🇯🇵Japan·By request

Grand Nikko Awaji (グランドニッコー淡路)

Awaji, Hyōgo Prefecture

Sources checked October 2026

“The hotel of Awaji Yumebutai, from Tadao Ando's practice: opened in 2000 under the Westin name, renamed Grand Nikko in 2020.”

Year: 2000
Architect: Tadao Ando
Type: Hotel of the Awaji Yumebutai complex
Access: Hotel in operation, open to its guests; the Awaji Yumebutai grounds around it can be visited freely and at no charge (official website, October 2026)

The Grand Nikko Awaji is the hotel of the Awaji Yumebutai complex, designed by Tadao Ando's practice. Opened on 9 March 2000 as the Westin Hotel Awaji, it has borne its current name since 1 October 2020. It has 201 rooms and houses a chapel, the "chapel of the sea".

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In depth ≈ 1 min read

History

The hotel is one of the facilities of Awaji Yumebutai, which Hyōgo Prefecture developed on a former quarry whose earth was used to build artificial islands in Osaka Bay, such as that of Kansai Airport. It opened on 9 March 2000 as the Westin Hotel Awaji (ウェスティンホテル淡路), the year the site hosted the flower exposition Japan Flora 2000. During the 2002 football World Cup, co-hosted by Japan and South Korea, the England team stayed there.

When its brand contract with Marriott International ended on 30 September 2020, the hotel moved the next day to the Grand Nikko brand and took the name Grand Nikko Awaji (グランドニッコー淡路).

Architecture

The hotel is part of the complex that Tadao Ando's practice composed by making use of the slope, with galleries and observation terraces. Its floor area is 29,200 m2. The rooms on the north side, with balconies, look over the buildings of Awaji Yumebutai. The "chapel of the sea" (海の教会) is on the first floor of the hotel.

Use today

The hotel has 201 rooms, four restaurants, six banquet rooms, a spa with a fitness room and an outdoor pool, and the chapel.

Visiting

The Grand Nikko Awaji is a working hotel, entered as a guest. Around it, the observation terraces of Awaji Yumebutai and their gardens are open free of charge from 7 am to 10 pm, every day.