The Parklodge Kamikochi

Renovated in stages through 2020 and 2024, The Parklodge Kamikochi has kept pace with a valley that draws walkers and climbers year after year. It sits in Kamikochi, a car-free basin in the Japan Alps reached by shuttle bus from Sawando or Hirayu. Rooms are grouped into five types, each built around eight tatami mats, roughly 13 square metres, with rates set per guest and breakfast and dinner included. Muku1 is finished in cypress and has no television, a plain, quiet room meant for switching off. Muku2 allows shoes indoors, useful for guests moving in and out on day hikes. Muku3, the newest of the three, suits longer stays with its own shower and no fixed schedule. Tatami rooms look out over Kappa Bridge or the Azusa River, depending on which side you book. Dinner runs as a seasonal buffet with more than thirty Japanese and Western dishes, plus a wood-fired course unique to the lodge. A ground-floor shop, Trois Cinq, sells cakes and souvenirs. Access from Tokyo takes around four hours by public transport, or longer by direct bus. It is a modern base built for a landscape that resists modern shortcuts.