Ginpaso — Hotel in Ako

We chanced upon this ryokan after researching the internet for the best onsen/ryokan in the Kansai area with a view. We were very happy with our experience and will share everything here. First, the train rides coming here were not difficult. Just use your google maps and it will guide the fastest, easiest and cheapest (for those on a budget) way to get here. Also, there’s a free hotel shuttle service that you can advance book by making a phone call to the hotel for a scheduled pick up from the nearest train station (Banshu-Ako station) which is at the end of the San-yo line. The hotel is a lifestyle hotel located by a seaside town in Ako, Hyogo.

From the time we arrived, we were greeted so warmly by the hotel staff. The lobby has a lounge with beautiful view of the sea to which was facing the sunset and it was breathtaking. We were then taken to our tatami room which also had a beautiful view of the sea. We could also see both the sunrise and sunsets from our room windows. Our room had its own toilet and sink with the traditional tatami beds. We also had a breakfast table with 2 chairs that’s located by the window for you to enjoy the sunrise and sunsets of Ako.

For the hotel’s breakfast and dinner meals, highly recommend to book this with your stay! The Kaiseki menu is in another gastronomic experience on its own! The meals are carefully selected by their in house chef which will blow your mind away with a touch of different fresh flavors from the sea and the region. We were very satisfied with each Kaiseki meals from breakfast to dinner and the staff would explain to us each meal set being served. The wine selection is also excellent, even the house wine by the glass is of good quality to pair with your meals. The sashimi they served were an uncommon fatty fish and so fresh, we were raving about it.

For the Onsen, this was another experience bathing the hot pools with the view of the sea. Such a relaxing and revitalizing experience. They also have a sauna and a cold plunge pool (around 9°C to 18°C depending on the side assigned to make or female). There’s also 2 sides of the hotel onsen experience which you can access in the morning and evening depending on the schedule for male and female baths. So suggest to try both morning and evening baths. The bathrooms are very clean and they also have a lounge area outside the bathrooms that have 3 fantastic massage couches. The hotel foundation is also built of preserved rock million of years old which you’ll see in the lower floors.

There’s also a nice gift shop at the hotel selling local specialities like desserts, different kinds of specialty flavored salts (highly recommend buying) and other souvenir gifts you can take home.

Overall, I’m highly recommending this hotel, if you can spend 3 nights here, the would be highly ideal. The service of this hotel is premium and would like to thank all the hotel staff for taking extra care of us. We are bring home core memories of this experience which we would love to repeat with...

Simply glorious Ryokan that's worth a drive to visit by the fishing 🎣 arena.

But tops is the staff! Simply outstanding! 1st to commend Tsukuhara - San from guest hospitality! Outstanding!!! Waited out for us as we drove it. Not sure how he knew..but he knew!!! Wow!!! And then patiently explained the entire room logistics with us as well. Thank you!

Khatri- San dinning from Nepal. Sweet experienced service staff that spelled 5*

Mitsuhiro San who was really pleasant and lovely sweet Mika San. Her smile truly brightens up everyone!

Kudos to the chef! So much details went into each dish! Very refined as well and loved the use of local ingredients.

Onsen was lovely and I liked how they switched bath places for men and women.

And after dinner, the tatami beds were made and a sweet note was placed right by the bed....simply awwwwww..

Loved it all..except.. we wished cleaning was more detailed and couldn't rate this a full marks and would be good to change the cotton swaps. There were bugs in there... The place is under going revamps and hope to be back again.

Definitely charming in all aspects and onsen with infinity onsen view....wow...

One more mention...beds were so comfortable I am glad I requested to switch from tatami to proper beds .

And despite it being 90% local Japanese visitors..most staff spoke English well!!!!! What a...

This is a wonderful Ryokan with amazing onsen facilities, fabulous views and superb dining. The location is outside Ako and a little out of the way, but totally worth a stay. There are traditional Japanese and western style rooms. I'm pretty sure all the rooms have a view of the sea. It faces south, so you get the sunrise and sunset views. The rooms are a little dated and could use renovation. There are 4 onsen: "indoor" and "outdoor" though I didn't see much of a difference. They're all outdoor. The facilities switch so men and women can enjoy both. Women get the smaller, eastern onsen in the morning and the larger, western onsen in the evening. Kaiseki style breakfast and dinner. Everything was prepared so beautifully. Parking is available right outside the entrance - make sure you reserve a spot. The staff has been lovely. They have struggled valiantly to be as polite and helpful as possible despite the language issue. There seems to always be at least one person on duty at any given time who has English proficiency. Highly recommend spending a night or two at this peaceful and...