Destination stays

A restaurant with five rooms at the foot of Mt Wakakusa, an auberge since 12 September 2024. The rooms (35–38 m², with balconies) are named for the elements; interiors by h design works, after Georgia O'Keeffe's house in New Mexico. Bathrooms are ordinary, with no tub to speak of.

The table: owner-chef Daiki Horita cooks over wood fire with fermentation, ageing, game and wild river fish: one Michelin star in the Michelin Guide Nara 2022 special edition and two Gault&Millau toques. A drinks pairing is offered. Be back for dinner if you go out after check-in.

An old onsen inn in the snow country, renovated in 2018 by its fourth-generation owner, a sake and wine sommelier, as an inn built around Niigata sake. We were welcomed with drinks (gin, and a pear drink, I think). The room wasn't the focus and not that highly curated: the food and the sake were the stars.

The table: French-led "snow-country cuisine" that won one Michelin star in the Michelin Guide Niigata 2020 special edition; the head chef today is Takahiro Ōfuchi. The Niigata Premium Sake Pairing is immense: rare Niigata sake, one per course, 6–7 glasses for ¥16,500. A non-alcoholic pairing has been offered too; ask when you book.

The bath: Matsunoyama's 88.7°C chloride spring runs straight through every bath. Six of the eight rooms have a private open-air bath on the source.

Sixteen suites in nine restored machiya and storehouses scattered through the old port of Mikuni, a cute town 10 min from Tōjinbō. Absolutely amazing historic and cultural rooms: Fukui timber, Shakudani stone, handmade furniture, each with its own bath (ordinary water; Awara Onsen is 10 min away).

The table: neoclassical French on Echizen crab, amaebi and Wakasa beef at Tateru Yoshino Mikuniminato. Top in its class: Michelin level to me, though it holds no star. The hotel is in the MICHELIN Guide hotel selection and Forbes JAPAN's The 30 Collection 2026.

A renovated fisherman's inn in a hamlet on the Uchitomi peninsula, eight rooms in two houses, no TVs or clocks. Very cute little rooms, a bit squashed, but a nice bath (a panoramic bath over the bay), nice curation and amazing, top-notch cooking.

The table: the day's Wakasa Bay catch in creative courses in a wood-and-glass dining room facing the sea; fugu or crab plans in winter. Two of the rooms share a bath.

Eight black-timber villas on the campus of the Kokuryū 黒龍 sake brewery, opened 26 November 2024. Art curated by the potter Kōichi Uchida, furniture from The Conran Shop, and in every villa a semi-open-air hot-spring bath and a terrace.

The table: dinner alternates by day between the Japanese counter En えん (12 seats; chef Shinpei Komatsu, formerly of Chiso En, starred in the Michelin Guide Hokuriku 2021) and the French restaurant cadre. A Kokuryū sake pairing is offered. Children are welcome. Only open since late 2024, so reviews are few.

A roughly 120-year-old azumadachi farmhouse among the rice fields and windbreak groves of the Tonami plain, restored by the design office 51% and open since 5 October 2022 as an "art hotel". Three rooms, so three groups a night: Do 土 in earthen plaster, Shi 紙 in washi and Ken 絹 in local silk, each with a deck over the fields.

The table: the restaurant, nei 寧, is chef Yuta Hamada's: cooking over fire with wood from the village's windbreak forests, a menu that changes daily. Dinner ¥13,200 or ¥19,800 (plus 10% service), with a pairing of 4 glasses for ¥5,500 or 6 for ¥8,800. Closed Tuesdays.

Amazing Michelin-star cuisine, with an amazing cottage stay. Chef Eiji Taniguchi moved L'évo into the mountains at Toga in December 2020 and cooks from his own farm, foraged plants, game and Toyama Bay fish: two stars and a Green Star in the Michelin Guide Hokuriku 2021, Gault&Millau Chef of the Year 2017 and 2022.

The stay: three cottages (35–49 m²) and a wood-fired Finnish sauna for guests, one group at a time; there is no onsen. The pairing is wine, local beer and sake made for L'évo; the course is ¥31,000. Ages 12 and over. Closed Wednesdays and the 1st and 3rd Tuesday; 2–3 m of snow in winter.

Formerly NIPPONIA Mino, renamed NAE 美濃 on 8 September 2026 (same houses, same operator). What a town, what a room: mine had two floors, all wood, traditional yet modern, with washi lampshades and amazing curation. Eleven rooms in three heritage houses, one of them a washi merchant's villa where every room has a hinoki bath over the garden; there is even a room that comes with a garden.

The table: when I stayed, dinner was brought to the room and there was plenty of free sake in the fridge. Since the rebrand, guests eat dinner in the town's restaurants and breakfast is served in the room. The hotel runs town walks and other experiences.