Rated Stays in Shikoku: Art Islands and the Pilgrim Coast
Shikoku, the least-visited of Japan's four main islands, holds 6 rated stays — most of them looking out at the Seto Inland Sea. This is the island of the 88-temple pilgrimage, of Naoshima's art and Kotohira's great shrine, and its best stays lean into design and water rather than the onsen tradition of the mainland.
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The Kagawa side: art and pilgrimage
Kagawa, the small prefecture facing Naoshima, holds most of the field. Benesse House, Tadao Ando's museum-hotel, lets you sleep on the art island itself; Naoshima Ryokan Roka gives it a tatami counterpoint; and up at Kotohira, near the long stone stairway to Konpira shrine, Kotohira Kadan keeps a historic garden ryokan. Old pilgrimage and new art, an hour apart.
Ehime & Tokushima
Around the coast, the register turns to design. SETOUCHI RETREAT AONAGI near Matsuyama is a former private museum by Tadao Ando, now seven suites over the sea; and Hotel Ridge stands on the cliffs above the Naruto whirlpools in Tokushima. Both are stays where the architecture and the water do the work a ryokan garden would elsewhere.
A selection across Shikoku
Check rates at Benesse House
Is Shikoku hard to reach?
Less than you would think. Takamatsu, the gateway to Naoshima, is about 50 minutes by air from Tokyo or a short train from Okayama over the bridge. Matsuyama has its own airport. It pairs naturally with an Inland Sea or Kansai trip.
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