Fairmont Tokyo review – The Points Guy

With so many luxury hotels populating Tokyo’s myriad skyscrapers, it’s almost hard to believe that a Fairmont did not number among them — and that there wasn’t even one in all of Japan — until the opening of the Fairmont Tokyo in July 2025.

Occupying floors 35 to 43 of the stunning Blue Front Shibaura Tower South, the hotel offers some of the most sweeping views of Japan’s capital, as well as spectacular amenities like a tranquil indoor pool overlooking the city, a “listening bar” speakeasy and spacious suites with decor that blends traditional Japanese design principles with bright contemporary colors.

Here’s everything you need to know about the Fairmont Tokyo and what a stay there is like.

Fairmont Tokyo vibe

Like many of Tokyo’s top hotels — both literally and figuratively — the Fairmont Tokyo occupies several higher floors of an office tower in what is primarily a business district. So, while you might not find too much of interest in the vicinity while wandering the neighborhood, once you step inside and are whisked up to the 35th-floor lobby by a jaunty plaid-clad doorperson, you will feel cosseted away from the city’s hectic pace.

The 35th-floor lobby lounge, called Vue Mer (meaning “view of the sea”), feels like a cross between a living room and an art gallery thanks to plentiful seating, profuse floral arrangements, soaring ceilings and carefully selected pieces of artwork. These include a monumental washi paper-inspired hanging mobile by Berlin-based artist Tomislav Topic, a dynamic circular sculpture by Japanese artist Mari-Ruth Oda and dramatically cascading orb chandeliers.

There is even a landscaped outdoor terrace for fresh air. (Another is adjacent to Kiln & Tonic, the restaurant occupying one corner of the same floor.) During the day, you might see local ladies stopping in for an unhurried afternoon tea, though come night, it’s couples and cohorts of business folk congregating around the sultry backlit cocktail bar.

Fairmont Gold guests have access to the 42nd-floor club lounge and can head straight there for check-in, accompanied by a glass of Laurent-Perrier Champagne or their beverage of choice. What a nice way to toast to the beginning of your stay.

Fairmont Tokyo location

The Fairmont Tokyo is in the city’s waterfront Shibaura district, which, long ago, was a fishing village that has since been subsumed by the city.

It is conveniently located about a 20-minute drive via taxi or ride-hailing service from Tokyo’s Haneda Airport (HND), and rides cost approximately $25 to $40, depending on the service you choose and the time of day. You could also take the Tokyo Monorail from the airport to Hamamatsucho Station, which takes around 30 minutes, and walk about 10 minutes from there.

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Getting to Tokyo’s Narita International Airport (NRT) is a bit more demanding, but you can catch a taxi or ride-hailing service there, which takes just over an hour and can costs between $170 and $200, or you can hop on the Tokyo Metro to one of the stations serviced by the Skyliner train, which will take around 90 minutes total to get to the airport.

The hotel is located near several metro lines, including the Yurikamome, Yamanote, Keihin-Tohoku and Asakusa lines, so getting around on public transport is relatively easy.

Standout features

• Phenomenal views of the city and bay, no matter where you look
• Gorgeous guest rooms with up-to-the-minute technology
• Several high-end restaurants and bars to choose from, including a speakeasy with rotating DJs

Drawbacks

• Property’s location might not feel central for many travelers
• High room rates, even for Tokyo’s luxury market
• Currently doesn’t participate in a premium booking portal like American Express Fine Hotels + Resorts

Fairmont Tokyo rooms and suites

The hotel has 217 accommodations — 188 rooms and 29 suites — that occupy floors 36 to 42, with floors 41 and 42 reserved for guests staying in the 74 Gold-level accommodations.

My home for my two-night stay was one of the hotel’s 947-square-foot signature Fairmont Gold suites, located at the building’s southwest corner. From its living room, I could see Shibaura’s canals, the waters of Tokyo Bay, the graceful span of the Rainbow Bridge and Haneda Airport in the distance (AvGeeks will love being on the flight path).

