · $$$$
Two starred restaurants in house and Fuji in winter
Check availabilityThe Peninsula Tokyo faces Hibiya Park at the edge of Ginza, all rooms with picture windows and a genuinely good concierge for restaurant access.
The Peninsula Tokyo
Hibiya, Ginza edge · 5★ · $$$$
Picture windows over Hibiya Park at Ginza's edge
Check availabilityImperial Hotel, Tokyo is the grand old institution beside Hibiya, the oldest western-style hotel in Japan, and still where Tokyo does business over breakfast.
Imperial Hotel, Tokyo
Hibiya · 5★ · $$$
Japan's oldest western hotel, still the business room
Check availabilityHOSHINOYA Tokyo is a ryokan built as a tower in Otemachi, with tatami floors, a hot spring at the top fed from 1,500 metres down, and shoes removed at the door.
Bvlgari Hotel Tokyo occupies the top of a new Yaesu tower above Tokyo Station with the highest bar in the district.
Roppongi, Azabu and Toranomon
The international side of the city, with the art museums and most of the non-Japanese cooking.
The Ritz-Carlton, Tokyo sits at the top of the Midtown tower with the highest standard rooms in Tokyo and a spa on the 46th floor.
The Ritz-Carlton, Tokyo
Roppongi, Midtown · 5★ · $$$$
Highest standard rooms in the city
Check availabilityGrand Hyatt Tokyo occupies the Roppongi Hills tower with the best hotel pool in the city and a direct connection to the Mori Art Museum.
Grand Hyatt Tokyo
Roppongi Hills · 5★ · $$$
Best hotel pool, connected to the Mori Art Museum
Check availabilityAndaz Tokyo Toranomon Hills - a concept by Hyatt is the Toranomon Hills tower hotel, the most design-led of the group, with a rooftop bar over the bay.
Andaz Tokyo Toranomon Hills - a concept by Hyatt
Toranomon · 5★ · $$$
Rooftop bar over the bay, most design-led of the group
Check availabilityThe Okura Heritage Tokyo is the rebuilt version of Tokyo's most famous modernist hotel, whose lobby is a reconstruction of the 1962 original.
The Okura Heritage Tokyo
Toranomon · 5★ · $$$$
The 1962 modernist lobby, rebuilt exactly
Check availabilityJanu Tokyo is the newest Azabudai opening, with the largest fitness floor in Asia and eight restaurants, aimed squarely at people who want to eat in the building.
Shinjuku and Shibuya
West of the centre. Denser, younger, and where the late-night eating is.
Park Hyatt Tokyo occupies the top fourteen floors of a Shinjuku tower with a pool under a glass roof and the most famous hotel bar in Asia.
Park Hyatt Tokyo
Shinjuku · 5★ · $$$$
Glass-roofed pool and the most famous bar in Asia
Check availabilityCerulean Tower Tokyu Hotel, A Pan Pacific Partner Hotel sits above Shibuya station in a tower with a jazz club in the basement, and it is the practical base for the western wards.
Cerulean Tower Tokyu Hotel, A Pan Pacific Partner Hotel
Shibuya · 5★ · $$
Above Shibuya station with a basement jazz club
Check availabilityTRUNK(HOTEL)CAT STREET is a small hotel off Cat Street between Shibuya and Harajuku, built in Japanese timber, and the most contemporary stay on this list.
TRUNK(HOTEL)CAT STREET
Shibuya to Harajuku · 4★ · $$$
Small timber-built hotel on Cat Street
Check availabilityWhat we have left off
The Odaiba and bayside hotels are excluded. They have the space, the water views and considerably lower rates, and they sit forty minutes and a change from every counter in this article.
What to do between meals
Book the counters before anything else, through the hotel, as far ahead as they allow. Then build the days around them.
Go to Tsukiji Outer Market for breakfast rather than Toyosu for the auction, which requires a very early start for a view through glass. Walk the Yanaka district for old Tokyo, and Shimokitazawa for the second-hand shops.
The teamLab installations need timed tickets. The Nezu Museum in Aoyama has the best garden in central Tokyo and almost no queue.
Take one train out. Kamakura is an hour, Nikko two, and Hakone gives you Fuji on a clear day.
Practical notes
Narita is 60 to 90 minutes from the centre; Haneda is 30. Fly into Haneda if you can. The Narita Express and the Airport Limousine bus are both straightforward.
March to May and October to November are the best windows. Cherry blossom in late March and early April fills every hotel at high rates. Summer is hot and very humid. Winter is cold, dry and clear, and Fuji is visible most mornings.
Get a Suica card. Carry some cash. Tipping does not exist and attempting it causes confusion.
Explore 4 & 5 Star Tokyo Hotels
Questions people actually ask
Do you need a concierge to get restaurant reservations?
For the top counters, effectively yes. Many will not take a booking from someone without a Japanese phone number or a personal introduction. This is the single biggest practical argument for a good hotel here.
Which ward is best for a first visit?
Marunouchi or Ginza. Central, calm, close to the station for day trips, and within walking distance of the best food in the city.
Is Shinjuku too far out?
Not for the city, but it adds twenty minutes each way to Ginza dining. If your trip is weighted toward izakaya and nightlife, it is the right base.
How many nights?
Five. Tokyo is the largest city in the world and three nights covers a fraction of it.