Hotel Tenzankaku Kaiyutei — Attraction in Shirahama

My title says it all. This hotel pays every attention to detail to make your stay nothing less than pefect. ||||Every room in this small hotel has its own onsen with magnificent seaview. Nothing could compare to enjoying a hot bath while admiring the beautiful blue sky and blue sea. If the word "soothing" could be painted, this is the picture I would have in mind.||||I joined the "one night, two meals" package which includes the room, dinner and breakfast. We had our own room for both meals and were treated like VIP. Dinner was an amazing 12 (or more?) course dinner with uber-fresh sashimi, scent-lingering teppanyaki beef and mouth-watering hotpot rice. As I write this review I still remember how good they tasted! Breakfast was equally amazing and full. ||||The room was Japanese style tatami, which was decorated as a living room during the day. As you go back to the room after dinner, the beds would have been made for you. It's a very authentic Japanese experience. As the hotel is located on a hill and slightly away from the main road, you could even see the stars in the sky!||||When you check out, the hotel can take you to any nearby place you name with their hotel car (normally the JR station). It's guaranteed that you leave as a happier person.||||The only downside could be its location, which is not quite near to the beach. It took us about 15 to 20 mins to walk downhill towards the beach. Luckily on our way back, we got a free lift from the Seamore Hotel which was by the seaside and a sister hotel of this one. Saves us the trouble to walk up the hill!||||To get there from the JR station, you could take the free shuttle which is jointly operated by 15 or 16 hotels in the area. The schedule ties in with the JR trains and so it's impossible to miss it. It was a perfect stay in a perfect...

We came to this ryokan with high expectation. We left with disappointment. We stayed here for 1 night in a cottage with Onsen.||The room itself looks very nice and comfortable. There are even 2 private Onsens in the cottage. They also provide a Nintendo Wii for guest in the room. Everything felt good. Then, came the nightmare.||The room wasn't very clean. I could pick up some dirt and dust. I also saw several spider webs. We also saw dead insects in the toilet. This was the first part of dissatisfaction.||The nightmare started at night. We are afraid of insects. It was rainy that day. This kind of weather attracts moths and termites. So, our room was swarmed with 100 moths, termites, and even spiders. We had to sleep in the room with these crawling over us at night. Worst nightmare ever!||The Onsen in the room did not feel very good either. We have stayed in many Onsen ryokans before. In term of water quality, this one is almost at the bottom of the list. There are 2 Onsens in the room, 1 indoor 1 outdoor. We could not try the outdoor one because there were hornets near the Onsen. Quite a misfortune.||The service was average. They explained the facilities and the room very well. But it took several minutes when we asked for something, especially in the restaurant.||The food was disastrous. If you read my reviews, you will notice that I have stayed in several ryokans on my trip in June 2015. This ryokan has the worst food. Even worse than all of the restaurants we had in the trip. It tasted very very bad.||We will never come back here. The only good thing about this ryokan is the look of the room. Would not recommend...

I stayed here one night, open-air bath with 2 meal plan. The staff were really friendly, the rooms were clean, the futon beds were comfortable, the room was large, the bath was divine, the food was great and I had a great stay. The only thing I'd recommend visitors to do is bring snacks and drinks for the night. Although they have a small selection that you can buy in the lobby, it is a little pricey. Nearest convenience store is also a car ride away. Free shuttle bus services available also. A lot of the staff insisted I take it even if I liked the walk so take advantage of it. They're happy to assist. 10/10 would stay again. Thank you for making me comfortable, I have a lot of tattoos so this bath on balcony is a great...