ACOA Villa Takashima

PRESERVE Selected

ACOA's lakeside villa on the quiet western shore of Lake Biwa — a 222㎡ concrete-and-wood house for up to eight, with a full kitchen, a private sauna and the lake a few steps away. Barely an hour from Kyoto, it's built for a group to take the whole place over: cook with what you find at the local markets, sweat it out in the sauna, then cool off with a swim off the shore.

A whole-house base for a golf group or family rather than a hotel floor — paddle or swim Lake Biwa in summer, a warm bolt-hole for winter trips, three bedrooms and two parking spaces so everyone travels together.