Pritzker Prize-winning architect Tadao Ando has a gift for making concrete feel spiritual, and this extraordinary seven-suite retreat - perched on a mountaintop in Ehime Prefecture with the island-dotted Seto Inland Sea unfurling below - might be his most quietly thrilling project yet. Originally built as a private guesthouse, then used as a small modern art museum, the building was reimagined as a hotel under Ando's watchful eye, and his signature smooth-as-silk concrete walls, vast floor-to-ceiling windows and profoundly empty stretches of space create something closer to a meditative experience than a conventional stay. With museum-quality artwork throughout (Frank Stella in the dining room, calligrapher Rieko Kawabe in the corridors), a 30-metre infinity pool that appears to spill into the sea, and a staff whose attentiveness borders on telepathic, it's the kind of place where the frenetic activity of the mind begins to slow. The Michelin Guide awarded it a Key, and it's not hard to understand why.
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Setouchi Aonagi can be booked with Timbuktu as part of a tailor-made Japan trip, rather than as a standalone room reservation. Start online, customising one of our recommended Japan trips featuring Setouchi Aonagi or get advice and suggestions from one of our Japan specialists who will design the trip around your dates, check availability and handle every booking for you.
Stays at Setouchi Aonagi start from around $640, or US$640, per person per night as part of a tailor-made trip. The exact price depends on your travel dates, room type and the shape of the rest of your itinerary. A Timbuktu travel specialist can give you an accurate quote for your dates.
A literary castle town with 3,000 years of hot spring tradition and top-tier cycling routes on its doorstep.
