Best Hotels on Naoshima and the Setouchi Art Islands
The Seto Inland Sea has become one of the world's quiet art capitals — Naoshima, Teshima and the Shimanami islands, dotted with Tadao Ando concrete and site-specific installations. A few rated stays let you sleep inside that world rather than day-tripping it, from a museum-hotel on Naoshima to a restored merchant house on a lemon island.
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Naoshima, the art island
Benesse House is the original — a museum and a hotel in one building by Tadao Ando, where you sleep among the collection and the galleries stay open after the ferries leave. Nearby, Naoshima Ryokan Roka gives the island a quieter, tatami-floored counterpoint. Between them you can do the Chichu and Lee Ufan museums without ever queueing with the day crowd.
The wider sea
The art extends beyond Naoshima. Azumi Setoda, on the Shimanami cycling route, is a 140-year-old merchant house reworked by the founder of Aman into an inn on a lemon-growing island. Further along the coast, SETOUCHI RETREAT AONAGI near Matsuyama is a former private museum, again by Tadao Ando, now a seven-suite hotel over the water.
Setouchi art-island rated stays
Check rates at Benesse House
Is it worth staying over on Naoshima?
Very much so. The island empties when the last ferry leaves, and guests at Benesse House get the galleries and outdoor works almost to themselves. A day trip only shows you the queue; a night shows you the island.
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