Hotels we recommend
Where to stay in Japan
27 hotels in Japan we would book for a client, in Kyoto, Tokyo, Osaka, Izu, Nara and beyond. 20 hold MICHELIN Keys. 15 of them book through a partner programme, which adds an upgrade where one is free, daily breakfast for two, a hotel credit and late checkout, at the hotel's own rate.
- Hotels
- 27
- Cities
- 8
- With MICHELIN Keys
- 20
- With partner perks
- 15
- Newest
- 2025
By city
The hotels
Kyoto · Nanzenji, Sakyo-ku
Fufu Kyoto
2021 · 40 rooms
A 40-room hot-spring ryokan-style hotel from the FUFU group, on the Lake Biwa Canal near Nanzen-ji in Kyoto's Sakyo ward, next door to the Murin-an garden. Four low floors of lacquer and lattice rooms, each with its own hinoki cypress bath, set around a preserved Japanese garden with a detached wooden house used as the bar.
1 MICHELIN Key
Kyoto · Shimogyo
Dusit Thani Kyoto
2023 · 147 rooms
A Dusit Thani of 147 rooms and suites set around a courtyard on Nishinotoin-dori in Shimogyo, in the Hongan-ji monzen-machi temple quarter near Nishi Hongan-ji, 850 metres from Kyoto Station. The interiors mix the aesthetics of Kyoto and Ayutthaya, and the restaurants are Thai as much as Japanese.
1 MICHELIN Key
Kyoto · Nakagyo
THE HIRAMATSU KYOTO
2020 · 29 rooms
A 29-room hotel from the Hiramatsu restaurant group in a Meiji-period machiya on Muromachi-dori just north of Sanjo, in central Nakagyo, once the house and shop of a kimono draper. The yarn-merchant lattice facade is almost unchanged; inside are a pine garden, a bamboo garden, a pre-1899 kura storehouse used as a lounge, and Japanese and Italian restaurants.
Kyoto · Arashiyama
Muni Kyoto
2020 · 21 rooms · Renovated 2026
MUNI KYOTO is a 21-room hotel on the bank of the Katsura river at Arashiyama, in western Kyoto, looking at the Togetsukyo bridge and the wooded hills, a few minutes' walk from Tenryu-ji. The building by Yasuda Atelier, with black-and-white interiors by Uchida Design Institute, has rooms of 50 to 70 sq m and a French restaurant serving a kaiseki-form tasting menu.
Kyoto · Kawaramachi Oike
Hotel Okura Kyoto
1888 · 320 rooms · Renovated 1994
A 320-room city hotel at the Kawaramachi-Oike crossing in Nakagyo, on the site of the Choshu domain's Kyoto residence, where a Western-style hotel has stood since 1890. The present 17-storey building opened in 1994, with the subway station connected underneath and the upper floors looking east to the Higashiyama hills.
Kyoto · Okazaki
Hotel Okura Kyoto Okazaki Bettei
2022 · 60 rooms
A 60-room Okura hotel in the Okazaki district of Sakyo, set within the precincts of Higashi Hongan-ji's Okazaki Betsuin temple on Marutamachi-dori. Rooms are themed as Higashiyama mountain villas and fitted throughout with work by the GO ON collective of Kyoto craft heirs; dinner is Okura's French cooking at Nouvelle Epoque.
Kyoto · Nijo
HOTEL THE MITSUI KYOTO, a Luxury Collection Hotel & Spa
2020 · 161 rooms
A 160-room hotel directly in front of Nijo Castle in central Kyoto, on the site of the Kyoto residence of the Kitake, the executive branch of the Mitsui family, which the family held for more than 250 years. Guests enter through the restored 1703 Kajiimiya Gate, the rooms are a modern take on the Japanese tearoom, and a natural hot spring rises from about 1,000 metres below the building.
3 MICHELIN Keys · Marriott STARS
Kyoto · Saga-Tenryuji, Arashiyama
Suiran, a Luxury Collection Hotel, Kyoto
2015 · 39 rooms
A 39-room hotel on the Hozu River in Arashiyama, western Kyoto, on part of the grounds of Tenryu-ji where the government guest ryokan Rantei once stood. Two restored buildings survive on the estate, Baron Shozo Kawasaki's 1899 summer villa and a 1910 thatched-roof building, and 17 of the rooms have their own hot-spring bath.
