Granbell Hotel Shibuya

Hotel description

It’s perhaps a bit odd that for all the other ways in which Tokyo leads the world in cool, it’s still hard to find a small and stylish boutique hotel in a central location. This town has some of the best luxury hotels in the world, and a vast array of lesser options, from middle-of-the-road corporate hotels on down to the infamous capsule hotels — but hotels like the Granbell are very much the exception.

This one, you may have gathered from the name, is in Shibuya, right next to the station, which means it’s as central as it gets in this multi-centered city. Rooms are a pleasant mix of pop-art cool, design-hotel chic, and classic Tokyo efficiency. The single rooms are understandably compact, while the rooms up the scale spread out a bit more — just don’t expect palatial spaces and you won’t be disappointed.

What you can expect is convenience, vibrant youthful style, and the kind of charming details that we love Tokyo for. Chief among them is the restaurant, Plate of Pie, which is named not whimsically but quite sensibly, as pie is what it serves — not just dessert pie but savory pies as well, in a 24-hour diner atmosphere.