Palace Hotel Tokyo

An independent 5-star hotel, Japanese-owned and Japanese-run, at 1-1-1 Marunouchi on the Imperial Palace moat. According to the official overview, it reopened in 2012 after a 3-year rebuild with 284 rooms, 10 restaurants and bars, an evian spa and event rooms, beside the Palace Building offices; it belongs to The Leading Hotels of the World.

In 2026, says its awards page, it holds 3 Michelin Keys for a third year, Forbes’ 5 stars for an eleventh and Travel + Leisure readers’ best hotel in Tokyo for a second. On the same plot Hotel Teito opened in 1947 and the Palace Hotel in 1961, with 407 rooms.

The official list has 13 types from 45 to 250 m²: Deluxe, Deluxe with Balcony and Grand Deluxe at 45 and 55 m²; the same 3 as Club rooms, with the lounge on the 19th floor; and 7 suites, from the 75 m² Executive and Garden Suites to the 120 m² Park and Terrace Suites and the Palace Suite. Rooms face the Otemon Gate or, to the south, Wadakura Fountain Park, and many have a balcony.

All have a minibar, a Nespresso machine, Bamford toiletries, Imabari towels and a waterproof television in the bathroom, and all are non-smoking, balconies included. The Palace Suite measures 210 to 250 m², according to its official page, read on 15 October 2026, and it can connect to a 45 m² Club Deluxe room.

In Marunouchi, Chiyoda ward, facing the Imperial Palace gardens: the moat and Wadakura park lie beneath the windows. It is the district of offices and corporate headquarters, with the shops of Marunouchi Naka-dori, according to the neighbourhood page.

Guests find it calm for Tokyo; one in July 2026 calls it quieter precisely because it is a business district, and another that month notes few restaurants outside the hotel.

On walking routes calculated with OpenStreetMap: the Otemon Gate, the way into the East Gardens, 247 metres, 3 minutes; Wadakura park, 330 metres; the Marunouchi North Exit of Tokyo Station, 840 metres, 11 minutes; the Marunouchi Building, 761 metres; Nijubashi bridge, 1,070 metres, 14 minutes; the Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum, 1,115 metres, 15 minutes.

The official page puts the station at 8 to 10 minutes, Booking.com at 8. Otemachi metro is reached without going outside, through Exit C13b in the basement.

According to the official page: from Haneda, 20 km away, about 40 minutes by taxi, 30 by train and 70 to 85 by airport limousine bus; from Narita, 60 km away, 60 to 90 minutes by taxi, about 60 on the Narita Express and 80 to 120 by bus.

The hotel also arranges a chauffeured Mercedes S-Class or V-Class, to be requested ahead, says the transport page, which publishes no fares. In August 2026, 2 guests write that the airport limousine bus for Narita no longer stops at the hotel: ask the concierge before counting on it.

Yes, a secure underground car park: 500 yen per 30 minutes including tax, and for staying guests 3,300 yen a night, or 4,300 with valet, according to the transport page. Club and suite guests self-park free; for them, the same page says, valet costs 1,000 yen a night.

No: it is a city hotel in central Tokyo. The water outside is the Imperial Palace moat and the fountains of Wadakura park; there is no beach or access to the sea, and for a swim there is the indoor pool on the fifth floor.

Indoor, beside the gym on the fifth floor: 20 metres by 5, with windows onto the Marunouchi towers, says the official page. The Japanese FAQ gives its depth, 1.2 metres, and a jacuzzi in the pool area, used in swimwear.

It is for staying guests only, at no charge. Swimsuits can be hired for 550 yen, caps are free, and you may come down from your room in bathrobe and slippers.

It opens from 6:30am to 10pm, last entry 9pm, all year; it closes from 18 January 2027 until 3pm on 23 January for annual maintenance, says the official notice. The official pages give no water temperature; being indoors, it is used in winter too.

10 venues, according to the official page: Esterre by Alain Ducasse, French, one Michelin star, on the sixth floor; Wadakura, with kaiseki, Tatsumi’s tempura, GO’s teppanyaki and Sushi Kanesaka; Amber Palace, Cantonese and Shanghainese, one star in the Michelin Guide Tokyo 2025; and Grand Kitchen, 6:30am to 10pm, with its terrace on the moat.