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ERIC ROSEN/THE POINTS GUY

From the bedroom, my panorama encompassed the unmistakable red-and-white spire of Tokyo Tower, skyscrapers galore and, on one clear day, the snow-covered peak of Mount Fuji far in the distance.

The suites were designed according to heritage Japanese aesthetics meant to draw the outdoors inside. Connecting the two living spaces with the bathroom suite between them, for instance, was a windowed corridor reminiscent of the exterior walkways of traditional Japanese homes (called “engawa”). I especially appreciated the carpet patterning made to resemble the swept sands of a Zen garden and the elegant, pale sen-wood furnishings.

The living room was a cozy space to unwind, decorated in tones of silver, blue and burgundy to reflect Tokyo’s water and skies, as well as shelves holding little pieces of art and books. Other details included a minibar with an orange leather-vested Nespresso machine, a nambu ironware tea set and a burnished brass cocktail-making set.

The bedroom, meanwhile, held a crisply made king-size bed looking out toward the windows (which had day shears and blackout shades you could operate with the touch of a button), an ochre velvet daybed and a small table and ottoman.

Between the two, the bathroom was tiled in glossy gray marble and granite and held dual sinks and a glassed-in bathing suite with an ofuro-inspired square tub and a separate shower with powerful overhead and hand-held showerheads. There was also a selection of Le Labo Santal 33 products. All the better for a quick shampoo and condition before blowing out my hair with the provided Dyson dryer.

Fairmont Tokyo restaurants and bars

Located next to the lobby, Vue Mer is the hotel’s all-day cafe and cocktail lounge. It’s also where afternoon tea, featuring a selection of seasonal house-made pastries, is served. During my stay, the various cakes were inspired by the city’s famed soon-to-blossom sakura (cherry) trees.

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ERIC ROSEN/THE POINTS GUY

Next to this, Kiln & Tonic is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner daily. If not included with your stay, breakfast costs $53 per person and includes a selection of juices, pastries and fruit brought to your table, plus your choice of dishes such as farm-fresh eggs made to order, a breakfast bento box with the miso-glazed catch of the day (it was sea bream when I dined there) along with various accompaniments and avocado toast on focaccia with scrambled Kurofuji Farm eggs.

At dinner, the restaurant’s focus is on fire-grilled dishes made with fresh Japanese ingredients but with nods to California and the Mediterranean, and you can order a la carte or from various set menus. The seven-course “Del Mar” menu ($103) I selected included delicacies like mellow mackerel escabeche, earthy chicken liver terrine on a brioche bite, marinated sweet shrimp over avocado with white asparagus, and a light sea bream in aqua pazzo broth with fennel, tomato, olive and rapeseed.

The hotel’s 36th-floor restaurants include the six-seat sushi omakase counter, Migiwa (where you can also try Junmai Daiginjo sake brewed exclusively for the hotel by Tokyo Port Brewery), and the upscale teppanyaki restaurant, Totsuji, which also seats just six patrons at a time (though there’s a small, separate private dining room you can also book).

Up on the 43rd floor, Driftwood Bar and Grill, which offers a contemporary take on Yoshoku cuisine, melds European dishes with Japanese ingredients and techniques.

The a la carte menu has a robust selection of wood-grilled proteins, including succulent cuts of steak. The four- ($89), five- ($100) and seven-course ($125) menus are a great way to try signature dishes like sakura wood-smoked fish carpaccio with bottarga, finger lime and sudachi ponzu; creamy crab croquettes; and juicy Australian lamb chops with tangy shiso-mint chimichurri and Okinawan sweet potatoes.

The cocktail menu by famed mixologist Hideyuki Saito is also extremely creative, with specialties that are homages to different countries and cultures around the world (get it, sort of like driftwood floating across oceans?), including the Guatemala-inspired earthy rum Manhattan ($21) with cacao, basil distillate, salt chocolate and Port wine that I sipped.

Tucked into a corner of the restaurant, Yoi to Yoi is a self-described drinks lab inspired by Tokyo’s standing-bar tachinomiya culture.

