As I have previously written, I do appreciate the Four Seasons and Ritz as hotel chains. The Four Seasons Tokyo at Chinzan-so does not disappoint, and has a beautiful Japanese garden just outside.

As with all Four Seasons, this property is extremely well kept, and the service level is high. Combine traditional Japanese service with Four Seasons and one should expect, and does receive, a high level of service that is not intrusive.

For the business traveler, the internet in the room is free -- probably the only thing in Tokyo that is "cheap". The cord is in the desk drawer to the left of the desk, and the connection is on the side of the desk to the left. Location is a bit unusual, but it works.

The restaurants inside the hotel are very good...and very expensive. If you walk outside of the hotel, go either right down the hill or left up the hill, you will find local restaurants and shops all within about a 10-15 minute walk.

As with any Four Seasons, you should not expect it to be inexpensive. However, being in Tokyo, expensive is REALLY expensive. The orange juice at breakfast was 1900 yen or about $18 -- just for the juice! Good thing refills were free.

The gardens that this hotel is built on is really beautiful and you should take the time to walk around the garden (a must in my opinion). It is really worth the time and just outside of the ground floor.

Another great Four Seasons hotel. Service was excellent in the tradition of Four Seasons. Room was much bigger than I exxpected, bathroom was also amazingly sized. The one problem that I encountered while staying there was the thin walls can make some unneeded noise in the middle of the night, if you know what I mean.

Otherwise, very good hotel in a good location in Tokyo.

The Four Seasons at Chinzan-so is a hotel built into a stunning complex that features a beautiful Japanese garden. We were there last December, and the experience of staying there was one that I will not forget.

The room was spacious (size-wise, on par with any 5-star Western hotel) and clean. The bathroom was opulent with a huge tub, separate shower, and an assortment of L'Occitane products. Our room overlooked the garden, which was just great, as well as the surrounding areas of Tokyo. The TV had like three or four English channels including BBC, of course.

The service is impeccable here. And the real lure of this place is the garden. The garden is huge, and you can explore its many paths that wind along brooks and waterfalls. There is a traditional temple/pagoda-like building on grounds, which is sort of the hotel's landmark (maybe?). Try to book the garden view room, if you can.

In terms of its location and transport, it is rather remote and you're in the middle of a residential district. Having said that, this is also the draw of this hotel. If you're in Tokyo for several days and you want some serenity for a couple of nights, this is a perfect place. The nearest subway stop is 10minute walk (although you'll probably get lost, making the trip even longer). Ikebukuro, a mega shopping/entertainment center of Tokyo, is only about 10minutes away by taxi. I believe the hotel also runs a feww shuttle to Ikebukuro every so often, although we never took it. A 5-minute walk down the hill from the hotel will land you on a major boulevard which has a couple of 24hr convenience stores that sell very high-quality take-away food. To get to Narita Airport, you can either take taxi or hotel shuttle to Ikebukuro and then take a train from there (either Narita Express, or Yamanote Line to Nippori and then change to Keisei Skyliner) or you can take "Limousine Bus" (really just an ordinary bus) which picks you up right at the hotel lobby and takes you straight to the airport. The latter only comes to the hotel a couple of times a day, I think, so you may find that their times don't work for you.

Another problem with this place is that everything is rather expensive here, even by Tokyo hotel standards. The restaurants are very pricy and there are none nearby outside the hotel, except for the aforementioned convenience stores which are perfectly good options for me. If you can find a package that includes breakfast for about an additional 2000-2500yen per person, then I would definitely taken that. You can easily head out to Ikebukuro or some other area for lunch and dinner, but it's a hassle to eat anywhere other than at/near the hotel. Oh, another thing I have to say is that they seem to have an amazing-looking swimming pool and an onsen (Japanese hot springs) complex. I highly recommend you try the onsen. This hotel is probably one of the very few in Tokyo that has an onsen. The catch is that you'll have to pay to have access to the pool and the onsen. We went down to use it on our last night with one hour left till closing (not knowing that it wasn't free to hotel guests), and we didn't go in because we didn't want to pay all this money to enter the facility for only an hour.

Yes, this is an expensive hotel. But I really think it's worth it. Just a gem, and you'll all realize what I'm talking about when you stay here.

My husband and I stayed at the Four Seasons Chinzan-so during Christmas in 2002. (Sorry for submitting such an old review but we'd like to share our pleasant experience.) The hotel is a bit far from the city but its surroundings well made up for it. It is located in a historical Japanese garden, which is perfect for taking pictures. The interior of the hotel was very elegant with all kinds of Japanese and Western antinque. Our room was huge for Japanese standards, spotless clean and very lovely. From the room we had a great view of the garden. The bathtub was huge, enough room for 2. We ate dinner at the Japanese restaurant which was very good but pricy. We had an early flight on the departure day and service at check-out was extremely swift. Because we didn't have time for breakfast, we were given warm muffins (delicious!) while we waited to be checked-out. We loved our warm stay and will definitely return next time we visit Tokyo.