Tal Mandarin Oriental Tokyo Hotel room with huge windows and a view of the city.
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Five Favorite Hotels in Tokyo

As part of the 29th World’s Best Awards, Travel + Leisure magazine readers chose 5 Favorite Hotels in Tokyo of 2024. They shared their opinions on cities, safari outfitters, spas, national parks, cruises, hotels and much more. They sought out one-of-a-kind experiences, and found them across the globe as they traveled off the beaten path to find something worth voting for.

Their best hotels in Tokyo offer easy access to some of the city’s most popular sites: Three of the top five are within walking distance of each other, and just a short stroll from Tokyo Station and the many green spaces and cultural institutions clustered around the Imperial Palace. Elsewhere in the city, two winners are steps away from historical sites and new developments. But it was the Mandarin Oriental, Tokyo that took home the gold.

The Winners

  1. Mandarin Oriental, Tokyo
  2. Conrad Tokyo
  3. Grand Hyatt Tokyo
  4. Four Seasons Hotel Tokyo at Otemachi
  5. Aman Tokyo

More than 186,000 readers completed the survey with some 700,000 votes on 8,700 properties. Hotels were classified as resort hotel, city hotel, inn, or safari lodge based on their location and amenities. They were rated based on the criteria of rooms / facilities, location, service, food, and value, with ratings of excellent, above average, average, below average, or poor. The final scores are averages of
these responses.

What They Loved

As Japan continues to get back into the tourism game after pandemic-era closures, travelers to this international city are putting their trust in major international brands. Survey respondents noted their appreciation for attentive staff, robust food and beverage offerings, full-service wellness facilities, and other comforts that travelers expect to accompany a recognizable name. Among those names is Four Seasons, which opened No. 4 Four Seasons Hotel Tokyo at Otemachi in 2020 — meaning it’s still a new offering for many travelers.

Tal Mandarin Oriental Tokyo Hotel room with two massage tables on a very high floor next to floor to ceiling windows with a view of the entire city of Tokyo
COURTESY OF MANDARIN ORIENTAL, TOKYO

“Way high above Tokyo” is a running theme. The top properties for 2024, as in years past, are mostly vertical, with sky-high suites that look out over a metropolis of nearly 40 million people. The skyscraper atmosphere is a bit of a departure for the brand behind this year’s No. 5 hotel, Aman Tokyo, which made its name with remote luxury retreats — and now has a 26,900-square-foot spa in the sky. 

“We had high expectations, and they were exceeded,” wrote one reader of their stay at the Mandarin Oriental, Tokyo, a sleek 179-key property, which occupies the top floors of the Mitsui Tower in the Nihonbashi business district. Renovated in 2019, the Mandarin Oriental, Tokyo returned to the list this year in spectacular fashion, with survey respondents praising the service, the spa, and especially the food and beverage: Guests will find no less than seven options for a sit-down dinner, including acclaimed sushi and molecular gastronomy and — yes — a pizza spot tucked away on the 38th floor. In a year where high-rise hotels reigned supreme, the No. 1 property had the most spectacular views of all, at least as far as one reader is concerned: “Our room had views of the city and Tokyo Tower and we caught glorious sunrises,” they wrote. “We even caught a view of Mt. Fuji on our last morning.”

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