This Hotel Bar Has the Best Views of Tokyo
Tokyo’s blinding lights and frenzied masses can be a lot to experience at street level — which is why our preferred vantage is a swanky hotel bar, 45 stories above ground à la "Lost in Translation."
The mythic Park Hyatt Tokyo, where the 2003 flick was actually filmed, is an obvious go-to. But if you don’t want to deal with crowds of movie-obsessed tourists, set your sights on the recently revamped Ritz-Carlton, voted the second-best hotel in Tokyo in T+L's 2017 World's Best Awards.
Set inside the top nine floors of Tokyo Midtown (the city’s second-tallest building), the 248-room hotel, which celebrated its 10-year anniversary in 2017, offers pulse-quickening views at every turn.
The best place to take in the sights? The hotel’s resplendent sky lobby, which is set on the 45th floor and dazzles with marble floors, glittering chandeliers, and oversized windows framing the iconic skyline. The bar hosts daily piano performances and serves a mean cocktail (we tried the champagne-based Akane Royale), so prepare to hang around for a few hours.
If you get hungry, head to the new Towers Modern Bistro, where globally inspired fare like Kuroge Wagyu beef rib and Tsukiji market fish comes with dead-on views of the Tokyo Tower (seriously — it’s so close, you’ll want to reach out and touch it). Don’t leave without trying the decadent Manjari chocolate tart, with notes of coffee and sansho pepper.
Prefer to stay in? Your guestroom has a featherbed topped with Frette linens, a marble bathroom, and huge windows that bring the outside in. We’d recommend staring dreamily out them like Scarlett Johansson.