1 MICHELIN Key · Marriott STARS
Kyoto · Nijo
The Ritz-Carlton, Kyoto
2014 · 134 rooms
A 134-room hotel on the west bank of the Kamogawa at Nijo-Ohashi in central Kyoto, on a riverside site favoured by the nobility since the 17th century, looking across the water to the Higashiyama mountains. Set around Zen rock gardens and a four-storey waterfall, it keeps the character of a Meiji-era house and courtyard and a preserved listed building, Ebisugawa-tei.
1 MICHELIN Key · Marriott STARS
Tokyo · Ginza
The Tokyo EDITION, Ginza
2024 · 86 rooms
An 86-room hotel in a 14-storey tower at 2-8-13 Ginza, just off Chuo-dori in Ginza 2-chome, EDITION's second in Tokyo after Toranomon. Kengo Kuma wrapped the building in a latticed metal facade and vertical gardens; inside are walnut-panelled rooms on floors 3 to 13, a lobby bar, a Punch Room on the lobby mezzanine, an Italian restaurant on the 14th floor and a rooftop bar above it.
Marriott STARS
Tokyo · Takanawa
JW Marriott Hotel Tokyo
2025 · 200 rooms
A hotel of 200 rooms and suites on floors 23 to 30 of The Linkpillar 1 South, a 30-storey tower at Takanawa Gateway City directly connected to Takanawa Gateway station, between Shinagawa and Tamachi. Low-lit, wood-panelled interiors by Yabu Pushelberg draw on Zen gardens and the Edo-period views of Goten-yama, with Tokyo Bay on one side and Tokyo Tower on the other.
1 MICHELIN Key · Marriott Luminous
Tokyo · Yurakucho
The Peninsula Tokyo
2007 · 314 rooms
A freestanding 24-storey tower at 1-8-1 Yurakucho, on the edge of Marunouchi facing Hibiya Park and the Imperial Palace gardens, three minutes' walk from Ginza. Kazukiyo Sato designed it as a Japanese lantern, and the rooms, from 51 sq m, are among the largest in the city.
1 MICHELIN Key · The Peninsula PenClub
Tokyo · Toranomon
The Tokyo EDITION, Toranomon
2020 · 206 rooms
A 206-key EDITION, 22 of them suites, in a skyscraper at 4-1-1 Toranomon, Minato, with its sky lobby on level 31 facing Tokyo Tower and Tokyo Bay. Designed by Kengo Kuma with Ian Schrager in light wood, with terrace rooms from level 31 up, rare in a Tokyo tower hotel.
Marriott STARS
Tokyo · Toranomon
The Okura Tokyo
1962 · 508 rooms · Renovated 2019
The Okura, opened as Hotel Okura in 1962 on the Okura family estate in Toranomon, Minato, among the embassies and ministries, and rebuilt in 2019 as two buildings: the 41-storey Prestige Tower and the lower Heritage Wing. The 1962 Main Lobby by Yoshiro Taniguchi was reproduced in the tower by his son Yoshio Taniguchi, down to the plum-blossom lacquer tables and the stones from the original.
1 MICHELIN Key
Tokyo · Roppongi
The Ritz-Carlton, Tokyo
2007 · 248 rooms · Renovated 2024
A hotel on the top nine floors of the 53-storey Midtown Tower in Tokyo Midtown, Roppongi, with the lobby on the 45th floor. The floor-to-ceiling windows face the Imperial Palace gardens, Tokyo Bay, Shinjuku or, on clear days, Mount Fuji.
1 MICHELIN Key · Marriott STARS
Osaka · Shinsaibashi
W Osaka
2021 · 337 rooms
Japan's first W, opened on 16 March 2021 on Midosuji Boulevard in Minami Semba, between Shinsaibashi and Dotonbori. Tadao Ando's black monolith façade hides interiors by the Amsterdam studio concrete, in neon and colour, across 337 rooms and suites up to the 27th floor.
