This Hotel in Kyoto May Be the Best Place on Earth to See Cherry Blossoms

Tucked away in Arashiyama, a small district located in the outskirts of Kyoto, travelers will find a hotel so in tune with its natural surroundings that it’s hard to know where the accommodation begins and Mother Nature ends.

The Hoshinoya Kyoto is perhaps one of the most stunning hotels in the world, and it’s all thanks to its unwavering commitment to showcasing its gorgeous surroundings.

To get to the hotel guests must be willing to fully immerse themselves in nature from the get-go. That includes taking a 15-minute boat ride down the river to check into the Hoshinoya Kyoto. Along the way, the hotel describes, guests will be greeted by flocks of kingfishers flying downstream and will get their first glimpse of the stunning forest surrounding the hotel.

Upon checking in guests can spend hours upon hours looking around just the centuries-old building’s own grounds, which have been meticulously updated and maintained to include the “strategic planting of trees, as well as the reshaping of the Oi River by a 17th-century tycoon.” This, the hotel explains, resulted in the now massive Japanese garden within the hotel’s grounds.

Each of the hotel’s rooms not only comes with every amenity luxury travelers desire (including plush bedding and soaking tubs), but also comes with floor-to-ceiling picture windows. Each of those windows perfectly frames the nature outside like their own unique painting.

There is, however, one place at the hotel that is more perhaps more special than any other area. And that is the soon to launch cherry blossom terrace.

This spring, from March 25th to April 10th, the hotel will offer guests who book the Yamanoha Tatami Maisonette rooms the chance to enhance their stay with a new private viewing of the cherry blossom bloom. Guests will be able to reserve the entire new terrace, which will be located right next to the rooms. Each terrace will come with a tatami mat, a sofa, and two cherry trees. Guests are encouraged to sit out all day and even take a snooze under the stunning trees on the tatami mat laid out for them as they listen to the sound of the Oi River below.

The enhanced experience will run at an additional ¥35,000 (about $313) per person. The terrace rental, original Japanese sweets, and welcome drinks, along with a Shokado-bento, cocktails, and the Morning Tea Ceremony all come included.

However, if you can’t make it to the bloom, the hotel and its views are still stunning year-round. If you’re lucky, you could always return for the fall foliage too.