Every city has a showcase hotel, where the society events like aristocratic weddings and dinners take place. In Akita, it is the Hotel Metropolitan. Towering over Akita Station, its grand dining rooms and banquet halls have seen many iconic events.
Restaurant Cuore on the third floor has panoramic floor to ceiling windows that you can watch the world go by. With high ceilings and grand service, you can enjoy breakfast buffet from 7am and lunch from 11am. They carefully select the best ingredients from Akita and around Japan, allowing you to savor many dishes without traveling around the countryside. Being an upscale restaurant, you do have to pay a premium for the privilege. At 1600 yen for breakfast buffet, it is nevertheless good value for a morning feast, compared with similar hotels in Western Europe or Australia.
In the evening, why not enjoy a cocktail or sake at one of the lounges. Its specialities include “snow lady”, a snip at 750 yen.
The rooms have a warm chestnut like hue, giving a feeling of a rich, velvety autumn like sense of luxury. While the single rooms are similar in size to a business hotel, they are equipped with everything you need, from a desk to a large single sofa that you can sink into after a day of travelling. The bed is what you expect from an upscale hotel, with luxurious sheets and thick mattresses perfect for a comfortable night’s sleep. The bathroom is slick and minimalist and some have large windows so you can keep an eye on the world outside.
This hotel is located so close to the railway station, that you don’t need to cross the road to get here. From the west exit of the station, head under the Topico shopping center and then the hotel is on your left. This convenience can’t be underestimated in winter, when you can reach the hotel 24 hours a day, snowstorm or otherwise.
In a number of major cities like Osaka and Kyoto, Hotel Granvia has a near monopoly over the railway station hotel. While Akita does not have a Hotel Granvia, it is no surprise that the Metropolitan is part of the JR Hotel Group. While smaller than the Granvia, its sister hotels include Hotel Metropolitan Morioka, Sendai and Yamagata.
