THE HIRAMATSU HOTELS & RESORTS Kashikojima

Eight rooms tucked into a destination restaurant on Ago Bay, a famously winding inlet that earns every photograph taken of it. The concept is "western ryokan," which here means French-inflected hospitality dressed in Western interiors but delivered with the quiet attentiveness Japan does better than anyone. Some rooms have private spring-fed baths, and the spa runs a thalasso pool filled with actual seawater from the bay outside. The Michelin Guide awarded it one Key.