The Best Places to Stay and Do in Japan

A ryokan built on a forested spit between a Buddhist temple and the Asoumi Sea, with hot-spring onsen steaming away in an open central courtyard. Rooms are done in sukiya wood-frame style with tatami floors and low chabudai tables, and most look out over water on at least one side. The kind of place that makes a Western hotel bed feel faintly embarrassing afterward.

The concept here is "luxury self-hospitality," which sounds like a contradiction until you arrive and realize you're getting a well-appointed room with a private pool or sauna and nobody hovering. This Michelin Selected hotel sits in Ishigaki with a minimalist local design, and the kitchen swings Latin Italian, blending Spanish, Mexican, and Italian flavors rather than defaulting to Okinawan tradition. Freedom and comfort, without the performance of service.

Ago Bay stretches out below the balconies here, and on a calm evening the water does most of the decorating. This 50-suite resort in the Ise-Shima National Park keeps things restrained inside, letting panoramic views of the bay and surrounding forest do the heavy lifting. Two restaurants lean into the local seafood, and the spa, rooftop garden, and library lounge make a convincing case for never leaving the property at all.

Rooms here look directly onto the pitch at Peace Stadium, home of V-Varen Nagasaki, which makes this a hotel with a very specific target guest. Part of a larger development that also holds a basketball arena, a mall, and a recreation complex, the property runs to eleven restaurants and bars, spring-fed baths, and contemporary rooms that lean decidedly upscale. A solid base for exploring the city, even if you have no opinion on local football.

Each suite comes with its own private open-air hot spring bath, which tells you what kind of place this is before you've even unpacked your yukata. Takefue is a traditional ryokan-style resort in Kumamoto's hot spring country, built around dark wood, stone, tatami, and paper screens doing exactly what they've always done. The geothermal activity here is the whole point, and the indoor-outdoor layout makes it hard to tell where the suite ends and the mountain begins.

Three old houses in the samurai district of Kakunodate, one of them an actual samurai residence, have been turned into a small hotel whose name translates to something like "the old Japanese way of living." The other two were a pickle storehouse and a fabric shop, all painstakingly preserved. Breakfast arrives bento-style; dinner means your hosts pointing you toward town. It's less lodging, more an argument that time is negotiable.

Kengo Kuma designed this lakeside resort around the forests of Hokkaido, so the timber walls, trunk-like columns, and wood-clad facades make the building feel less built than grown. Rooms are bright and open, with Lake Toya's volcanic caldera filling the view all the way to the bathroom. The onsen shares that same outlook, which sets a high bar for simply soaking. A cocktail lounge, cigar bar, teppanyaki café, and a local-cuisine restaurant give guests reasons to stay dressed.

A thatched-roof farmhouse shaped by generations of local craft sits deep in the Togakushi mountains, and the other option is a stripped-back former public hall that sleeps just two. This small ryokan-style stay is built around "yui," the old rural mutual-aid philosophy, which means the pace here is unhurried by design. Forest walks, mountain shrines, and meals from local ingredients fill the days. The Michelin Guide has it among its Selected Hotels.

Century-old red pine and Koiwai cedar frame the 24 villas here, each sited around the trees rather than in spite of them. This is a design-forward resort on a vast working farm at the foot of Mount Iwate, deep in Tohoku, well off Japan's usual luxury circuit. Dining leans on the farm and the Sanriku coast, and guests can try Nanbu ironware forging or ride through historic pastures. Remote in the best, quietest sense.

Water buffalo carts are the taxi service on Taketomi Island, which tells you almost everything about the pace here. Hoshinoya's beachfront resort is built to look like a traditional Okinawan village, red-tiled roofs intact, to satisfy the island's heritage codes, though the interiors answer to no such constraints. Pavilion rooms mix tatami or Western layouts with soaking tubs and open-air windows. A spa, pool, and white-sand beach round things out.

