Yorozuya

The best ryokan I’ve ever been. Marvelous service, they always tried to understand us since we talk in english. They have private onsen which is amazing: sauna, hot room, two onsen, bed, massage couch, etc etc We took breakfast and dinner in the restaurant… the service and attention were wonderful; the food… there are not words to describe it… delicious. I simply love this place!

This review is for the onsens at this location. There are two onsens at this location which switch between men and women at certain intervals during the day. While both are great, there is one that stands out and I was told was a UNESCO World Heritage site. It was a remarkable onsen by which all future onsens will fail to measure up. You are able to access these onsens even if you are not staying at the resort; I paid 800JPY in November of 2022 and it was the best value I could hope for.

Stayed here for 2 nights and really enjoyed it. The evening meals were excellent, the staff were nice and the room was pleasant. The exterior of the hotel needs some work, but inside it's very nice. We stayed in the main part of the hotel, but there's also an other section with more elegant (and expensive) rooms that I'd like to stay at in future. The onsen is one of the most interesting that I've been to.

I think we fell victim to some confusion mentioned in other reviews. Let me try and clarify after visiting: - There's two hotels. This one (the more expensive one) and the Yoroduya Annex (cheaper one?). They have shared access to bathing facilities. I suspect also dining facilities. They are connected by underground walkway. - The food was very good. We did the breakfast-only booking so did not try dinner but I was impressed with the quality and range of options, even over multiple days. - Other reviews mentioned easy english language support. I would say it is manageable but not great. As long as you have no special requests, you'll be fine. - Other reviews mentioned a shuttle service. We were not offered one to/from the train station or to/from the Snow Monkey Park. It appears that service is operated by the other hotel. As far as I can tell, the better option would have been the cheaper Annex hotel, because it maintains access to the same baths, and may have the shuttle as well. I'm really not quite sure why this one is more expensive and I frankly regret paying the higher nightly fee for what I thought was going to be a really premium experience. Also, after exploring both Yudanaka Onsen (resort area that includes this hotel) as well as Shibu Onsen, Shibu is a much prettier area to walk around, and closer to the Snow Monkey Park. If I went back to the area, I would find a hotel in that resort area instead.

Yumi and Akira looked after my friends and I with incredible caring and friendship. We felt like we were such important guests, nothing was too much to ask. They organised early breakfasts for us when we wanted to leave on early buses and Akira even drove us around to find a favourite restaurant that we couldn't relocate! He organised for us to be taken out to a restaurant and be collected again after the meal. Loved the little touches, like a special handmade gift of a tissue container and even a delicious apple each for our onward journey. Small gestures on their own but added together made for a wonderful stay. Enjoyed that two onsens that had different times so males and females could go to either onsen. We didn't end up having dinner at the ryokan but dinner smelt amazing each night - Yumi is such a wonderful cook. We thoroughly enjoyed the wonderful breakfasts each morning in our private breakfast room. Not sure if they organised the monkeys to visit....but we say some wonderful antics outside the rear entrance on two separate occasions. No need to go to the Monkey Park nearby! We stayed one week and had an amazing time.