Whereas the Mandarin Oriental provides easy design combined with slicing-edge know-how and an astonishing degree of intelligent service, it is the feeling of being in an aerial cocoon of calm that distinguishes this hotel. It occupies the highest floors of the Nihonbashi Mitsui Tower in Tokyo’s business and procuring district, with astounding views from floor-to-ceiling home windows in all 179 rooms and suites. Among a dozen bars and restaurants, the trendy Mandarin Bar is a favorite, whereas gourmands wrestle to decide on between Cantonese cuisine at Sense and the Tapas Molecular Bar, the place cutlery is swapped for pipettes and syringes. In the meditative 37th-flooring spa and its pool, nothing but glass comes between swimmer and the sight of snow-capped Mount Fuji bathed in the red glow of sundown. Double rooms from £317.
If the prices for transportation won’t make up the distinction you’ll be paying on a greater location, …