Best Mountain Hotels
Snow-capped Mount Fuji rises above clouds over a lake, Japan

Destination

Japan

Sebastian Dugudae (@sebastiandugudae) · Unsplash

Cedar forests, steaming onsen and centuries of quiet ritual. Japan's mountain inns offer a very different idea of luxury.

6 hotels

Traditional entrance surrounded by greenery at Gora Kadan, Hakone, Japan

Hakone · Japan

Gora Kadan

Gora Kadan is one of Japan's most celebrated luxury ryokan, set on the wooded slopes of Hakone, the hot-spring mountain resort south-west of Tokyo. It occupies the grounds of a former summer villa of the Kan'in-no-miya, a branch of the Imperial family, and it blends the serenity of a traditional Japanese inn with contemporary elegance, natural hot-spring baths and some of the finest kaiseki cuisine in the country.

Cabins set into a forested hillside at Hoshinoya Fuji, Lake Kawaguchi, Japan

Lake Kawaguchi · Japan

Hoshinoya Fuji

Hoshinoya Fuji is Japan's first luxury glamping resort, a cluster of minimalist cabins on a forested hillside above Lake Kawaguchi, each with a huge picture window framing Mount Fuji. Created by Hoshino Resorts, it reimagines camping as something calm, stylish and deeply connected to nature, with a terrace among the trees, crackling campfires and a sense of adventure, all within easy reach of Tokyo.

Koemon thatched exterior beside a red-leaved tree and entrance sign, Shirakawa-go, Japan

Shirakawa-go · Japan

Koemon

Koemon is a family-run minshuku, or guesthouse, in a centuries-old thatched farmhouse in Shirakawa-go, the fairytale village in the mountains of central Japan. Its steep straw roof, built in the gassho-zukuri style, said to resemble hands joined in prayer, is designed to shed the region's heavy winter snow. Staying overnight in one of these houses, eating dinner around a sunken hearth, is one of the most memorable experiences in rural Japan.

Hotel courtyard and historic facades beneath a blue sky at Nikko Kanaya Hotel, Nikko, Japan

Nikko · Japan

Nikko Kanaya Hotel

Nikko Kanaya Hotel is Japan's oldest Western-style resort hotel, a beautiful wooden building on a hillside in Nikko, beside the UNESCO-listed shrines and temples of Toshogu. Founded in 1873, when the Kanaya family opened their home to foreign travellers, it has welcomed guests including the explorer Isabella Bird, the architect Frank Lloyd Wright and Albert Einstein, and it remains one of the most atmospheric places to stay in Japan, at a surprisingly reasonable price.

Outdoor hot-spring pool and timber structure beside the rocky river amid green trees at Takaragawa Onsen Osenkaku, Gunma

Minakami, Gunma · Japan

Takaragawa Onsen Osenkaku

A traditional ryokan known for its huge outdoor hot-spring baths along a mountain river, beautiful in autumn colour or under snow.

Snow-laden forest in Hokkaido

Niseko, Hokkaido · Japan

Zaborin

An intimate ryokan where every villa has its own indoor and outdoor onsen.