Then Royal Bar, until midnight, The Palace Lounge and Lounge Bar Privé, from 11am or 11:30am to midnight, the Sweets & Deli pastry shop in the basement and 24-hour in-room dining. Esterre closes on Mondays and Tuesdays and asks men for a jacket; everywhere a 15% service charge is added.

It depends on the rate: the site also sells Bed & Breakfast rates, with Grand Kitchen’s buffet. Otherwise, says the breakfast page, the buffet or the Japanese breakfast costs 7,500 yen plus 15% service, 6:30am to 10:30am, from 6am at weekends, for staying guests only; in the room, 6am to 11am, the continental breakfast is 4,000 yen and the others 7,500.

Club and suite guests breakfast in the 19th-floor Club Lounge, 7am to 10:30am, included. For children aged 6 to 12 the buffet is 3,600 yen plus service, and it is free up to 5, according to the Japanese FAQ.

evian SPA TOKYO fills 1,200 m² on the fifth floor, its windows on the palace gardens: 5 treatment rooms, a twin-bedded spa suite, separate men’s and women’s relaxation lounges and locker rooms, separate heated baths, a hot reclining bath, cold plunge and dry sauna for men and a marble sauna for women, according to the spa facilities page.

The men’s sauna is used in a towel, the women’s in a bathrobe. Forbes gave it 5 stars for a third year in 2026, and on a clear day, the hotel says, you can see Mount Fuji.

The pool and gym are included for staying guests. The heated baths and saunas cost 2,750 yen including tax; they are free with a treatment booked and for Club and suite guests, according to the spa facilities page and the Club Lounge page.

There is no day pass for visitors: the spa FAQ keeps the pool and gym for hotel guests, and the only way into the baths without a room is a treatment booking.

Spa reception opens 6:30am to 10pm, treatments 10am to 10pm with last entry at 8:30pm, the baths and saunas 6:30am to 10pm with last entry at 9pm, and the gym 24 hours, unstaffed from 8pm to 7am. Treatments should be booked ahead, says the visiting the spa page, which suggests arriving 60 minutes early; cancel after 3pm the day before and the full fee is charged.

Yes, but you may be asked to cover it: «You may be asked to cover any tattoos», say the hotel rules for the spa, pool, gym and saunas, and the Japanese spa FAQ answers likewise. No official page says how to cover it; an independent guide, Honto Japan, reads the rules the same way on 3 October 2026.

Treatments are from 18, the baths, saunas and gym from 16, the pool from 5. Phones and cameras are not used in the spa, and guests are asked not to drink alcohol before or after a treatment.

From the official menu, prices including consumption tax with 15% service on top: facials from 29,000 yen for 60 minutes, with the Japanese brand warew, to 45,000 for 90 minutes with Anne Semonin; body treatments at 28,000 yen for 60 minutes and 36,000 for 90; the signature ritual of 150 or 180 minutes at 72,000 and 86,000 yen.

The products are Anne Semonin, Omnisens and warew, many treatments use evian water, and each begins with a foot bath. There is a men’s collection from 33,000 yen and a treatment for expectant mothers from the fifth to the eighth month.

Yes: according to the Japanese FAQ, children up to 11 sleep free in their parents’ bed, from 12 they pay as adults, a cot up to 24 months is free and an extra bed costs 16,500 yen, or 44,000 in Club rooms. The amenities page lists children’s pyjamas, bathrobes and slippers.

The concierge runs origami and a treasure hunt round the hotel. Age limits matter: the Club Lounge admits under-13s until 5:30pm, Lounge Bar Privé children of 6 to 12 until 5pm, the tempura and sushi counters from 7, Esterre from 10. Some Deluxe rooms with balcony connect to a twin room.

The spa with its pool and gym, 10 restaurants and bars, the Club Lounge, event and wedding rooms, a basement arcade of shops and over 700 artworks, which Art Front Gallery’s staff show on a guided tour at 5,750 yen per group, according to the programmes page.

Guests can borrow bicycles free for 2 hours and join weekend yoga at 7am and lessons in origami, ikebana and the tea ceremony. Google Hotels lists bicycle hire as paid; the official page says it is free. Wi-Fi is free in every room, and pets are not allowed, assistance dogs apart.

