Kobaitei — Attraction in Kotohira

The Koubaitei is an upscale Japanese-style hotel with an emphasis on service and comfort. My wife and I stayed here for 2 nights in mid-May, ‘18 on a small group tour composed of mostly British and Americans. Of the hotels we stayed in during our month-long visit to Japan, this was one of our favorites and we strongly recommend it if you are looking for a taste of Japanese hospitality at its finest, and you are ok with not being able to speak Japanese. Although some of the staff speak a small amount of English and westerners are warmly welcomed, this is most definitely a Japanese hotel – there is no English on the outside of the building and very little elsewhere. That aside, the staff were very friendly and attentive, obviously determined to make your stay pleasant.||||The Koubaitai is an easy walk from the JR station, though as part of its high level of service the hotel sent a small coach for our group and our luggage. The hotel is about a 10-minute walk to the main old-town approach to the Konpira-san temple, where there are a number of restaurants and shops. The lobby area is a stunning, high-ceiling open area with a wall of glass looking into a beautiful garden, and lots of comfortable places to sit and talk.||||Our room (907) was one of the largest we had during our month-long visit to Japan. It was attractive and well appointed, with the usual central table, a side table, and a mini-bar with tea-making facilities. Being in the Japanese style, the beds were futons placed on the room’s tatami mats while we were at dinner. They were fairly comfortable, even the firm rice-hull pillows.||||The bathroom was good-sized and attractive, with a separate rooms for the vanity, shower/tub (Onsen-style), and the usual Japanese starship captain’s chair toilet. The hotel baths were downstairs on the ground floor and were beautiful, with both indoor and outdoor pools.||||We had two excellent banquet-style meals during our stay, but since these were served to our group in a private room we can’t comment on the restaurant ala carte menu. The breakfast buffet was served in the restaurant, with two serving areas featuring a wide array of Japanese and western dishes. Everything we had was very good. The restaurant setting was off the lobby and was very pleasant.||||The Koubaitei is an excellent hotel and we don’t hesitate to recommend it. We stayed as part of a group, but we wouldn’t hesitate to return here...

The Koubaitei is an upscale Japanese-style hotel with an emphasis on service and comfort. My wife and I stayed here for 2 nights in mid-May, ‘18 on a small group tour composed of mostly British and Americans. Of the hotels we stayed in during our month-long visit to Japan, this was one of our favorites and we strongly recommend it if you are looking for a taste of Japanese hospitality at its finest, and you are ok with not being able to speak Japanese. Although some of the staff speak a small amount of English and westerners are warmly welcomed, this is most definitely a Japanese hotel – there is no English on the outside of the building and very little elsewhere. That aside, the staff were very friendly and attentive, obviously determined to make your stay pleasant.||||The Koubaitai is an easy walk from the JR station, though as part of its high level of service the hotel sent a small coach for our group and our luggage. The hotel is about a 10-minute walk to the main old-town approach to the Konpira-san temple, where there are a number of restaurants and shops. The lobby area is a stunning, high-ceiling open area with a wall of glass looking into a beautiful garden, and lots of comfortable places to sit and talk.||||Our room (907) was one of the largest we had during our month-long visit to Japan. It was attractive and well appointed, with the usual central table, a side table, and a mini-bar with tea-making facilities. Being in the Japanese style, the beds were futons placed on the room’s tatami mats while we were at dinner. They were fairly comfortable, even the firm rice-hull pillows.||||The bathroom was good-sized and attractive, with a separate rooms for the vanity, shower/tub (Onsen-style), and the usual Japanese starship captain’s chair toilet. The hotel baths were downstairs on the ground floor and were beautiful, with both indoor and outdoor pools.||||We had two excellent banquet-style meals during our stay, but since these were served to our group in a private room we can’t comment on the restaurant ala carte menu. The breakfast buffet was served in the restaurant, with two serving areas featuring a wide array of Japanese and western dishes. Everything we had was very good. The restaurant setting was off the lobby and was very pleasant.||||The Koubaitei is an excellent hotel and we don’t hesitate to recommend it. We stayed as part of a group, but we wouldn’t hesitate to return here...

My wife and I stayed at the Kobaitei Grand Hotel on 20 and 21 November 2013 while touring northern Shikoku.||||We had a room on the 8th floor with private rotenboro on the balcony, the room was very large and can accomodate up to 5 guests if futons are added. The rotenboro is quite nice my wife used it twice in the mornings. We used the basement level ofuro for bathing in the evening.||||I was a little disappointed with our dinner the first night, nothing wrong but not as special as I would expect for a hotel where we paid $300 a night for two. However, the dinner meal was quite good with interesting dishes on the 2nd night.||||My impression is that little English is spoken so be advised, however I suspect most areas like the front desk can "make do".||||BEWARE, the Japanese style breakfast is huge, buffet style with an automatic side order of the local udon specialty. Do not plan to eat again until dinner in the evening if you finish the breakfast meal. The second day we ate breakfast in a smaller 1st floor resturant, portions on the Japanese breakfast were more reasonable and my western style breakfast was quite good.||||Very nice ofuro in the basement and an outside onsen on the 1st floor but it was too cold and windy the days we were there for me to want to try it. The downstairs bath does have a sheltered rotonboro so you can take the waters outside if you want without wind chill being a factor.||||Kotohira is small so you can walk to Konpira San Shrine from the hotel, however if you also plan to visit the Kabuki Theater, old (1835) and are a bit older like me I would suggest taking a taxi which goes 1/2 way up to the shrine and walking down. The hotel provides pick up and drop off service to the train station although it is in walking distance for the ambitious.||||On the whole a most satisfactory if somewhat...