3 Hotels We Still Dream About
Ugenta, Kyoto, Japan
Nestled in the hills about an hour north of Kyoto, Ugenta is a 2-room, 200 year old, Ryokan-style hotel that remains one of the most unique and peaceful places we have ever been. Emerging from the train station to the hills of rural Kyoto, the lush trees start to overtake the buildings and roadways until we arrive at a one-lane town, Kibune. A relaxing moment along the flowing creek, a quiet hike to the top of Mount Kurama, and healthy gleam of dew from the humidity, it feels like we stepped out into the best that Mother Nature has to offer. The unassuming hotel is anything but that on the inside. After removing our shoes, we are taken up to our room. We chose the traditional Japanese-style room over the standard room, but both are impeccable. As we tour the 2-story room, we feel at one with nature. Large windows overlook the small town on one side, and the wooded hillside on the other. The sunken-in table invites us in to relax, and the floor chairs are placed perfectly for reading a book. As we head up the stairs, what greets us is a living green wall made by nature, peppered with damp moss and small flowers. The faint sound of water trickling is calming and begs for silence. What better place to experience this moment than in the hot tub built into the patio.
Ugenta continues to deliver during meals. An 8-course kaiseki dinner is delivered one course at a time, to our rooms, while we settle into our kimonos and savor every bite. Fresh seafood, both raw and cooked, is presented like intricate works of art that are almost too beautiful to be eaten. For those lucky to arrive in fair weather, dinner is served on a platform that hovers over the stream that runs through town. A powerful feeling to eat your meal with a body of water flowing underneath. It was at Ugenta that we truly understood the care and compassion that goes into Japanese culture and tradition. From food to hospitality to respect for nature, Ugenta surpassed all our expectations and made it one of the most memorable experiences we’ve ever had.
Mashpi Lodge, Mashpi, Ecuador
When planning a trip, it’s hard to know just how long to spend at each destination. There have been times where we felt like we stayed a little too long, and places where we wish we’d stayed a little longer (Ugenta being one of them). We stayed two nights at Mashpi Lodge...I wish we could have stayed forever. Located in the Cloud Forest in Ecuador, this part of the rainforest was being used for timber until the former mayor of Quito, who happened to be a conservationist, bought 3000+ acres for the sole purpose of preservation. He had no intention of building the lodge, but decided to use the space that was already cleared from the timber company to establish Mashpi without interrupting any of the natural environment. The entire lodge was built in Quito and transported to the middle of the rainforest.
Because it was built into the rainforest, not in place of the rainforest, it’s completely surrounded by lush landscape. The building is made mostly of glass, making you feel immersed in nature even when you’re inside. There are morning and afternoon activities, evening lectures, and night walks - each one reveal new insights into the cloud forest and its plant and animal inhabitants. The most magnificent experience we had was during a morning activity - we hiked around 3 hours through a lightly-flowing stream, sometimes walking through water up to our knees, until we reached the base of a waterfall with a natural pool, which we jumped into for a swim. Every activity is exciting and educational and made us realize how spectacular nature is and how complex its systems are. Days in Mashpi are complemented with incredible, healthy food and kind staff, which are mostly local - a promise the lodge made to the local communities. At least one member from each family in the surrounding communities would be employed by the lodge. To find somewhere that combines conservation, local community, and respect for all beings (plants included) makes it a truly unique place in this world.
Babylonstoren, Simondium, South Africa
Technically we didn’t stay at Babylonstoren, but the experience we had there was so memorable that it’s shaped how we view our lives and the lifestyle we want to live. Babylonstoren is a 200 year old farm and vineyard in the South African wine country, about 40 minutes outside of Cape Town. A series of beautiful white-washed buildings all circulating around the main event, a lush garden full of fresh herbs and vegetables. As we walk into the property, we’re greeted by free-range chickens and turkeys and a trio of donkeys. Then it was time for the garden tour - 5 feet into the impeccably designed garden, we’re told to pick a leaf off the lemon tree and notice the small white spots on the leaf. Then we’re instructed to break the leaf and smell. We’re immediately engulfed in the scent of lemon - those small white spots are actually pockets of lemon oil stored in the leaves. The experience was only elevated from there, we’re told that everything in the garden is edible and available for our picking. We continued to weave through the garden, tasting, smelling, and picking, before ending the tour at a large, open building full of succulents. Lunch followed at the on-site restaurant, Babel, which is sourced 100% from the property’s produce and farm. While on our way to Babel, we passed a guest of the hotel with a basket of fresh vegetables, picked and bundled for him to go cook for dinner in his guest room. It was one of the first times I ever witnessed a truly self-sustaining ecosystem and I saw the beauty and importance on incorporating nature and fresh food into our daily lifestyle. From that visit on, the game had changed.
Honorable Mention
Benesse House, Naoshima, Japan
The second awe-inspiring hotel we had in Japan took place on Naoshima, an island in Japan. Naoshima was a dying island, people were moving to big cities and jobs and populations were steeply decreasing. That’s when the Benesse Corporation (parent company of Berlitz Language Schools) stepped in. They decided to take their private art collection and move it to the island to encourage people to visit. From there the project took off. As we arrived into a small town on the island, we were told that the entire town is an art project. The unoccupied houses were turned into architectural projects and art installations. Driving around the island, small installations catch your eye, some are out of the beach, some up on the hills. The museum, built into a hill so as not to disrupt nature and the visual aesthetic of the island, houses the most magnificent Monet paintings I’ve ever seen, along with an installation by James Turrel that is so amazing I won’t even attempt to describe it because it will not do it justice. The hotel itself feels like something out of Ex-Machina. The simple design is peaceful and understated, that made us feel like we had really discovered something special.
(Author’s note: AJ would add this in his top 3)
Can’t Wait to Visit
Santa Clara 1728 (or any Silent Living property)
Visiting the Silent Living website is like stepping into a dream. The peaceful colors, poetic language, and space designs make me want to pack up my bags and move to any of their 4 properties. The only hotel of the group, Santa Clara 1728, is a refurbished old home in Lisbon whose minimalistic design remains inviting and warm. Their brand brings the feeling of serenity, home, and nature. One of the properties has even replaced typical flooring in the public spaces with sand. I look forward to the day when I can experience one of these properties first-hand.
(photo from Silent Living)