These are unusual times, and the state of affairs can change quickly. Please check the latest travel guidance before making your journey. Note that our writer visited pre-pandemic.
Fast-paced, exhilarating – and exhausting. A trip to Tokyo often goes hand in hand with a hectic schedule of sightseeing, shopping and nightspot hopping (plus an often hefty dose of jetlag). So it’s perhaps just as well that many of the city’s top hotels house the perfect antidote to the urban chaos: serene spas. Often floating dozens of storeys above the ground, they offer world class treatments, from anti-jetlag massages and seasonal scrubs to restorative bamboo body treatments and soaks in cypress wood baths. Hoshinoya Tokyo even has its very own rooftop hot spring onsen – worth a trip to Tokyo for in itself. Here’s our pick of the best spa hotels in Tokyo for when we can travel again.
Mandarin Oriental, Tokyo
Tokyo, Japan
A sensual, grown-up, high-rise hotel with seriously fine dining and a good spa designed to dazzle. Designer Ryu Kosaka is a master of sexy, grown-up nightlife interiors, and he gave the hotel its alluring public spaces. The 179 rooms are enormous (for Tokyo), and all have views that scream megalopolis. Here’s a guilty pleasure: sitting in a sauna, 38 floors up, with a one-way window looking straight at worker bees in their offices. No swimming pool but the bathing, fitness and spa treatment rooms are all at that same altitude with views to remember.
From
£
350
per night
Rates provided by
Booking.com
• The best hotels in Tokyo
Aman Tokyo
Tokyo, Japan
Spanning two deliciously serene floors and an epic 2,500 square metres, the spa is a minimal sun-drenched enclave filled with clean-lined natural materials plus a soothing onsen-style stone bath with urban views across the city and sleek 30-metre pool. Treatments fuse seasonal herbs, local oils and traditional Japanese kampo to dramatically relaxing effect. Tip: it’s impossible to go wrong with the Aman Tokyo Signature Journey, which consists of a rejuvenating body scrub followed by a massage using Shiatsu and Western techniques using aromatic Japanese camphor oil.
From
£
813
per night
Rates provided by
Mr & Mrs Smith
Palace Hotel Tokyo
Tokyo, Japan
This historic hotel (with contemporary interiors) overlooks the Imperial Palace moat in the heart of Tokyo. The hotel offers an impressive collection of curated experiences and activities – from a behind-the-scenes lunch with sumo wrestlers and introductions to Japanese business etiquette to a bespoke architecture tour with local experts. Relaxation takes place courtesy of a serene white Evian-themed spa (recommended is its exclusive Vitalizing Signature treatment, with its gentle but powerful Japanese acupressure trigger points) plus a high-tech fitness centre and pool.
From
£
391
per night
Rates provided by
Booking.com
Andaz Tokyo Toranomon Hills
Tokyo, Japan
Views take centre stage at this Andaz, which is located in the revitalised Toranomon district. The rooms and eight suites are chic and contemporary with floor-to-ceiling glass, there’s a rooftop bar, and an excellent restaurant on the 51st floor. On the 37th floor, the airy AO Spa & Club resembles a modern-day apothecary, with its centre-stage Blend Bar packed with fresh green herbs, seasonal plants, fruits, spices and oils – which are used by therapists to create bespoke scrubs in front of guests (muscle-melting massages and facials are also on the menu). A 20-metre swimming pool has views overlooking the city.
From
£
317
per night
Rates provided by
Booking.com
Shangri-La Hotel, Tokyo
Tokyo, Japan
A highlight at this opulent hotel is the atmospheric Tibetan-inspired CHI Spa – a cocooning enclave of warm woods, diaphanous curtains, rich velvet textiles and dim lights, with five spacious treatment rooms. Their East Asian-inspired treatments – from the energising Deep Tissue Massage to the Authentic Tokyo Experience (offering a medley of seasonal Japanese body scrubs and wraps) – are not to be missed. The spa is also home to the nail salon Luxita where ingenious nail artists can create novel, if at times surreal, Tokyo-inspired designs (anyone for sushi or a tiny Tokyo Tower on their nails?). On Level 29 there also is a fully equipped gym and heated indoor pool with a view.
