Romantic Hotels in Toyooka

Love this quaint little ryokan at Kinosaki! The service is friendly although not much English is spoken there. Expect the staff to introduce you the amenities of the ryokan such as the free first-come -first-serve private onsen (there are a total of 4, but recommend the one named Hana because it's the newest and the nicest). The room itself is tiny but comfortable. There is no shower in the room, so would have to take the shower at the onsen or at the ryokan's own onsen. The room package came with kaiseki (we had the snow crab one) and it was delicious with pretty looking food. The blanket was thick and comfortable, perfect for the cold weather. There was not much view from our room.

We stayed at this ryokan with onsen for one night in August. The journey from Kyoto takes around 2.5 hours with Japan Rail - some connections go without changing. It's about 700-800 m from Kinosakionsen train station. When you leave the train station, you can either walk across the street and a few steps to the left and lock your large suitcase in the locker (but not too big please, our standard hard-shell suitcase was one a few millimeters too deep) or have your suitcase delivered to your room door a few steps further to the left for just 200 yen. Upon arrival at the ryokan there was a very friendly welcome from an owner who spoke good English. He explained everything in detail and took countless greeting photos of us with our cell phones. Afterwards we were accompanied to our room by a young lady and tea was poured at the reception. The accommodation has 11 rooms. The anteroom of the ryokan, where you have to leave your luggage and slippers, is very small, actually too small to be able to unpack halfway. The room itself is sufficiently large. As is usual in ryokan and Japan, there is little storage space. Everything very clean and well-kept. There is a toilet and sink in the room, but there is no shower, that's what the onsen is for. A total of two onsen - one outside and one inside like in a cave. Both really beautifully done. In the evenings the onsen were “private” - you wait until one is free, then go in, lock it and have it to yourself. The room price also includes entry tickets to the city's seven public onsen. We only briefly used a public onsen “around the corner”, the ones in the neighborhood appealed more to us. After dark we took a longer walk through the very beautiful place. The area is centrally located - but of course still quiet. A Family Mart is just 100 m away. We had booked with breakfast, which is consumed in the room. You choose a time slot - for us, 8.30 was the latest option. Be careful, get up in time, there was a knock at our house at 8:15 a.m. and the young lady first put our futons away - so don't worry about turning them to the side again when the alarm clock rings at 8:00 a.m. The Japanese breakfast is unusual for a Central European, but why not get to know other breakfast habits? The young lady who brought and prepared breakfast was busy with everything for at least 10 minutes. Check out by 10 a.m. at the latest. The owner was kind enough to drive us to the train station by car. I have rarely experienced so much hospitality in a neighborhood. Would I book it again? Almost 200 euros per night for 2 people including breakfast is anything but cheap, but the experience is certainly worth it. A clear recommendation from me if you want to experience something other than a hotel room.

The exterior looked old, but the interior was in good condition. The baths for men and women are changed depending on the day. When I went in at night, it was early and there weren't many people, so I went in slowly. The open-air bath only allows outside air to enter, but you cannot see the outside scenery at all. I took a different bath in the morning, but the open-air bath was under repair. It may be a little strange for people who place a lot of importance on the bath. You can also visit the outside baths, so it might be a good idea to enjoy the hot springs to your heart's content. I don't know. The view from the room was on the opposite side of the river, so I could only see the back of the building, but the four-person room was divided into a Western-style room on the first floor and a Japanese-style room on the second floor, so it was a relaxing stay. Dinner and breakfast were buffets, and there was quite a lot of variety. Since the restaurant was fully booked, more dishes were added one after another, so there was never a time when I couldn't get what I wanted. For dessert, there was also soft serve ice cream, which the kids were happy with. After deciding to stay at Kinosaki Onsen, I was torn between choosing a small ryokan, but in the end I think it was a good value for money.