Palace Hotel Tokyo

The first building at 1-1-1 Marunouchi was the Forestry Office of the Imperial Household. The Palace Hotel opened here in 1961, 407 rooms behind about 1.6 million shigaraki tiles, and when it closed in 2009 the tiles were kept for its replacement: 23 floors of pale façade, opened in 2012 and curving along the moat, with the palace's stone walls across the water. In the lobby, gold-leaf flowers climb a tall screen, and through the glass a red maple stands against old stone. The smallest room is 45 square metres, with leaf patterns in the carpet after the gardens outside. The Deluxe with Balcony is the same 45 plus somewhere to stand, and the one to ask for, with the moat below it.

Recommended for grown-ups who want the middle of Tokyo, with a palace for a neighbour and the subway reached without going outdoors. The moat path is there for a morning run, or there is complimentary yoga at seven on Saturdays and Sundays, and on a clear day Mount Fuji shows through the spa's windows. The tables to book are Esterre, French and run with Alain Ducasse's team, and the sushi counter of Shinji Kanesaka, who also runs a counter in Ginza. Children under 11 stay free, but the Club Lounge closes to them at half past five, which makes it clear whose evening it is. Royal Bar kept the old hotel's counter, designed by its longtime bartender and restored when everything around it came down. He was known as Mr Martini, and it would seem rude to order anything else.