Hyakuna Garan

There’s more to Japanese luxury hospitality than city-center skyscraper hotels and forest-dwelling ryokan. Hyakuna Garan is a hotel that immerses you in an environment that’s as memorable, in its own way, as central Tokyo or the mountains of Honshu: the subtropical southern coast of the island of Okinawa. Here you’re perched atop a beach at the end of a cape, with a 220-degree view up and down the coast — which means you’ve got a view of both the sunrise and the sunset.

More impressive than its geographical situation is the resort itself, which comprises just 18 impressive suites, most of them in Western style (with one tatami exception), and whose tranquil atmosphere is helped along by its adults-only policy. The style is a blend of Japanese and Ryukyu (Okinawan) tradition and contemporary luxury design, and the comforts are first-rate, from the high-tech to the low — the most extravagant amenities these days are darkness and silence, and Hyakuna Garan offers plentiful helpings of both.

It also offers a full-service spa, a sedate garden courtyard, a zen room, and a library, as well as six multi-purpose day rooms on the top floor, which guests can book free of charge — each of which contains a tearoom-style living space, an oceanfront terrace, and an open-air bath. Not to be missed while you’re in Okinawa is the local seafood, which is front and center at Hyakuna Garan’s restaurant, which serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner with a panoramic ocean view.