Our short list
Hotels
Places marked We've stayed here are ones we know first-hand. Mid-November is autumn-leaf season and Tokyo fills up, so book early, especially if you're using points.
If you hold an Amex Platinum or a Chase Sapphire Reserve, several of these are in Amex Fine Hotels + Resorts or Chase The Edit. Booking through the card's travel portal usually adds breakfast for two, a property credit and an upgrade when available. Membership changes, so double-check when you book.
Our favourite · Shiodome
Conrad Tokyo We've stayed here
The Conrad sits on the upper floors of a tower in Shiodome, and the bay-view rooms look straight down over the Hamarikyu gardens to Tokyo Bay and the Rainbow Bridge. The rooms are calm and generous, the service is lovely, and the views at night are hard to beat. It's a short walk to Shimbashi and Ginza, and an easy hop to Tokyo Station for the bullet train up to Karuizawa on the 13th.
Hilton Honors points · Amex Fine Hotels + Resorts
View on the map ↗
Splurge ¥¥¥
- Park Hyatt Tokyo We've stayed hereShinjuku · One of the best hotels in the city, on the top floors of Shinjuku Park Tower, with Mount Fuji on the horizon on a clear day. Don't miss the New York Bar on the 52nd floor, with live jazz every night and the view from Lost in Translation. It reopened in December 2025 after a top-to-bottom renovation. It's expensive, so it's worth trying to book with points.World of Hyatt points · Amex Fine Hotels + Resorts
- The Prince Gallery Tokyo Kioicho We've stayed hereAkasaka-Mitsuke · The hotel takes the top floors of a tower directly above Akasaka-Mitsuke station, with a sky lobby and bar looking out over the city. It's sleek and quiet, with floor-to-ceiling windows in every room, and only a short ride from the shrine.Marriott Bonvoy points · Amex Fine Hotels + Resorts · Chase The Edit
- The Ritz-Carlton, TokyoRoppongi (Tokyo Midtown) · The closest luxury hotel to Nogi-jinja, about a five-minute walk, so it's the easiest possible base for the 12th. It sits high up in Tokyo Midtown, with some of the largest rooms in the city and wide views towards Tokyo Tower and, on clear days, Mount Fuji.Marriott Bonvoy points · Amex Fine Hotels + Resorts · Chase The Edit
Something different ¥¥¥
- Hotel Chinzanso Tokyo We've stayed hereMejiro · A grand hotel set in a historic garden of old trees, stone lanterns and a centuries-old three-storey pagoda. The garden should be turning red and gold by mid-November. Look out for the garden's “sea of clouds”, a mist that drifts through the trees, and the spa with its hot-spring baths. It's a little out of the centre (around 25 minutes by taxi to the shrine), so think of it as a retreat rather than a base.
- Hoshinoya TokyoOtemachi · A modern ryokan inside a tower in the business district. You take your shoes off at the door and walk on tatami, each floor has its own lounge with tea and snacks, and on the roof there's a hot-spring bath fed from deep beneath the city. It's a few minutes' walk from Tokyo Station.
Good value ¥
- Dormy InnSeveral branches across Tokyo · Our pick of the business hotels. The rooms are compact and spotless, every hotel has a Japanese public bath (often real hot-spring water), and there's free late-night ramen. The breakfast is a proper Japanese spread. Choose whichever branch is closest to the area you want.
- Mustard Hotel ShimokitazawaShimokitazawa · Young and minimal, with a record player in every room and records you can borrow from the lobby. Downstairs there's a Sidewalk Coffee Roasters for morning coffee and bagels, and a small shochu bar. It's one stop from our own neighbourhood, Yoyogi-Uehara, and right in the middle of Shimokita's vintage shops and live-music bars.