Collection
Some of Japan’s most memorable stays are in buildings more than a century old: Western-style classic hotels from the Meiji and early Showa eras, and ryokan that have been run by the same family for generations.
Staying in a historic building can mean smaller rooms or older bathrooms than a new hotel. The stay reports on each page describe what that is like in practice.
From each property’s official website. “Not confirmed” means we have not checked it yet — not that it is unavailable.
| Property | Baths | Dining | Getting there |
|---|---|---|---|
| HOTEL THE MITSUI KYOTO | Natural onsen from beneath the grounds — a swimsuit spa and a paid private bathOfficial site, checked 8 October 2026 | Not confirmed | Three minutes’ walk from Nijojo-mae subway stationOfficial site, checked 8 October 2026 |
| Gora Kadan | With an open-air bath, or a standard Japanese roomOfficial site, checked 7 October 2026 | Dinner and breakfast included, usually served in your roomOfficial site, checked 8 October 2026 | A car from Gora StationOfficial site, checked 7 October 2026 |
| Suiran, a Luxury Collection Hotel, Kyoto | 17 rooms have their own open-air bath; the private onsen costs extraOfficial site, checked 8 October 2026 | Kaiseki meets French at Kyo Suiran, and a four-seat teppanyaki counterOfficial site, checked 8 October 2026 | A free pick-up by taxi from Kyoto Station or by rickshaw in ArashiyamaOfficial site, checked 8 October 2026 |
| Asaba | A spring-fed bath in every room; open-air only in the Tenko villa, semi-open-air in HagoromoOfficial site, checked 8 October 2026 | Breakfast in your room, and seasonal extra dishes to orderOfficial site, checked 8 October 2026 | About seven minutes by taxi from Shuzenji Station — no shuttleOfficial site, checked 8 October 2026 |
| Hakone Suishoen | All 23 rooms have an open-air bath fed from the inn’s own springOfficial site, checked 7 October 2026 | A Japanese course or teppanyaki in a 1925 buildingOfficial site, checked 7 October 2026 | About five minutes by shuttle from Kowakudani StationOfficial site, checked 7 October 2026 |
Ordered by how many stay reports we have linked. We do not rank or score hotels.
オークラ東京
A rebuilding of the Hotel Okura, which first opened in 1962, in Toranomon. It is split in two: the low-rise Heritage Wing and the high-rise Prestige Tower. The lobby of the old main building has been preserved and recreated, down to the lantern-shaped lights and the arrangement of tables that people came to photograph.
パーク ハイアット 東京
Occupies the upper floors of Shinjuku Park Tower and has been open since 1994. Known as a film location, its top-floor bar and glass-walled pool have been landmarks since the day it opened.
パーク ハイアット 京都
A low-rise city hotel on the slope of Ninenzaka, with the Yasaka Pagoda close enough to fill a window. It keeps its room count down and its height in line with the streets of Higashiyama around it.
HOTEL THE MITSUI KYOTO
Directly opposite Nijo Castle, on the site of the Mitsui family’s own residence. You enter through the Kajiimiya gate, moved here and rebuilt, and the guest wings stand around a garden at the centre. A thermal spring drawn from under the grounds feeds the bathhouse.
ザ・リッツ・カールトン大阪
Opened in Nishi-Umeda in 1997, the first of the international luxury houses in the Kansai region. The eighteenth-century English interiors run through the whole building, which sets it apart from the modern hotels that opened recently.
強羅花壇
A long-established ryokan at Gora, on the site of a former imperial family villa. The buildings step down the slope, and the long corridors and the windows keep the mountain green in view. Some rooms have their own open-air bath.
翠嵐 ラグジュアリーコレクションホテル 京都
On the bank of the Oi river, east of Tenryu-ji in Arashiyama. Wings kept from a Meiji-era villa stand alongside modern ones, so the building your room is in changes what the room is like. The garden makes use of the riverside setting.
ザ・ペニンシュラ東京
On the corner at Hibiya, facing the outer gardens of the Imperial Palace and Hibiya Park head-on. The lobby lounge on the lower floors works as a place to meet, and plenty of the people in it are not staying. The rooms are generously sized all the way up.
あさば
A long-established ryokan at the centre of Shuzenji Onsen, with a Noh stage set across the pond. The view over the water to the stage is the image of the place, and the surface of the pond changes with the season.
川奈ホテル
A classic hotel, now 90 years old, on a rise above the sea at Kawana on the Izu Peninsula. It is known as a golf resort, with courses including the Fuji Course, laid out along the natural lie of the land. Sea-facing rooms, the lobby and the sun parlour look out on the sun rising over the Sagami Sea. The hotel also has Brisa Marina, a bathing facility with an open-air bath.
箱根・翠松園
An all-suite ryokan on the high ground at Gora, with a wing that carries over the design of an early Showa villa. The rooms run to around 100 square metres, large for Hakone, and each has a hot spring bath.
ザ・ホテル青龍 京都清水
At the foot of Kiyomizu-dera, in a primary school building from the early Showa era that has been kept and converted. The old façade and its arched windows remain, with rooms and restaurants built inside. The building is itself part of the view around the Yasaka Pagoda.
長楽館
A Western-style mansion in Maruyama Park, Kyoto, built in 1909 by the businessman Kichibei Murai and designated an Important Cultural Property of Japan in 2024. The main house is used as a café and restaurant, and guests stay in the adjoining new wing, which has only six rooms. The rooms make generous use of solid wood, and their design takes its cue from the words of Tatsuaki Kuroda, the Kyoto-born Living National Treasure.
THE HIRAMATSU 京都
A small hotel built into a Kyoto machiya townhouse at Karasuma Oike, with few rooms and food at its centre. The machiya frontage is kept as it was, with a courtyard garden and modern rooms set behind it. The brand began as a restaurant business, and it shows.
HOTEL 白林 HAKODATE
A hotel in the former Russian consulate on a hill in Funami-cho, Hakodate, restored and joined by a new wellness wing. The consulate was built in 1908 by Imperial Russia. All six rooms are suites, each with its own private sauna. The hotel has French cuisine at the main dining room, Byakuya, which looks down on Hakodate harbour; Sushidokoro Funami, an eight-seat counter; and a bar.
星のや奈良監獄
A HOSHINOYA that opened in June 2026 in the buildings of the former Nara Prison, built in the Meiji era and designated an Important Cultural Property. The rooms are made by joining the red-brick cell blocks, and the ceilings are high. Because the structure built as a prison has been left as it is, the corridors and the placement of the windows are unlike those of any hotel. There are 48 rooms, one restaurant and one café-lounge.
登大路ホテル奈良
A small hotel in Noborioji-cho, Nara, at the foot of Kofukuji, a World Heritage site. Its 13 rooms are three suites of 70 to 85 sqm, eight deluxe rooms of 40 to 43 sqm, one connecting unit of two rooms facing each other across a private corridor, and one single. The hotel has its own French restaurant.
せとうちリトリート 青凪
An auberge of seven rooms, converted from a museum Tadao Ando designed. The architecture — concrete and reflecting pools — is the subject of the stay.
柊家
A ryokan on Fuyacho street, in business since the end of the Edo period. Many writers stayed here, Kawabata Yasunari among them. The rooms divide between the sukiya architecture of the main house and a newer wing with modern fittings.