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Looking for help choosing or for a property we don't list? Message our Private Rates Concierge on WhatsApp for member rates and insider knowledge on the right stay
A seven-suite Tadao Ando-designed hotel above the Seto Inland Sea in Ehime: concrete-and-glass minimalism, a 30-metre infinity pool and a contemporary-art collection.
Collection:
Award Winner 2023
Design Hotels
Need To Know
- Just seven suites, all individually designed
- A Tadao Ando building, formerly a private art museum
- A 30-metre infinity pool over the Seto Inland Sea
- A private pool, hot-spring jacuzzi and sauna
- Multi-course kaiseki dining, with drinks pairing
- A contemporary-art collection through the building
- 45 minutes from Matsuyama airport, on Shikoku
Check in - Check out
Check in from 15:00; check out before 11:00.
We Love
- The architecture — a genuine Tadao Ando building of concrete, glass, light and water, originally a private art museum, with a pool jutting out towards the sea and a sunken sky-lit court.
- The view — floor-to-ceiling glass framing the island-strewn Seto Inland Sea from a hilltop above Matsuyama, the light and water changing through the day.
- The art — a contemporary collection set through the building, with pieces by Frank Stella and Japanese artists, in keeping with a hotel that began as a museum.
- The pools — a 30-metre outdoor infinity pool running to the sea's edge, and a private pool with a hot-spring jacuzzi and sauna, bookable for solo use.
- The dining — multi-course kaiseki from chef Hideya Honjo, built on Seto Inland Sea seafood and Ehime produce, with a sake-and-wine pairing from the in-house sommelier.
Key Features
Book Your Stay at SETOUCHI RETREAT by Onko Chshin
€0.00 for 1 Night
Location
Address
794-1 Yanaidanimachi, Matsuyama, Ehime 799-2641, Japan
Travel Info
Setouchi Retreat Aonagi is on a hill above Matsuyama, in Ehime on Shikoku, about 45 minutes by car from Matsuyama airport or two hours from Hiroshima. Transfers can be arranged, and there is parking; a car helps for exploring the coast.
Nearby Places
The hotel is a 45-minute drive from Matsuyama Airport, or just over two hours’ drive from Hiroshima Airport. Airport transfers can be arranged
250m
Last Updated: 2026-06-23
Expert Review
Origins
Setouchi Retreat Aonagi began as a Tadao Ando building — and that is the key to it. Ando, the self-taught Osaka architect and Pritzker laureate behind the Church of Light and Naoshima's Chichu Art Museum, designed it in the late 1990s as a private house, and it later served as a small art museum before being renovated and reopened as a hotel in 2015. It stands on a hill above Matsuyama, in Ehime on Shikoku, looking out over the island-scattered Seto Inland Sea.
The architecture is the reason to come. It is unmistakably Ando: board-formed concrete, long planes of glass, water and carefully channelled light, a pool that reaches out towards the sea and a sunken court open to the sky. There are only seven suites, each individually laid out, from the signature two-floor AONAGI Suite with its wall of glass to garden and sea-view rooms — pared back, quiet, and designed so the view and the light do the work. In keeping with its museum past, a contemporary-art collection runs through the building, with pieces by Frank Stella and Japanese artists among them.
Beyond the architecture, the draws are the water, the food and the quiet. A 30-metre infinity pool runs to the sea's edge, with a private pool, hot-spring jacuzzi and sauna besides; an art lounge serves complimentary drinks. Dining is multi-course kaiseki from chef Hideya Honjo, built on Seto Inland Sea seafood and Ehime produce, with a sake-and-wine pairing from an in-house sommelier well versed in the region's lesser-known breweries. With only seven suites and a deliberately minimal hand throughout, it suits couples and design-minded travellers above all — and Matsuyama's Dogo Onsen, among Japan's oldest hot springs, is close by.
Top Secret
Book the private pool. Aonagi's main infinity pool is the photographed one, but the separate private pool — with its own hot-spring jacuzzi and sauna, and a quieter outlook — can be reserved for solo use by the hour. Taken in the early evening, with the light going down over the Seto Inland Sea and no one else around, it is the moment guests tend to remember most from an Ando building built precisely for this kind of stillness.
The Review
Setouchi Retreat Aonagi is, first and foremost, a Tadao Ando building you can sleep in — and for anyone who cares about architecture, that is reason enough. One of the Pritzker laureate's works on the Seto Inland Sea, near his celebrated Naoshima museums, it was designed in the late 1990s, served time as a private art museum, and reopened in 2015 as a seven-suite hotel above Matsuyama, on Shikoku.
What it does, it does with real conviction. The architecture — concrete, glass, water and light, framing the island-strewn sea — is the whole experience, extended through a contemporary-art collection, a 30-metre infinity pool reaching to the horizon, and minimal, light-filled suites. The kaiseki, from chef Hideya Honjo and paired by a serious sommelier, is a genuine match for the setting rather than an afterthought. With seven suites, service is close and personal.
The honest notes are about what it is and isn't. This is a design destination, not a full resort — minimalism is the point, so anyone after warmth-and-clutter or a wide range of facilities should look elsewhere; Matsuyama, on Shikoku, takes a little effort to reach; and a hotel built around concrete and stillness suits those who want exactly that. But for travellers who want to stay inside a great piece of architecture, with the Seto Inland Sea below and serious food on the table, there is very little like it in Japan.
