Best Hotels & Lodges

Sungulwane is an exclusive, Big 5 Safari lodge on Zuka Private Game Reserve. With just 8 private chalets, it's the ultimate intimate African bush experience for you and a loved one, friends or the whole family. Each suite is embedded into the thick Red Ivory forest giving you the feeling of sleeping in the tree canopies – in complete harmony with nature. An extensive private deck with large stack back doors and showers allow for endless stargazing or daydreaming over the uninterrupted views of the valley. Whether relaxing on a lounger by the pool, sipping on a glass of red wine while the flames dance in the firepit or enjoying a gourmet dining experience in the Boma, Sungulwane offers warm, friendly Zululand hospitality at its best.

Located on Shiroyama in Kagoshima, this tranquil space offers a spectacular view. Enjoy a luxurious view of Sakurajima, gourmet cuisine made with local ingredients, and exquisite hot springs. You are offered sophisticated rooms and comfortable service to ensure you have a special stay.

Relax in a modern, luxurious hotel room which features spectacular views of Sakurajima and Kagoshima City. Dine at one of the restaurants and bars and sample local Kagoshima dishes like black pork and beef. Indulge yourself with a massage at the on-site spa or soak in the natural hot springs. If you are hosting an event, reserve one of the state-of-the-art banquet halls at the hotel which reflect the traditional and festive atmosphere of the city.

Matsuyama is Shikoku's largest city, but at it's heart, it's an old-fashioned tram town with a hilltop fortress, Japan's oldest hot springs and a literary heritage that inspired some of the country's finest haiku. Slotted right into the heart of it, the dependable Crowne Plaza puts the castle ropeway and buzzing Okaido shopping arcade on your doorstep, with Dogo Onsen just a ten-minute tram ride away. It's a chain hotel (and there's no two ways about it!), but the 14th-floor Sky Lounge with its panoramic views of Matsuyama Castle and the handsome French Renaissance-style Bansuisou Villa, elevates morning coffee into something really quite special.

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.

Matsuyama, the laid-back capital of Shikoku, is a literary and bathing city that most never reach – and that's exactly why you should go. Perched on a hillside above the 3,000-year-old Dogo Onsen district, Dogo-Kan is the work of the late Kisho Kurokawa, one of Japan's most celebrated architects, who poured his philosophy of 'symbiosis' into every detail. The result is a ryokan that is both centuries old in tradition yet contemporary in spirit, with an Edo-inspired lobby, communal baths fed by pure Dogo spring water, and kaiseki dinners built around the seasonal catch of the Setouchi coast. All in all, a thoroughly Japanese experience in a town that feels worlds away from anything familiar.

Set in the picturesque hills of Thekkady, Spice Village is surrounded by forests and waterways, where you wake up to the sight of swirling mist over the hilltops. Spice Village is made up of 52 cottages, each thatched in the traditional style of the Mannan tribe. The village takes care of its home with plenty of eco-credentials and products sourced locally - the restaurant is even called 50 Mile Diet. Don't miss the specialty spiced teas! The grassy lawns are dotted with places to relax and as you stroll across the grounds, keep an eye out for signs naming every tree and flower.