The problem of finding a luxury hotel in Tokyo that is also located in a great area can be tricky. Many of Tokyo’s high-end hotels are situated at the very top of skyscrapers, in business districts. This trend was started over 30 year ago by the Park Hyatt Tokyo, which opened amid government towers in Nishi-Shinjuku. It has been replicated across other corporate precincts of the city.
You can imagine central Tokyo in the form of a clock. The JR Yamanote loop is what gives it its circular shape. Book into an accommodation near Shibuya in the lower left quadrant, between seven and nine o’clock. This includes Jingumae (near Shibuya), Daikanyama (near Nakameguro), or Shimokitazawa. If history is your thing, then aim for the two-o’clock area, which contains the temple-filled areas around Asakusa. These districts were built during the Edo period, and have survived World War II.
After the war, Ginza and Marunouchi—around four o’clock—were developed as gridded business districts with glamorous shopping. The area has a number of prestigious hotels, and Toranomon near by has been developing its own collection of high-end properties over the past few years.
