The 2018 World's Best Hotels in Tokyo

Courtesy of Palace Hotel Tokyo

In a city as vast and as vibrant as Tokyo, there are endless options for eating, drinking, shopping, and sightseeing. The same can be said of the city’s hotel scene, which runs the gamut from soaring high-rises and traditional ryokans to capsule hotels and outposts of international brands.

So choosing a hotel isn’t easy. But when we asked readers to vote on their favorite city stays, they were quick to call out properties that seamlessly fuse modern-meets-traditional design and service.

Every year for the World’s Best Awards survey, T+L asks readers to weigh in on travel experiences around the globe — to share their opinions on the top hotels, resorts, cities, islands, cruise ships, spas, airlines, and more. Hotels were rated on their facilities, location, service, food, and overall value. Properties were classified as city or resort based on their locations and amenities.

Related: The 2018 World's Best Awards

One hotel that successfully blends the old and the new is this year’s runner-up, Palace Hotel Tokyo, an elegant property with views of the Imperial Palace and gardens. The hotel has a collection of more than 1,000 works by Japan’s most up-and-coming artists in addition to seven restaurants (including a tiny tempura bar) and opulent floral arrangements at every turn.

Readers raved about the amenities at the Mandarin Oriental Tokyo — a mecca for art, shopping, design, and Michelin-starred restaurants. Meanwhile, guests at the Four Seasons Hotel Tokyo at Marunouchi loved the sense of calm that pervaded the luxury hotel, which is set in one of the most frenetic parts of the city (picture crowds of commuters darting en masse amid futuristic, neon-lit skyscrapers).

No. 3 on the list is the Ritz-Carlton, which takes high-rise hotels to a whole new level— literally, as it occupies the top nine floors of the city’s second-tallest skyscraper, the Midtown Tower. As you’d expect, the views from all 245 rooms are some of the best you’ll get in Tokyo (many take in Mount Fuji). And while most of the hotel is hyper-modern, the restaurant contains a reconstructed 200-year-old teahouse.

So which Tokyo hotel earned the coveted No. 1 spot? It just so happens to be a repeat winner from 2017. Read on to find out.

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5. Four Seasons Hotel Tokyo at Marunouchi

Courtesy of Four Seasons Hotels

Score: 91.37

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4. Mandarin Oriental

Courtesy of Mandarin Oriental

Score: 93.04

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3. Ritz-Carlton

Courtesy of The Ritz-Carlton

Score: 93.33

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2. Palace Hotel

Courtesy of Palace Hotel Tokyo

Score: 95.20

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1. The Peninsula

Courtesy of The Peninsula Tokyo

Score: 96.00

In a city where space is the ultimate luxury, the Peninsula Tokyo manages to make big-city living feel positively civilized. Here, even the smallest guest rooms are a roomy 579 square feet. But it’s the incredibly attentive service that led readers to proclaim it as “one of our all-time favorite hotels in the world.” There’s the Peninsula signature Rolls-Royce airport pickup, flawlessly executed kaiseki meals at Kyoto Tsuruya (one of four restaurants on the property), and expertly made cocktails at Peter: The Bar, on the rooftop, which has panoramic views of the Tokyo cityscape.

See all of our readers' favorite hotels, airlines, cruise lines, and more in the World's Best Awards for 2018.

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The Top 5 Tokyo City Hotels in 2018

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5. Four Seasons Hotel Tokyo at Marunouchi