Hoshino Resorts KAI Matsumoto

The reborn ryokan keeps Asama's bathing heritage centre stage with a generous hall offering thirteen different soaks – among them outdoor baths framing seasonal Japanese gardens, plus dry and wet saunas. The real signature, though, is music: each evening, live performances fill the lobby while guests settle in with a glass of regional wine. Dining leans pleasingly off-piste for a ryokan, with Italian courses built to flatter Nagano's cool-climate wines, and there are quiet lounges and a café for between-bath lulls. Contemporary and calm, with Shinshu craft worked into the details.

Accommodation stays true to the theme. Rooms are styled for listening as much as resting – the KAI Signature Rooms come with a record player and a curated stack of vinyl, the idea being that you draw a bath, pour a drink and let an album play out. Throughout, the look is restrained modern-Japanese: low furniture, soft textiles in colours drawn from the Shinshu landscape, tatami underfoot and beds you sink into. Spaces are designed for one to three guests, making them as easy for couples as for small families travelling together.

Matsumoto Castle is the obvious draw – a black-and-white original from the 1590s and one of only a handful of Japan's surviving wooden keeps. From there, wander the willow-lined Nawate and Nakamachi streets for craft shops and sake, or head to the Matsumoto City Museum of Art for hometown artist Yayoi Kusama's polka-dotted worlds. Closer to the ryokan, gentle trails climb the hills above Asama for valley views. Foodies should detour to the Daio Wasabi Farm, while serious hikers can push on to the alpine valley of Kamikochi for some of Japan's finest mountain walking.