The Japanese wellness hotel combining minimalism with wild adventure
This elegant Kiso Valley hotel offers expeditions with a former Olympic canoe slalom athlete
Minimalist interiors at Zenagi Hotel give way to rural landscapes
Credit: Zenagi Hotel
I watch the steady flow of emerald water – rugged monochrome boulders lining the far riverside, a serene bamboo forest just behind me – and battle a moment of doubt. When I stop and listen (no mean feat with my daughters, aged six and eight, racing around in wetsuits and helmets) I hear a low-key rumble: the sound of distant rapids.
As if reading my mind – and before I mention that my youngest is perhaps not the strongest swimmer – Taro Ando gives me a champion smile, dazzling and reassuring: “The girls are with me. They will be safe! Let’s go!”