Hotel New Otani Tokyo Garden Tower — the Tokyo hotel where the kids can run free in a real Japanese garden
Picture this: in the middle of the world's busiest city, you step out of your room and walk into a 400-year-old Japanese garden spanning 7 acres. The children chase koi carp for an hour while the parents sit and breathe — no traffic, no noise, no stress. That is what Hotel New Otani Tokyo Garden Tower delivers, and no other hotel in central Tokyo can match it. Score 9.4 from 801 reviews · Akasaka-Mitsuke Station 3 minutes on foot · Garden Tower Triple rooms at 40 sqm — almost twice the Tokyo standard.
Hotel New Otani Tokyo Garden Tower stands at 4-1 Kioi-cho in Chiyoda Ward — right on the edge of the Akasaka district — with Akasaka-Mitsuke Station on the Marunouchi and Ginza lines just a 3-minute walk from the lobby. The advantage of this location is its connectivity: Shibuya, Shinjuku, Ueno, and onward links to Narita and Haneda airports are all within reach without complicated transfers. For families arriving with luggage and young children, a location that means 'one minute to roll your suitcase to the station' is a genuine relief.
"The garden is huge for central Tokyo — the kids had total freedom, the triple room was bigger than we expected, staff went out of their way for families. Many guests say this is the best family stay they have had in Tokyo."
What separates Hotel New Otani from every other luxury hotel in Tokyo is the 400-year-old Japanese garden covering 7 acres within the hotel grounds. This garden is maintained to traditional Japanese landscape principles — a central pond, a waterfall, a curved stone bridge, and koi swimming in water that has been tended for generations. You can walk every path without encountering a road or a stranger's conversation. For families with young children, this is the rare place in central Tokyo where they can run freely in a safe, car-free green space while parents actually decompress.
For families, the standout room category is the Garden Tower Triple at 40 sqm, which comes with three single beds and is nearly twice the footprint of a standard Tokyo hotel room. Travelling as a larger group — grandparents, two parents, children — the hotel offers Connecting Rooms: two rooms linked by an internal door, so each generation has its own space while still staying physically connected. Requesting this configuration when booking (rather than at check-in) is essential, as the number of connecting pairs is limited.
Inside the hotel the facilities are extensive, including an indoor pool and spa for adults who want genuine downtime, and 25 restaurants and dining venues within the building — several of which offer kids' menus. This means that on evenings when the children are tired and the thought of finding a restaurant outside is daunting, you simply take the lift to the restaurant floor and the problem is solved.
A score of 9.4 from 801 reviews tells you most guests come away genuinely satisfied, and the theme running through the feedback is the quality of the staff's attentiveness. Front Desk teams are accustomed to the varied needs of travelling families — extra beds for children, connecting room configurations, suggestions for child-friendly sights nearby — and handle them without fuss. Many reviewers specifically mention this as the reason they returned.
Before booking, it is worth knowing the full cost picture. Rooms start at ¥45,000/night (~฿11,250) for a Garden Tower Triple, and Connecting Rooms come in at around ¥85,000 per night. The buffet breakfast is priced at approximately ¥5,500 per person — a family of four would spend ¥22,000 on breakfast alone — so many families opt to eat outside in Akasaka to save money. As a 1,500-room property, the lobby can be genuinely busy during peak check-in and check-out windows, and waiting times of 15-30 minutes are not unheard of in high season.
Here is the one tip that makes a real difference: always specify Garden Tower, never Main Tower. Garden Tower rooms are larger, and every room looks directly onto the ancient garden. Wake up, open the curtains, and there are koi circling in a 400-year-old pond. For a family that has come to Tokyo to feel something genuinely different — not just another lobby and shopping street — this is the detail that makes Hotel New Otani the right choice.
Summary from Booking & Agoda
- ✓ 400-year Japanese garden 7 acres on site — rare in central Tokyo
- ✓ Garden Tower Triple 40 sqm — unusually spacious by Tokyo standards
- ✓ Connecting Rooms for families of 4-6 available on request
- ✓ Akasaka-Mitsuke 3 min — Marunouchi/Ginza Line easy connections
- ! From ¥45,000/night and Connecting Rooms ~¥85,000 — higher than most Tokyo hotels
- ! Breakfast ¥5,500/person — family of 4 totals ¥22,000 for breakfast alone
- ! 1,500-room hotel — lobby can be busy with 15-30 min waits at peak check-in
- ✓ Attentive staff with genuine experience handling family requests
- ✓ Indoor pool + spa — a real option for adults wanting downtime
- ✓ 25 restaurants on site, several with kids' menus
- ✓ The garden experience is impossible to replicate at any other central Tokyo hotel
- ! 50 minutes by train from Tokyo Disney Resort — not ideal if Disney is the main goal
- ! Main Tower rooms are older than Garden Tower — specify Garden Tower at booking
- ! Check-in from 15:00 — arriving early means leaving bags and waiting
- 💡If your budget is tight or you're travelling as a couple — ¥45,000+ nights make most sense as a per-head value for families → for a couple or solo traveller, a more modestly priced Akasaka hotel will serve better.
- 💡If Tokyo Disney Resort is your main destination — the hotel is 50 minutes by train from Disney → consider hotels in Maihama or Urayasu for more convenient access.
- 💡If you want breakfast included — the buffet breakfast is ¥5,500 per person and is not included in the room rate → budget for it separately or explore Akasaka's cafés and convenience stores outside.