A wine concierge and a cellar stocked with Nagano's boutique vintages set the tone at this sleek alpine hotel near Hakuba's ski runs. Corner suites come with open kitchens, elegant stemware already waiting, and a freestanding soaking tub angled toward picture windows, which turns out to be a reasonable argument for one more run. French and teppanyaki dining pairs with Japanese craft wines downstairs.

Each of the six suites in this boutique ski lodge is named for a Finn Juhl furniture piece, so you sleep in the Chieftain Chair room or the Poet Sofa room, which is exactly as considered as it sounds. The Onecollection furniture company converted an old Hakuba ski lodge into a quietly stunning argument for Danish modernism meeting Japanese craft, with Georg Jensen linens, organic bath products, and Alps views from the bar.

Two private villas perched above Ishigaki's southern coast, each with its own heated infinity pool and unobstructed Pacific views. Inside, the open-plan layouts run to lofted bedrooms and an electric piano, which signals the kind of stay where you genuinely lose track of the day. Families or groups book the whole villa, cook together, and end up on the deck watching the stars. The Michelin Guide has it among its selected hotels.

Every one of the 16 rooms looks straight out to sea, and each has its own private spring-fed onsen bath, which is the kind of sentence that makes people start searching flights. This stylish coastal hotel in Atagawa is a converted ryokan, and the old public bathhouse is now a suite with a private bath the size of a small apartment. The restaurant leans into the flavors of the Izu peninsula, salt air and all.

Two suites, a bamboo grove, and Edo-period joinery make this intimate guesthouse feel less like a hotel and more like borrowing a very old friend's very tasteful house outside Kamakura. Both rooms are split-level with tatami floors and exposed beams, and the deep soaking tubs do their job efficiently. A small counter bar and a teahouse round things out. Truly a two-room operation, so book early or accept defeat gracefully.

Five rooms and suites, all of them angled toward the sea through floor-to-ceiling windows, make Kikka Hirado feel less like a hotel and more like a private perch on Hirado Island's coastline. The restaurant and the wellness deck share the same view, which means there's nowhere to hide from how beautiful it is. Small enough that the staff seem to know what you need before you do.

A lovingly restored old building inside Nozawa Onsen Ski Resort, mont is a luxury boutique hotel where the rooms feel like a considered argument between contemporary design and traditional Japanese craftsmanship, and the argument is never quite settled. The kitchen leans wood-fired and hyper-local, which suits a place that seems more interested in where it is than in impressing you with where it is.

A living green wall climbs the atrium of this 228-room Sheraton, and it sets the tone for what is otherwise a surprisingly considered hotel. Jun Aizaki, the Japanese-born, Brooklyn-based architect, wove traditional Japanese landscape and cultural references through the design without leaning on any of the obvious clichés. The public spaces do the heavy lifting; the dining venues are genuinely varied, and the rooms are handsome if quieter about the whole thing.

Shigeru Ban designed this low-rise boutique hotel to sit among working rice paddies on the Shonai plain, and the architecture keeps making that point, with corridors and common areas that nod to the geometry of cultivation. Rooms lean into natural light and warm wood. The onsen floats in a saucer-shaped pavilion on the water. The restaurant draws from the surrounding farmland and coast. It's a place built around the idea of watching seasons move slowly, which sounds like a brochure promise until you're actually staring at flooded rice fields.

An open-air onsen with forest views sets the tone at this all-seasons mountain resort in the Japanese Alps, where 25 acres of gardens buffer you from the ski crowds even when the slopes are packed. Rooms lean into the woodland-lodge feel with timber accents; suites add balcony jacuzzis. Winter brings French-course dinners and a Japanese dining room focused on Kobe beef, while breakfast runs American or Japanese depending on your mood.

A luxury resort perched two thousand feet above Lake Toya, a nearly circular volcanic lake with a peaked island sitting at its center like a prop from a dream. The Windsor hosted the 2008 G8 summit, which tells you something about the scale of comfort on offer. Western rooms run from serviceable to genuinely sharp minimalist; tatami suites are available for the traditionalists. The view is the thing, though.

