Need to know
Rooms
30, including four suites, set in three houses, each designed by a big-hitter architect.
Check–Out
11am, but you can stay till 2pm for 30 per cent of the room rate or 5pm for 50 per cent, subject to availability. Check-in is 3pm to 8pm; notify staff if you’ll be arriving later.
More details
Some rates include breakfast.
Also
Unfortunately, this hotel is unsuitable for guests with mobility issues.
At the hotel
Tea room, lounges, bathhouse, library, free-to-borrow bikes and plug-adaptors, and free WiFi throughout. All guests can use the facilities in houses SSH No 01 and SSH No 02; however, those in SSH No 03 can only be used by guests staying there. To keep rooms as haven-like as possible, there are no electronics.
Our favourite rooms
Nagano Prefecture’s landscape is painterly, but turn contemplation within here – to the three houses’ interiors, that is. Each is unique and custom-designed down to door-handles and power outlets. Shigeru Ban’s SSH 01 is more fluid in form with latticed woods; SSH No 02 is more sociable, with its restaurant and bar, and vast windows; and Ryue Nishizawa’s SSH No 03 is a darker beauty with a charred-wood exterior, sukiya-zukuri layout – similar to a samurai house – and bathhouse and tea lounge (with limited guest access). In the latter you’ll share space with design icons: Arne Jacobsen's ‘Swan Chair’, Pierre Jeanneret's ‘Easy Chair’, Michael Thonet's ‘Bentwood Stool’ and more.
Spa
In SSH No 03’s Bath House you can soak in cypress tubs whose scent will transport you into forest-bound reveries (45 minutes a session; guests from SSH No 01 and SSH No 02 will need to pay an entrance fee) or indulge in a shiatsu massage. Private morning yoga sessions can be arranged in the garden or wellness room, but for more of a workout, the hotel has partnered with Kazakoshi Park gym (around JPY600 a session), a 10-minute drive away.
Packing tips
Have a sketchpad and mechanical pencils at the ready for drafting your own dream-house ideas. And, use any picked-up structural know-how to re-pack your suitcase after you’ve binged on buying handicrafts.
Also
School yourself on the poetic rigours of Japanese architecture and art in the library, which has many dedicated books. And, an online boutique sells artisanal souvenirs (Norikazu Oe ceramics, bottles from whisky and Madeira collabs, Ploh linens) too.
Children
The harmonious environment here extends to little ones. There are spacious family rooms, babysitting on request, a dedicated kids menu and nature- and craft-based activities for all ages.
Sustainability efforts
Sustainability is built into the foundations of all three houses, using cedar wood in structures that were built off-site and assembled in the forest. Within, architect Shigeru Ban’s furnishings are largely assembled from durable paper tubes. Single-use plastics are banned, and if you decide to forego daily housekeeping during your stay, you’ll get a JPY1,000 voucher to use in Shola restaurant. There’s also an admirable dedication to Japanese history and craft, following traditional Zen-boosting layouts and using artisanal textiles, ceramics and more to conserve national heritage as well as the planet.