1 MICHELIN Key · Marriott Luminous
Osaka · Osaka Castle
Patina Osaka
2025 · 221 rooms
Patina's first city hotel, a 20-storey, 221-key building a minute's walk from Osaka Castle Park, looking over the castle park and Naniwa-no-miya Park, opened on 1 May 2025. Architecture by Jun Mitsui & Associates and interiors by Strickland in wood, plaster, washi and stone, taking cues from the castle's copper roofs and moats.
1 MICHELIN Key
Osaka · Umeda
The Ritz-Carlton, Osaka
1997 · 291 rooms · Renovated 2024
Japan's first Ritz-Carlton, opened in May 1997 in Umeda, Osaka, with 291 rooms and suites on the 24th to 37th floors of a tower above the business district. The interiors are modelled on an 18th-century English aristocratic residence, and a doorman in a silk hat meets guests at the door.
1 MICHELIN Key · Marriott STARS
Izu · Shuzenji
Asaba Ryokan
The public baths are being rebuilt as two outdoor baths, one for men and one for women, reopening in November 2026
1484 · 10 rooms
Asaba is a ten-room ryokan in Shuzenji Onsen in central Izu, founded in 1484 as a lodging house in front of Shuzenji temple and kept by the Asaba family ever since. Its rooms face a pond and a Noh stage, the Gekkeiden, which hosts seasonal Noh, Kyogen, Shinnai and Japanese dance performances.
3 MICHELIN Keys
Izu · Amagi Yugashima Onsen
Ochiairo
1874 · 17 rooms · Renovated 2025
A hot-spring ryokan founded in 1874 at Yugashima in the Amagi mountains of central Izu, on the bank where two rivers meet, which gives it its name. Its buildings are a Registered Tangible Cultural Property, the inn was a retreat for writers from Toson Shimazaki to Yasunari Kawabata, and it has 16 rooms and a private villa, with one MICHELIN Key.
1 MICHELIN Key
Nara · Noboriojicho, Nara Park
Shisui, a Luxury Collection Hotel, Nara
2023 · 43 rooms
A 43-room hotel on the western edge of Nara Park, set in the Yoshikien garden that was once part of the grounds of Kofuku-ji, with Kasuga Taisha, Kofuku-ji and Todai-ji around it. Reception, restaurant and lounge occupy the low wooden residence built in 1922 for the governor of Nara, entered through its original roofed gate, and the design and interiors are by Kengo Kuma & Associates.
1 MICHELIN Key · Marriott STARS
Nara · Omiya
JW Marriott Hotel Nara
2020 · 158 rooms
A 158-room hotel in central Nara, opened on 22 July 2020 as the first JW Marriott in Japan and Nara's first international luxury hotel, linked by a bridge to the Nara Convention Center. It has 16 suites, an Executive Lounge and a spa modelled on the Tenpyo-era temples around the city.
1 MICHELIN Key · Marriott Luminous
Nikko · Honcho, beside the Tamozawa Imperial Villa
Fufu Nikko
2020 · 24 rooms
A 24-suite hot-spring ryokan from the FUFU group in Nikko, beside the Tamozawa Imperial Villa Memorial Park on the site of the villa's 1914 annexe, a 14- to 16-minute walk from the World Heritage shrines and temples. The style is Taisho-era Japanese-Western, after the imperial villa, and every suite has an open-air bath fed by the hotel's own spring.
2 MICHELIN Keys
Nikko · Lake Chuzenji
The Ritz-Carlton, Nikko
2020 · 94 rooms
A 94-room hotel inside Nikko National Park on the shore of Lake Chuzenji in Oku-Nikko, Tochigi, looking across the lake to Mount Nantai, in three wings (Main, Lake and Mountain). It is designed as a lakeside residence, every room has a balcony and an engawa-style lounge, and it has the brand's first onsen, fed from Nikko Yumoto Onsen.
2 MICHELIN Keys · Marriott STARS
Niseko · Hanazono
Park Hyatt Niseko Hanazono
2020 · 100 rooms
A ski-in, ski-out resort hotel on the Hanazono side of Mount Annupuri in Niseko, Hokkaido, with 100 hotel rooms and suites alongside branded residences. Its rooms look across the Annupuri range to Mount Yotei, and the interiors draw on an alpine village, a mountain lodge and Japanese craft.
