A dream come true. For years I had wanted to stay at Benesse House and experience art and architecture that were designed for harmonious embrace. Almosst everything has been designed by the great architect, Tadeo Ando. Such a divine setting on the art island of Naoshima on the Bennese art site that has a number of world class museum and installations of exquisite art, including Monet, Yayoi Kusama, Walter da Maria, James Turrell, and many others. We stayed in the hotel section called Park, which was minimal in appearance and maximalist in thoughtful design and comfort. All rooms have a beautiful view to sculptures on the lawn and the sea beyond. This building houses the efficient reception, which its free shuttle bus around the site and the island; and also down along the seashore, the superb restaurant for breakfast and at nightfall with French (with Japanese touches) degustation dinners that are part of the package. Japanese dinners are at another restaurant on site. I am grateful to have found a booking online after waiting so long - the bookings process requires waiting online to book over 100 days in advance. We experienced a full moon over the site and sea,never to be forgotten. We stayed here for 5 nights and relaxed fully. The shuttle bus also takes you to the two townships where the ferries come and there is great art to be enjoyed, along with the town’s bathhouse, decorated by artists: a unique and fabulous experience for bathing, sex segregated.

This was our first stop on our day trip to Naoshima. We took the town bus from the ferry to the end of the line at Tsutsuji-so then walked along the waterfront past the yellow pumpkin and all the outdoor art works between there and the Museum. It’s a very pleasant walk with plenty to see although the last part is uphill and would be a little uncomfortable on a hot day. The museum is housed in a beautiful building and has a wide variety of modern art. Entry price, ¥1300, also includes the Valley Gallery a little further on. Views from the terraces were wonderful. Photographs are allowed of some, but not all, of the exhibits. The cafe on the top floor looked good but it was very busy with a long queue of people waiting. There are a lot of outdoor exhibits in the area between the hotel and the museum and well worth walking around to see them all.

Visited mainly for the architecture but the art works within the museum are also interesting by itself. There are multiple outdoor ones strewn around the compound. We spent about 1hr here and even then it is abit rushed. Best to cater about 2 hours to explore fully at a leisurely pace.