On the offers page, read on 8 October 2026: breakfast-inclusive rates, ‘A Tokyo Christmas’, 2 nights with festive treats and decorations from 1 to 26 December, and the ‘Best of Japan’ packages, from Japanese fashion to gastronomy, as well as ‘A Touch of Dior’. The pages give no package prices.

For anniversaries, the FAQ says, the hotel will arrange a cake and flowers if asked when booking.

Yes: according to the weddings page the hotel has a chapel and a Shinto shrine, a photo studio, a bride’s room, hair stylists and florists in the basement, and ‘The Palace’ package in the VIP room, reserved for one party a day.

The pages publish no package prices or capacities and point to a request for proposal. Several families in 2025 and 2026 describe carefully run weddings and banquets on Google.

The 2026–27 programme had not been published by 8 October 2026. Last year’s, on the New Year events page, had a countdown party on 31 December 2025 from 11:30pm to 1am in the Aoi room, at 14,000 yen, 7,000 for children under 12, and on 1 January a French dinner with a prize draw at 38,000 yen.

Between 31 December and 3 January there were also a festival with games, the first tea ceremony of the year and mochi pounding for guests. At Christmas, from 19 to 25 December 2026, Esterre serves a 50,000 yen dinner.

No: no official page mentions golf. The activities are urban: a guided tour of the Imperial Palace grounds, bicycles and cycling tours, cooking, the tea ceremony and lessons in Japanese etiquette.

Yes: it is a city hotel open year-round, and the official pages announce no closures. On Google Hotels, read on 7 October 2026, 113 of the 116 nights from 8 October 2026 to 31 January 2027 had a price; 17 November and 1 and 2 January did not, which does not mean the hotel is closed.

There are partial closures: the pool from 18 to 23 January 2027, Esterre on Mondays and Tuesdays and on dates listed on its page, and brief power cuts on 6 and 7 January 2027 for the statutory inspection.

Google Hotels, read on 7 October 2026, for 2 adults and one night, with consumption tax and service included, as the sellers’ links show: 183,368 yen on 8 October 2026, 245,120 yen on Saturday 10 October, 255,504 yen on 21 October, 152,512 yen on 2 November, 128,372 yen on 8 December, 347,600 yen on 31 December, New Year’s Eve, 104,388 yen on 4 January 2027 and 136,987 yen on 21 January.

Of the 116 nights read to 31 January, 113 had a price, from 104,388 yen to 347,600 yen; the calendar gives the day’s lowest price and does not say which room. For 8 October the card showed 173,048 yen on the official site and 168,496 yen on Klook. On 17 November and on 1 and 2 January there was no price at all.

On 7 October 2026 Google showed 4.5/5 from 6,423 ratings, Tripadvisor 4.7/5 from 1,745 with a Travellers’ Choice Best of the Best 2026, Booking.com 9.7/10 from 291, with value for money at 8.7, and Expedia 9.8/10 from 1,002; the Michelin Guide gives it 3 Keys.

In the latest 500 Google reviews with text, 91% of those who discuss the location are positive, 90% of those on the rooms and on breakfast, 87% on the staff. Praise goes to the gardens below the window, the spacious rooms with a balcony, the concierge and the Club Lounge. A Club room and the service are worth the difference for guests satisfied with the price. Restaurants add 15% service, and the spa’s baths and saunas cost 2,750 yen.

The terms of stay build the bill like this: the room, a 15% service charge, 10% consumption tax on both, and Tokyo’s accommodation tax, 200 yen per person per night when room and service exceed 15,000 yen a person, 100 yen between 10,000 and 14,999. Restaurants and extras carry service and consumption tax.

In Google Hotels’ response of 7 October, Booking.com’s link for 8 October carried 212,520 yen, 44,520 of it tax: room, service and consumption tax together, without the accommodation tax. The hotel declines tips, since service is already on the bill.

Check-in from 3pm and check-out by noon, according to the Japanese FAQ; some rates differ. If you will arrive after 11pm, or much later than expected, tell reception: the terms allow the hotel to cancel a booking if you have not arrived by 8pm without calling.

Club guests check in and out in the 19th-floor lounge. The pool and gym cannot be used before check-in or after check-out.