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
Takamatsu, Kagawa
ANABUKI-TEI
穴吹邸
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Prices are in US dollars, converted from the yen the properties quote at the Oct 7, 2026 reference rate, and are indicative.
A price marked ≈ is itself an estimate: halved from a published two-person total, or rounded from an earlier figure. Totals for 2 assume two guests sharing one room.
One stay from this guide: Benesse House
Check rates at Benesse House
Listed alphabetically. Prices and cancellation terms differ between them, and this page does not see either — it is worth opening more than one.
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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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