Five-star Three MICHELIN Keys Marunouchi, Tokyo
Palace Hotel Tokyo
Across the moat from the Imperial Palace gardens, on the site of a hotel first opened in 1961, with balconies on more than half of its 284 rooms.
Opens the hotel's own website. We have no arrangement with the hotel.
- MICHELIN
- Three Keys, 2024 and 2026
- Rooms
- 284, including 18 suites
- Opened
- 1961, rebuilt and reopened May 2012
- From the airport
- About 30 minutes from Haneda (our estimate)
The hotel
Rebuilt on the palace moat.
The site faces the Imperial Palace across its moat. In 1947 the Hotel Teito opened here in the former Forestry Office of the Imperial Household, and on 1 October 1961 the first Palace Hotel replaced it with 450 rooms, ready for the Tokyo Olympics three years later. It is still Japanese-owned and run, and Tokyo Station lies about ten minutes away on foot, by an underground passage from the hotel's basement arcade.
The old building was then taken down. After three years of work and about a billion US dollars, a 23-storey hotel by Mitsubishi Jisho Sekkei reopened on 17 May 2012. Some of the original Shigaraki tiles came back, and so did the counter of the Royal Bar. More than a thousand works of art hang inside, and stone sculptures by Masayuki Nagare stand around the building.
- On the gardens More than half the rooms have a balcony, and the hotel looks straight over the moat to the palace gardens.
- evian SPA TOKYO 1,200 square metres on the fifth floor, with an indoor pool and Jacuzzi; the spa holds its own Forbes Five-Star rating.
- Royal Bar The bar of the 1961 hotel, its old counter restored and brought back for the new building.
Rooms & suites
Balconies over the moat.
266 rooms and 18 suites, from 45 to 255 square metres. Most bathrooms have a separate soaking tub and shower.
- Rooms Guest rooms From 45 square metres, many with a private balcony over the Imperial Palace gardens or the Marunouchi skyline.
- Suites The suites Eighteen in all, up to 255 square metres; the largest is the Palace Suite.
Dining
Seven restaurants, three bars.
Restaurants as listed by the hotel; the star is from the current MICHELIN Guide Tokyo. Shown for information.
- Esterre One Michelin star French With DUCASSE Paris, the house of Alain Ducasse
- Wadakura Kaiseki Japanese, designed by A.N.D.
- Sushi Kanesaka Sushi Counter in the hotel
- Amber Palace Chinese Run by the Chugoku Hanten group
- Tatsumi Tempura Japanese
- Grand Kitchen All-day dining In the hotel
Recognition
A Japanese house with three Keys.
- Three MICHELIN Keys 2024, the first Japan selection, and 2026
- Forbes Travel Guide Five stars since 2016, the first wholly Japanese-owned and run hotel to earn them
- evian SPA TOKYO Forbes Five-Star spa
Good to know
Before you go.
- Arrival Check-in from 3 pm, check-out by noon.
- Children Guests of all ages are welcome; from 12 they count as adults. Babysitting on request.
- On foot Tokyo Station is about ten minutes away, by an underground passage from the basement arcade.
Getting there
Flying to Tokyo.
Haneda is about 30 minutes away by car and Narita about an hour and a quarter, both our estimates. Private jets use the business jet gate at Haneda Terminal 3, or Narita's Premier Gate when Haneda slots are short.
- Seoul 1 h 55
- Shanghai 2 h 40
- Hong Kong 4 h 10
- Singapore 7 h 20 long-range jet
- London 13 h 00 long-range jet
Questions
What guests ask first.
- How many MICHELIN Keys does Palace Hotel Tokyo have?
- Three. It received three Keys in the first MICHELIN Key selection for Japan in 2024 and holds three in 2026.
- Which airport is closest to Palace Hotel Tokyo?
- Haneda, about 30 minutes by car by our estimate. Narita is roughly an hour and a quarter away.
- Do the rooms at Palace Hotel Tokyo have balconies?
- More than half of them do. The hotel faces the Imperial Palace gardens across the moat.
- Can SkyCourtage arrange the flight to Tokyo?
- Yes. We arrange Business and First Class seats on scheduled airlines and private jet charter to Tokyo, with one final price, our margin included. The hotel is booked with the hotel or through our booking partner.
Also in Tokyo
Other hotels worth the trip.
- Bvlgari Hotel Tokyo Near Tokyo Station, with a spa and an indoor pool on the 40th floor behind floor-to-ceiling windows.
- Four Seasons Hotel Tokyo at Otemachi In the Otemachi One tower, looking over the palace gardens, with Mount Fuji in view on clear days.
- The Capitol Hotel Tokyu Shoji screens and natural wood beside Hie Shrine, and a hidden bar overlooking the garden.
- Aman Tokyo Six high floors of the Otemachi Tower in washi paper, stone and wood, under high ceilings.
- JANU Tokyo Opened in 2024, with eight restaurants and many rooms turned towards Tokyo Tower.
- Hotel New Otani Tokyo – Executive House Zen Two private floors within the New Otani, with a rose garden and cypress-wood baths in the suites.
- Mandarin Oriental, Tokyo Rooms between the 30th and 36th floors of the Nihonbashi Mitsui Tower, with Tokyo Skytree in the window.
- The Okura Tokyo Two towers in Toranomon, and a lobby recreated by Yoshio Taniguchi after his father’s original design.
- The Peninsula Tokyo Conceived as a Japanese lantern between Marunouchi and Ginza, and open since 2007.
- The Prince Gallery Tokyo Kioicho, a Luxury Collection Hotel Opened in July 2016, its 250 rooms sit some 180 metres above the street; one MICHELIN Key.
- The Ritz-Carlton, Tokyo The hotel takes the top nine floors of Tokyo Midtown, and its spa on the 46th has a twenty-metre pool.
- Park Hyatt Tokyo Reopened in December 2025 after a restoration of nineteen months, with the New York Grill & Bar kept on the 52nd floor.
- Andaz Tokyo Toranomon Hills 164 rooms high in Toranomon Hills, and an open-air bar with a tea counter on the 52nd floor.
- Conrad Tokyo Floors 28 to 37 of a Shiodome tower, looking over Tokyo Bay and the Hamarikyu Gardens.
- Takanawa Hanakohro Garden suites whose shoji screens slide open onto a Japanese garden, given Five Stars by Forbes six years in a row.
- The Tokyo EDITION, Ginza Ian Schrager and Kengo Kuma designed its 86 rooms, a rooftop bar and a Punch Room.
Staying at Palace Hotel Tokyo?
Book the room, then the flight.
Rates and availability come from the hotel itself. For the journey to Tokyo, a Business or First Class seat or an aircraft of your own: tell us the date and we come back with one final price, our margin included.
Opens the hotel's own website. We have no arrangement with the hotel.