Luxury Hotels in Japan

Japan's five-star tier is consistently excellent, so the useful question is what the money actually buys — and it is not quite the list it would be elsewhere. Space is the big one: ordinary Japanese hotel rooms run around 10 m², so the jump to a suite is a bigger change here than the same upgrade in Europe or America. After that comes a bath worth having, often a private onsen in your own room, and at a luxury ryokan a serious kaiseki dinner that is a large part of the rate.

The more useful question is what the money actually buys, because it is not quite the same list as elsewhere.

What does a five-star hotel in Japan buy you?

• Space. This is the big one. Given that ordinary Japanese hotel rooms run around 10 m², the jump to a suite with room to spread out is a bigger change here than the equivalent upgrade in Europe or America. If a small room is the thing that would spoil the trip, this is where the budget goes furthest.
• A bath worth having. At the top end that often means a private onsen on the balcony or in the bathroom — mineral water piped to your own room. There is no Western equivalent of this and it is the single most Japanese thing money can buy here.
• The kitchen. A luxury ryokan is really a restaurant that happens to have rooms. A serious kaiseki dinner, cooked to order and served course by course, is a large part of the rate.
• Service. Japanese hospitality is attentive at every price level, so this is less of a step change than you might expect — but at the top it becomes anticipatory in a way that is quietly remarkable.

City hotel or luxury ryokan?

Worth deciding which you want, because they are very different nights.

The international city hotel — a high floor over Tokyo or Osaka, a bar with a view, a spa, Western service conventions. Reliable, easy, and much like the best hotels in any global city, with the city itself as the difference. Prince Park Tower beside Tokyo Tower, Hotel Metropolitan Marunouchi by Tokyo Station and the Capitol Hotel Tokyu are all in this bracket.

The luxury ryokan — the other direction entirely. Tatami, kaiseki, a private hot-spring bath, a garden, and a staff who will quietly organise your evening for you. Togetsutei in Arashiyama has been running since 1897 and has rooms with their own baths. Sora Niwa Terrace in Kyoto sits between the two ideas — a modern hotel with a ninth-floor onsen fed by a real hot spring, some rooms with private baths of their own, and Gion and Pontochō a short walk away. Hotel Gajoen in Meguro is the most unusual of them, a 1930s building full of original painted panels.

When is a luxury stay worth it?

A couple of honest observations. The gap between a ¥15,000 business hotel and a ¥40,000 mid-range hotel in Japan is smaller than you would expect, because the ¥15,000 room is already clean, quiet and well run. The gap between ¥40,000 and ¥150,000 is much larger, because that is where space, a private onsen and a kaiseki kitchen enter the picture.

So if you are going to spend, spend properly and for one or two nights rather than spreading it thinly across a trip. A single night in a genuinely fine ryokan will be remembered long after a week of slightly-nicer hotel rooms has blurred.

Book early. The best rooms at the best-known properties go months ahead, and autumn and cherry blossom weekends are the hardest of all.

Compare hotel prices for your dates. Choosing the right base, and judging the hotels once you are looking at them, is covered in our guide to where to stay in Japan.