A small auberge with a 4.7 from 168 reviewers — intimate, food-focused, and clearly personal. The French-Japanese country-inn format at its best: great dinner, quiet rooms, no fuss. Made for a slow, delicious night away.
→Region
Shikoku
This large island in between Hiroshima and Osaka is a good base for visiting Naoshima, Shōdo island, and doing some cool activities that most tourists will never visit. Check activities on Wabunka or airBnb experiences.
Shikoku: the Isamu Noguchi Garden Museum in Takamatsu and Dogo onsen in Matsuyama, one of Japan’s oldest bath towns.
Stay
Yashima · ★ 4.7 (168) Auberge de Oishi —
Matsuyama · ★ 4.7 (439) Dogo Miyu —
Ken’s mom’s onsen recommendation — Dogo is one of Japan’s oldest hot-spring towns, and Miyu is a refined way to soak in it. Mothers know: the baths, the service, the calm. Trust mom on this one.
→ Splurge Setocho · ★ 4.5 (183) Hotel Ridge —
This place is very beautiful. A bit hard to get to. The breakfast and dinner is unbelievable. Lavish, delicious, you feel like a feudal Lord of Shikoku.
A hotel with a 4.5 across 180+ reviews — solid, well-liked, and clearly doing the fundamentals right. The details are thin on Ken’s list, but the numbers suggest a comfortable, drama-free stay. A reliable pin on the map.
→See & do
Takamatsu · ★ 4.4 (360) Isamu Noguchi Garden Museum —
Isamu Noguchi’s sculpture garden and studio in Takamatsu — the artist’s own landscape of stone and form, preserved as he left it. Visits are by advance reservation only, and strictly limited. Book ahead; it’s one of Japan’s great quiet places.
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