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Spend the Night in a Dutch Royal Palace...In Japan

Go To The Hotel's Web Site Where: 10 Huis Ten Bosch-cho, Sasebo City, Nagasaki, Japan, 859-3296
May 7, 2012 at 10:32 AM | by | Comments (0)

Did you know that fifty minutes outside of Nagasaki, Japan, there is a resort the size of Monaco that is modeled after a 17th-century Dutch town? Complete with windmills, canals, fields of tulips, and an exact replica of the residence of H.M. Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands, built with special permission from the Dutch Royal family?

Named "Huis Ten Bosch" (after the Queen's residence, which translates as House in the Forest), the resort was built in honor of the shared history between Nagasaki and the Netherlands, dating back to the arrival of a Dutch ship called "De Liefde" (The Love) in 1600.

Centuries later, the resort / theme park was built on reclaimed land, much like parts of the country it was modelled after. Hundreds of thousands of trees and flowers were planted to regenerate the area, with sustainability and environmentalism still a major focus today. You can stroll around cobble-stone streets, or go native and take a bike, stopping by one of the museums before getting a spa treatment on your way to an afternoon bit of theatre.

After a day of sightseeing in Japan, err..... Holland, there are various choices when it comes to staying the night. One of these is the Hotel Okura Huis Ten Bosch, just a hop across a canal from the resort itself. While named after the Queen's residence, the hotel is a recreation of Amsterdam's central railway station, but on a larger scale to accommodate more than 300 rooms over twelve floors. Amenities include the only hot spring in the area, as well as - totally logical - an Austrian bakery.

This kind of cross-cultural experience doesn't come cheap though. A standard twin room with breakfast goes for JPY 19,000 (about US$238) this Friday, with no rooms at all available on Saturday. Guests at official resort hotels receive a discount on entry tickets: two-day full access admission for an adult normally sets you back JPY 10,500 (US$132), but as a hotel guest you'll pay $13 less. Various other ticket types are available as well.

Huis Ten Bosch is part of Okura Hotels & Resorts, whose Tokyo property we discussed because of its swoon-worthy 1960s lobby. Meanwhile, if you wanted to visit the Netherlands itself, you can still stay at an Okura hotel - Amsterdam is home to the group's only European property. With a total of 300 rooms just to the south of the city centre, the hotel is known locally particularly for its restaurants.

True to its heritage, there are two Japanese options: Yamazato, which has one Michelin star, and teppanyaki restaurant Sazanka. Most famous is two-Michelin star Ciel Bleu, offering French cuisine with a view from the 23rd floor of the hotel. An eight-course dinner, including wine with each course, is a cool €245 (US$320). A deluxe room to sleep it off, including breakfast and bike rental the next day, can be had this Friday for €315.50 (US$413).

[Photo: WikiTravel.com]

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