1 MICHELIN Key · Hyatt Privé
Niseko · Higashiyama
Higashiyama Niseko Village, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve
2020 · 50 rooms
A 50-room ski-in, ski-out resort at the foot of Mount Niseko Annupuri in Niseko Village, Hokkaido, and the first Ritz-Carlton Reserve in Japan. Polished marble, cedarwood and flame-finished granite frame views of Mount Yotei and Annupuri, with a hot-spring onsen fed from Niseko's underground springs.
1 MICHELIN Key · Marriott STARS
Karuizawa · Kyu-Karuizawa
Mampei Hotel
1894 · 86 rooms · Renovated 2024
A classic resort hotel in Sakuranosawa, old Karuizawa, which began as the Kameya Inn on the Nakasendo in 1764, became a Western-style hotel in 1894 and moved to its present site in 1902. Its Alps Wing of 1936, by Kume Gonkuro, is a registered tangible cultural property, and the later Atago and Usui wings stand around a wooded courtyard.
On our list
Hotels in Japan we rate but have not yet stayed in, drawn hollow on the map. The hotels above are first-hand; these are where we are going next. We book them as we book the rest.
Yaesu
Three MICHELIN Keys and Forbes Five-Star; on our list for the top seven floors of Tokyo Midtown Yaesu.
The top seven floors of Tokyo Midtown Yaesu, and one of only three Three-Key hotels in the city.
Marunouchi
Three MICHELIN Keys and Forbes Five-Star; on our list for a Japanese-owned hotel facing the Imperial Palace moat.
Japanese-owned, facing the Imperial Palace moat. The quiet answer to every international flag in Tokyo.
Otemachi
Four Seasons Hotel Tokyo at Otemachi
Three MICHELIN Keys and Forbes Four-Star; on our list for bath views of Fuji above the thirty-ninth floor.
Thirty-ninth floor upward, with the best bath view in Tokyo on a clear Fuji morning.
Ago Bay
Three MICHELIN Keys; on our list for Kerry Hill's onsen Aman on Ago Bay.
Onsen Aman on Ago Bay in Mie — Kerry Hill again, and one of only seven Three-Key hotels in Japan.
Gora
Three MICHELIN Keys; on our list for an imperial prince's former summer villa.
The former summer villa of an imperial prince, and the ryokan most Japanese would name first.
Onna coast
Two MICHELIN Keys and Forbes Five-Star; on our list for the orchid pool on the protected Onna coast.
The Honolulu hotel's sister on a stretch of Onna coast protected as a quasi-national park, with five pools led by its orchid pool.
Nagatacho
Two MICHELIN Keys and Forbes Five-Star; on our list for the trees of Hie Shrine in Nagatacho.
Beside the trees of Hie Shrine in Nagatacho, with its own entrance from Tameike-Sanno station.
Otemachi
Two MICHELIN Keys and Forbes Four-Star; on our list for Kerry Hill's thirty-metre atrium above Otemachi.
Kerry Hill's thirty-metre atrium above Otemachi — the one that proved a city Aman could work.
Azabudai Hills
Two MICHELIN Keys; on our list for Aman's second brand, in Azabudai Hills.
Aman's second brand, opened 2024 in Azabudai Hills — louder than an Aman, and deliberately so.
Takagamine
Two MICHELIN Keys; on our list for a textile collector's secret garden north of Kyoto.
A secret garden north of the city that a textile collector spent decades laying out and never built on.
Gion
Two MICHELIN Keys; on our list for Tadao Ando's nine rooms on the Shirakawa canal.
Tadao Ando on the Shirakawa canal, nine rooms, run by the Grill family of Vienna.
Hanazono
Two MICHELIN Keys; on our list for birch-forest villas with indoor and outdoor onsen.
Fifteen villas in the birch forest above Hanazono, each with its own indoor and outdoor onsen.
And 14 more in Japan on our list, on the guide’s map.
From our Japan Desk
The ryokans and hotels in Japan that our team in Japan books, Japanese houses and international names alike. Each has its own page: the baths, the rooms, dinner, and what to know before you book.
