The world has few such serene places as Japan's traditional gardens. Each is a "meticulously crafted universe", said Danielle Demetriou in The Telegraph – a "near-sacred" space that invites you to savour the "stillness" of things. And of the many to be found across the country's main island, Honshu, three in particular stand out – the Nihon Sanmeien, or Three Great Gardens of Japan.
They are centuries old – "the stuff of Japanese landscape legends" – and each lies in a different prefecture, three or four hours apart by train. As overtourism increasingly plagues Japan (last year brought a record 34 million visitors), they could form the basis of an alternative itinerary – a journey into "the Japan of dreams", far from the tourist crowds.
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