64 Best Hotels in Tokyo, Japan

Smoothly blending modernity with traditional Japanese aesthetics, the Strings by InterContinental is one of Shinagawa's top-tier hotels, where the lobby features an artful mix of dark wood and stone—as well as a glass bridge that spans a pond—and where the rooms have high-quality linens, natural wood accents, and astounding city views (it can be mesmerizing to watch the trains pass efficiently through Shinagawa Station). Prices in the hotel restaurants tend to be high, but the Shinagawa area has dining options for every budget. Access is a breeze to the Kyoto- and Nagoya-bound shinkansen (bullet train) and direct trains to both Narita and Haneda Airport .

This hotel is popular with budget-minded foreign visitors who prefer to stay near the small Japanese restaurants and bars of the Ningyocho area of Nihonbashi. A shallow rock pond and stone lantern welcome you inside, but that's where the graces end. The biggest twin rooms are long and narrow, and the bathrooms are tiny units with low ceilings. The best accommodations are the three tatami-floored rooms on the second floor overlooking a small Japanese garden. Multicourse Japanese meals are available at an extra cost in the restaurant, Kappo Sumisho, and the original Mitsukoshi Department Store is within walking distance.

Most of central Tokyo is readily accessible by train from this hotel beside the city's most popular sports facility (check the summer baseball schedule), where entertainments include a small amusement park and a hot-springs spa. Although rooms are a tad tired and awash in beige, they're reasonably sized and feature a sports motif. The 43rd-floor Artist's Cafe offers live music and overlooks the the "Big Egg," home of the Central League's Yomiuri Giants. Batter up!

Just off Cat Street, which connects trendy Shibuya with equally trendy Harajuku (aka Omotesando), this boutique hotel has an open terrace, a lobby-lounge bar, and other common areas where guests have the opportunity to interact with locals and feel a part of Tokyo's creative scene. Each of Trunk's 15 rooms and suites has a unique layout, but all are on the artsy side; some feature an outdoor space. In addition, the hotel offers different experiences like area architecture tours.