To gain admittance to the hotel’s musically inclined speakeasy, Off the Record, though, you have to know exactly which shelf to wave your hand under.

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ERIC ROSEN/THE POINTS GUY

This cozy space is decorated with rare vinyl albums, antique instruments and other paraphernalia and has just a handful of seats and barstools. It even has a secret cocktail list revealed by running an ultraviolet pen light over the menu pages. The smoldering Smoky Hanky Panky ($22) with The Glenlivet 12-year whisky, dark rum, amaro and sweet vermouth that I sampled made for a strong cap to my night.

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ERIC ROSEN/THE POINTS GUY

Fairmont Tokyo amenities and service

The Fairmont Tokyo’s wellness center is located down the corridor from its reception desks on the 35th floor.

Guests step into a pared-down, apothecary-style space with various herbs (yuzu, ginger, chamomile and matcha, among others), salts, powders and oils on display. You can select your own combination to create a body or foot scrub with some spa treatments. There are also skin care products custom-made for the hotel and a line of Kerstin Florian potions. The 60-minute custom body treatment ($219) I tried included a wellness consultation and a full-body massage performed with the hotel’s signature sakura-scented oil that I selected from a variety of options.

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ERIC ROSEN/THE POINTS GUY

The men’s and women’s locker rooms have traditional onsen-style shower stations, heated pools and cold plunges with granite-boulder walls reminiscent of Edo Castle’s stonework, plus saunas.

They each lead to the indoor pool, which is lined by loungers and has panoramic views from the ceiling-height windows. During fine weather, the outdoor terrace is a gorgeous place to gaze upon the slopes of Mount Fuji from the comfort of a heated jacuzzi.

There is also a 24-hour, light-filled gym equipped with various Technogym cardio and weight equipment.

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ERIC ROSEN/THE POINTS GUY

The Fairmont Gold lounge is on the 42nd floor and includes various restaurant- and living room-style seating areas, plus its own bar for coffee and drinks. As a Fairmont Gold guest, I could have breakfast up here when I chose, with the same menu as at Kiln & Tonic; then, throughout the day, there were various presentations of snacks, afternoon tea, evening canapes and a selection of sweets for dessert.

Service at the hotel was uniformly polished, polite and warm. Any time I happened to be looking at one piece of art or another, or ducking my head into one of the restaurants or the spa, a staff member was promptly on hand to ask if they could help, take me on a tour or answer any questions. A call for a bucket of ice was fulfilled within 10 minutes, and the waitstaff at the various restaurants and bars could not have been more attentive without feeling like helicopter servers.

Fairmont Tokyo accessibility

All of the hotel’s public entrances and areas are wheelchair accessible, thanks to no-step pathways and elevators with lowered buttons.

Each floor has wheelchair-accessible accommodations with widened doorways and entrances, and grab bars in the bathrooms. As always, contact the hotel directly to ensure that its spaces and accommodations meet your specific accessibility requirements.

Fairmont Tokyo booking details

The Fairmont brand is part of Accor and participates in the Accor Live Limitless loyalty program. ALL members can earn points on stays when booking directly through Accor at a rate of 25 points per 10 euros ($11) spent and redeem them in increments of 2,000 points to save 40 euros ($44) on hotel bills. Booking as a member through Accor also opens up preferential rates that might include discounts and add-ons such as free breakfast or on-property credits.

Nightly rates at the Fairmont Tokyo start at $671 per night, and the Fairmont Gold suite I stayed in starts at $1,597 per night, though there are typically several members-only promotions running with rates that include a third night free, breakfast or other value-adds only offered when booking directly through Accor.

Checking out

Although its location might feel a little out of the way for leisure travelers who want to see the usual slate of Tokyo attractions, the Fairmont Tokyo is still a great choice for visitors thanks to its proximity to HND and its access to several of the city’s metro lines. Its blend of deep-seated Japanese hospitality and contemporary art, design and cuisine makes it among the city’s most distinct luxury hotels and one well worth booking, if only for those postcard-worthy views.

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