6 Best Hotels in Shikoku, Japan

It's hard to say what part of a stay at the Hotel Benesse House is the most memorable: the gorgeous views of the Seto Inland Sea, special access to the artworks at the Benesse Museum, or the Tadao Ando architecture and the luxurious yet minimalist decor of the hotel rooms. Each of the four buildings containing guest rooms has a different theme and location: Park, Beach, Museum (in the Benesse House Museum), and Oval, which is an artwork in itself, farther up the hill and accessed by walkways or a monorail. Stunning views of nature and art abound. The several restaurants on the property include Japanese and French cuisines and a café. The staff members are friendly and capable but deliberately keep their distance—a change from the ever-attentive service in other upscale Japanese hotels. Add-on meal plans are available.

Staying at this group of eight farmhouses in the mountains of eastern Iya is the perfect way to experience traditional life here. The Chiiori Trust renovated them, retaining their rustic aesthetic with thatched roofs, thick wood floorboards, and sliding shoji doors. Present-day comforts like soaker tubs and wireless Internet access have been tastefully incorporated. Fusho House has a stunning view of the mountainside village across the valley. Make your meals yourself, or for an extra fee you can have dinner delivered or ask the Chiiori Trust to bring in a local cook.

A splurge but absolutely worth it, this high-class ryokan behind the Dogo Onsen bathhouse delivers the royal treatment. The guest rooms are extremely spacious and offer views of the hot spring and the city, vistas you can also enjoy from your private balcony while soaking in a wooden tub in water drawn from the springs. The Japanese-style rooms have wooden floors and tatami sections, but instead of futons there are Western-style mattresses. The optional meals, inspired by French haute cuisine, are in private rooms in the restaurant downstairs.

The owner of this small ryokan in Honmura, which has three Japanese-style rooms and one guesthouse, spent decades in France and Morocco before returning to Naoshima to turn his family's 17th-century home into an inn. In the main house are exquisitely decorated tatami rooms, though the sliding screen doors aren't as quiet as many travelers would like. For more privacy ask for the annex guesthouse, which has its own kitchen and sleeps up to four people. Meals are available.

This traditional inn just up the road from Kazura-bashi has spacious rooms, an outdoor hot-spring bath, and unobstructed views of the valley, but the home-style feast you're served at dinner and breakfast are what you'll write home about. Two meals are included in most rates, but breakfast-only and dinner-only options are also available at a much lower rate.

Opened in 2024, the OMO7 is a fashionable but budget-conscious outpost from luxury brand Hoshino Resorts. The airy rooms, which range from twins (bookable as singles) to suites that can fit a family of four, are all spacious by locals standards and feature light natural tones. On-site you'll also find a plush public hot-spring bath, restaurant serving breakfast and dinner buffets (for an extra fee), a café-bar, and staff who can help plan itineraries and arrange guided activities.