Hotel · Marunouchi, Tokyo
On the Wadakura moat, opposite the Imperial Palace gardens
Hotel · Marunouchi, Tokyo
Kingo Tatsuno's 1914 station, rooms looking into its domes
Hotel · Hannyaji-cho, Nara
Suites of joined cells in a 1908 red-brick Meiji prison
Hotel · Sekiguchi, Tokyo
Yamagata Aritomo's 1878 garden, pagoda and sea of clouds
Hotel · Uchisaiwaicho, Tokyo
Japan's state guest house of 1890, facing Hibiya Park
What to know
Fufu Kyoto; Dusit Thani Kyoto; THE HIRAMATSU KYOTO; Muni Kyoto; Hotel Okura Kyoto; Hotel Okura Kyoto Okazaki Bettei; HOTEL THE MITSUI KYOTO, a Luxury Collection Hotel & Spa; Suiran, a Luxury Collection Hotel, Kyoto; The Ritz-Carlton, Kyoto; The Tokyo EDITION, Ginza; JW Marriott Hotel Tokyo; The Peninsula Tokyo; The Tokyo EDITION, Toranomon; The Okura Tokyo; The Ritz-Carlton, Tokyo; W Osaka; Patina Osaka; The Ritz-Carlton, Osaka; Asaba Ryokan; Ochiairo; Shisui, a Luxury Collection Hotel, Nara; JW Marriott Hotel Nara; Fufu Nikko; The Ritz-Carlton, Nikko; Park Hyatt Niseko Hanazono; Higashiyama Niseko Village, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve and Mampei Hotel. Each has its own page with the rooms, the restaurants and what booking through us adds.
HOTEL THE MITSUI KYOTO, a Luxury Collection Hotel & Spa (three MICHELIN Keys); Asaba Ryokan (three MICHELIN Keys); Fufu Nikko (two MICHELIN Keys); The Ritz-Carlton, Nikko (two MICHELIN Keys); Fufu Kyoto (one MICHELIN Key); Dusit Thani Kyoto (one MICHELIN Key); Suiran, a Luxury Collection Hotel, Kyoto (one MICHELIN Key); The Ritz-Carlton, Kyoto (one MICHELIN Key); JW Marriott Hotel Tokyo (one MICHELIN Key); The Peninsula Tokyo (one MICHELIN Key); The Okura Tokyo (one MICHELIN Key); The Ritz-Carlton, Tokyo (one MICHELIN Key); W Osaka (one MICHELIN Key); Patina Osaka (one MICHELIN Key); The Ritz-Carlton, Osaka (one MICHELIN Key); Ochiairo (one MICHELIN Key); Shisui, a Luxury Collection Hotel, Nara (one MICHELIN Key); JW Marriott Hotel Nara (one MICHELIN Key); Park Hyatt Niseko Hanazono (one MICHELIN Key) and Higashiyama Niseko Village, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve (one MICHELIN Key).
Of the hotels we recommend, JW Marriott Hotel Tokyo, which opened in 2025. Patina Osaka followed in 2025.
Park Hyatt Niseko Hanazono: its rooms start at 65 square metres. Muni Kyoto from 60; The Ritz-Carlton, Nikko from 57 and THE HIRAMATSU KYOTO from 54.8.
HOTEL THE MITSUI KYOTO, a Luxury Collection Hotel & Spa (Marriott STARS); Suiran, a Luxury Collection Hotel, Kyoto (Marriott STARS); The Ritz-Carlton, Kyoto (Marriott STARS); The Tokyo EDITION, Ginza (Marriott STARS); JW Marriott Hotel Tokyo (Marriott Luminous); The Peninsula Tokyo (The Peninsula PenClub); The Tokyo EDITION, Toranomon (Marriott STARS); The Ritz-Carlton, Tokyo (Marriott STARS); W Osaka (Marriott Luminous); The Ritz-Carlton, Osaka (Marriott STARS); Shisui, a Luxury Collection Hotel, Nara (Marriott STARS); JW Marriott Hotel Nara (Marriott Luminous); The Ritz-Carlton, Nikko (Marriott STARS); Park Hyatt Niseko Hanazono (Hyatt Privé) and Higashiyama Niseko Village, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve (Marriott STARS). Booked through us, each adds a room upgrade where one is free, breakfast for two each day, a hotel credit and early check-in or late checkout when the hotel can give it, at no extra cost to you.
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