A ryokan-style inn just back from Miho Bay where the local timber and the local hot springs do most of the heavy lifting. Guestrooms come in Japanese or Western style and each has a private onsen bath. There's a courtyard garden, a tea room, and a white-porcelain gallery, plus a spa you can rent privately, champagne included if you're feeling it. Traditional in feel, quietly contemporary in execution.

White-walled villa suites with rooftop terraces, private pools, and jacuzzis sit at the edge of Irabu Island, right across the bridge from the main airport. This resort's on-site restaurant sources Miyako wagyu and local reef fish, framing them against the hyper-blue water that locals take as a point of personal pride. Hotel suites look out over the Irabu Bridge; ground-floor terrace rooms face the greenery instead. The Michelin Guide has it among its Selected Hotels.

Four rooms, a farmhouse silhouette, and a small onsen tucked inside a boutique hotel that sits between lavender country and the Furano ski slopes, depending on the season. The Michelin Guide has it among their selected hotels, and it's easy to see why: intimate enough that the husband-and-wife team knows your name before you check in, contemporary enough that nothing about it feels folksy by accident.

Three European-influenced villas on a wooded hillside above the Amakusa coast, split into fifteen rooms, make this ryokan a considered hybrid for visitors not quite ready to go full tatami. The Western touches are restrained rather than theme-park; what fills the gap is hot-spring baths, a dinner-and-breakfast rhythm, and service that moves at a pace most guests forgot existed. Getting here requires planning, but Amakusa has been receiving outside visitors since the 16th century, so the welcome is practiced.

Seven all-suite villas on the southern coast of Irabu Island, close enough to Taiwan that the palms and turquoise water start to feel less like Japan and more like somewhere further adrift. Each villa faces south with a heated private pool, and if you want breakfast delivered on floating platters, that's a sentence you can now say out loud. Some villas add private saunas or a barbecue setup.

Every room at this renovated onsen hotel on the Yamagata coast has its own private bath and a direct view of the Sea of Japan, which covers the basics handsomely. The rooms range from tatami-and-cypress traditional to a suite five stories up fitted entirely in white and glass, with one wild card: a room with a copper ceiling inspired by a nearby shrine. The communal stone baths and the town's only natural spring-fed drinking fountain round things out.

A five-room guesthouse on the road into Kirishima Kinkowan National Park, Kasan frames its whole existence around "mind-body unity," which sounds like brochure copy until you see the rooms. Each one is different, mixing modern design with traditional craft, and two come with private hot spring baths while two more have detached bathhouses. Whether the philosophy lands or not, the physical delivery of it is hard to argue with.

The whole house, not a room. Kiya Ryokan, tucked into the quiet coastal city of Uwajima, rents as a single unit for up to eight guests, which makes it less a traditional inn than a private country house that happens to have tatami mats and shoji screens. A recent restoration folded in modern lighting and contemporary furniture without making a fuss about the contrast. The Michelin Guide has selected it, and the remoteness is, depending on your mood, the point.

Every room at this ryokan-style resort in the Nasu Highlands comes with its own private onsen, partly open to the forest air, plus cedar paneling and bespoke bedding for when you finally step out. Minimalist design and floor-to-ceiling glass keep the surrounding woodland front and center. The communal library stocks art books and Karuizawa whiskies beside a fireplace, which is either meditative or dangerously comfortable, depending on your schedule.

A riverside inn in a hot spring village where a 600-year-old bathing tradition is still very much the point. Rooms face the Otozure River, the historic Onto bathhouse runs on fresh mineral waters, and a wood-fired restaurant handles dinner. Days fill up between saunas, Hagi-yaki kiln visits, and paddleboarding in the surrounding mountains, which is a more convincing argument for slowing down than any spa brochure has ever managed.

A bar built from a thirty-foot tree trunk tells you something about this ryokan's relationship with the forest around it. Hinanoza sits on Lake Akan in old-growth Eastern Hokkaido, within reach of four national parks, though the private open-air baths and kaiseki meals served in tatami rooms make a strong argument for never leaving the suite. Local woodcarving fills the interiors, and the place smells accordingly. No guests under twelve, which keeps the mood exactly as the name promises.

