JR Tower Hotel Nikko Sapporo

Built into the upper floors of JR Tower, the hotel occupies levels 23 to 34 of a 173-metre building that rises directly above Sapporo Station. That vertical address shapes everything about a stay here: 330 rooms are stacked well clear of the street, each with a wide window turned toward the city and, beyond it, the hills that ring Sapporo through four distinct seasons. Rooms on the moderate floors, 23 to 30, run from singles to corner doubles; the executive floors above, 31 to 34, add bathrobes and a later checkout, plus a handful of suites. Bathrooms are fitted with separate washing areas, and some rooms have unit-style tubs rather than a standard bath and shower. It is, in effect, a hotel built on top of a railway terminal. Dining spreads across several rooms rather than one restaurant: a French kitchen under chef Mikuni, a sky-level Japanese restaurant called Tancho, and a bar and buffet room, Sky J, all reached by lift from the lobby. A natural hot spring sits roughly 100 metres up, drawing on real spring water rather than heated tap water. Guests arrive straight from the train platform, luggage in hand, without stepping outside. Check-in runs from 3pm.