Shangri-La Hotel, Tokyo

Step off the bullet train at Tokyo Station as a smiling, red-clad staff member from Shangri-La Hotel, Tokyo greets you. You’ll be whisked through a discreet entrance directly into the 28th-floor lobby of this luxury hotel, a bastion of tranquillity amidst the city’s sea of neon. Given its perch atop the Marunouchi Trust Tower, you can expect many extraordinary vantage points in the 200 window-walled, Asian-urban rooms outfitted with all the latest technology. Do laps in the indoor pool-with-a-view before dining on fun Italian at Piacere; reserve a table overlooking the Imperial Gardens. You’re minutes from Ginza’s shops.