Thirteen standalone beachfront villas on Amami Oshima, each a concrete modernist object sitting directly on the sand, and none of them with a television. The Michelin Guide has selected it among its hotels. Full-length windows face the ocean, exposed timber ceilings and wooden decks soften the brutalism, and seven villas are screened by trees for guests who want the view without the squint. Each villa has a kitchenette, and the owners suggest you shop local and cook on the beach, which is either charming or a lot of work depending on your holiday mood.

The Sea of Japan fills every window at this minimalist resort on the Oki Islands, a volcanic archipelago so remote it makes "off the beaten path" sound like an understatement. Entô's 36 rooms across two low-slung buildings are designed to fade into the landscape rather than compete with it, and the restaurant leans hard on whatever the island provides. The Michelin Guide has selected it among its hotels.

Every suite comes with its own hot spring bath, which makes it hard to explain why anyone bothers leaving the room. Five Spring Resort is a contemporary all-inclusive resort in Wakayama's beach town of Shirahama, built around geothermal springs and kaiseki dinners, with a lagoon pool threading across the property and forested hillsides on all sides. The aesthetic is modern Japanese rather than traditional inn, though the hospitality runs along the same unhurried lines.

Perched on Irabu Island, halfway between Okinawa and Taiwan, this seaside resort sits somewhere the phrase "getting away from it all" stops feeling like a cliché. Most of the 58 rooms and suites face the ocean, and even the garden-facing ones lean into a spare, restful minimalism. The spa draws on local Okinawan ingredients, and the French restaurant does the same. Proof that the Miyako Islands reward the extra effort to reach them.

A small, densely forested island at the mouth of Katsuura Bay is the whole argument for this ryokan, which occupies the only building on it. Hot-spring baths, tatami rooms, and Western-style rooms in bold contemporary colors fill the newer wing. Evenings bring a kaiseki dinner built almost entirely from the local coastline, which is the ryokan way of reminding you exactly where you are.

Cottage-style villas on a remote stretch of Amami Ōshima beachfront, with Akaogi Bay sitting right outside. Each villa comes with exposed beams, tatami, a deep soaking tub, and a private furnished deck, so you never have to share a view with strangers unless you choose to. The reception desk organizes guided treks and wildlife tours through the surrounding forest. It's the kind of resort where the isolation is the whole point.

Five villas on the far southeastern tip of Miyako Island, itself already a detour from Okinawa, which is itself a detour from anywhere. Each villa at this small, private resort reads like a meditation on stone and tile, softened by cool textiles and just enough tropical green, with its own terrace and infinity pool aimed squarely at the Philippine Sea. After dark, the stars take over completely.

Perched on stilts above Miyako Island's southern coast, this boutique resort looks like a stack of futuristic glass boxes from the outside and barely more than that inside, which is the point. Slate floors, white linens, and sliding doors onto private patios keep nothing between you and the water. Breakfast is a carefully arranged spread of organic island produce. Imugya Marine Garden, a snorkeler's haunt, is directly across the street.

Four rooms and suites sit at the southernmost tip of Shikoku, inside Ashizuri-Uwakai National Park, with the Pacific filling every window. TheMana Village is a small, minimalist-luxe resort where the landscape does most of the heavy lifting, and the Italian restaurant on site, Azzurrissimo, takes its cues from the same ocean view. A Michelin Selected Hotel, and the kind of place where "remote" feels less like a sacrifice than a point.

Two private villas on the edge of Lake Kussharo, the largest crater lake in Japan, inside the remote Akan-Mashu National Park in Eastern Hokkaido. RERA lets waves slap against its floor-to-ceiling windows; FURE, the two-story option, runs quieter. Both have wood-burning fireplaces, hot-spring baths, and multiple bedrooms. A short path connects to the lakeside restaurant, where the team serves traditional Japanese cuisine over water views.