From
£
463
per night
Rates provided by
Booking.com
Conrad Tokyo
Tokyo, Japan
A combination of clean-lined design, contemporary art, restaurants-with-a-view and five-star service makes Tokyo’s Conrad a consistent favourite. A raft of activities are recommended in line with the Conrad’s global 135 concept (each activity lasting one, three or five hours) – with the likes of taiko drumming classes and cycling tours on offer. For relaxation-seekers, Mizuki Spa and Fitness is home to an elegant swimming pool plus a serene spa with a menu ranging from jetlag-zapping aromatherapy massages using seasonal Japanese oils and restorative bamboo body treatments to soaks in a Japanese cypress wood bathtub.
From
£
244
per night
Rates provided by
Booking.com
Park Hyatt Tokyo
Tokyo, Japan
Among Tokyo’s top (and best-loved) hotels, the Park Hyatt is a five-star legend. It offers flawless service, elegant design, views of Mount Fuji and one of the world’s most atmospheric cocktail bars. The expansive Club on the Park is home to a sleek 45th-floor urban spa (its rejuvenating Tokyo Massage is a highlight, complete with aromatic Japanese oils and a jazz soundtrack). There’s also a large 47th-floor swimming pool, a gym and an aerobics studio, with activities ranging from Good Night Sleep Stretches to mini-trampolining sessions – all with distracting views across the Tokyo skyline.
From
£
287
per night
Rates provided by
Booking.com
• The best hotels in Osaka
The Peninsula Tokyo
Tokyo, Japan
Some of the most spacious rooms in Tokyo can be found at The Peninsula, a 24-storey, rose-tinted tower inspired by a Japanese lantern. Expect unwavering service, panoramic views from the rooftop restaurant, legendary afternoon teas and a convenient location in Yurakucho. The sixth-floor spa offers a chic retreat from urban Tokyo – plus some of the most luxurious treatments in town. Top of the spa highlights list is Margy’s Facial Treatments from Switzerland (it’s the only place they’re available in Japan) – including the Super-Lift Haute Couture Facial, a dexterously high-tech blast of anti-ageing goodness, which is also deeply relaxing.
From
£
491
per night
Rates provided by
Booking.com
• The best hotels in Osaka
The Ritz-Carlton, Tokyo
Tokyo, Japan
There’s high-rise and then there’s this: a luxury hotel perched atop the tallest building in the world’s most populous metropolis. The spa spans 21,528 square feet on the 46th floor and offers therapies like the Sakura treatment, incorporating rose quartz crystals and essential oils to promote relaxation, or the Zenrenity treatment, which uses plant-based products and marine algae. In the fitness centre, treadmills offer a view of Mount Fuji (weather permitting), and the lap pool is gorgeously lit at night. There’s also a beauty salon and a variety of saunas, showers and baths.
From
£
466
per night
Rates provided by
Booking.com
• The best hotels in Japan
HOSHINOYA Tokyo
Tokyo, Japan
Welcome to Hoshinoya Tokyo, the city’s first luxury five-star traditional ryokan inn, housed in an 18-storey skyscraper. The scene-stealer is the 17th-floor onsen baths (pictured) whose hot spring waters flow from 1,500m beneath the hotel. Guests wash at low taps before sinking into restoratively soothing black-walled communal baths, with one located directly underneath a double height skylight, enabling cloud-gazing while soaking. There is a spa with Japanese-inspired treatments; therapies begin with a soak in the baths, gentle stretching exercises and oil massages.
From
£
547
per night
Rates provided by
Booking.com
Contributions by Nicholas Coldicott
This article was originally published by Telegraph.co.uk. Read the original article here.