Miyajima Kinsuikan — Hotel in Hatsukaichi

This is a really good Ryoken to stay in if you would like the experience of a traditional Japanese hotel. We had two rooms and in the evening and they put out futons on the floor to sleep on (just as comfortable as normal beds). They had a strong Japanese clientele presence when we were there which I thought was great as many of the hotels we stayed in Japan only had foreign tourists staying. The staff here were extremely polite and helpful. We stayed on a breakfast and dinner board basis. The Kaiseki meal for dinner was exceptionally beautifully presented. It was extremely sad to us that our western palates meant we couldn’t eat much of it and our children while enjoying the experience didn’t eat any. This wasn’t the fault of the hotel but if you are a westerner staying there with children you may need to consider alternatives for breakfast and dinner (breakfast is similar to dinner in that it is traditional Japanese dishes beautifully presented but there were limited western breakfast options - our kids ate the rice and little else). ||The Ryokan has guest lounge on the top floor with great complementary facilities (alcohol, soft drinks and ice cream) and from the rooftop, there are great views. There are also complementary coffee lounges on the ground floor which are a great place to sit and unwind. The Ryokan provides traditional Yakuta for guests to wear while on the island. This was great fun and while we only wore them within the hotel, we saw plenty of people wearing them in the streets of Miyajima (just don’t wear this dress to the temple). ||There is an Onsen in the basement (split into male and female sections) which is great if you have never tried one before (there are notices on the ground floor which indicate when someone is in the Onsen and we picked a time when no one else was around!). The male Onsen was quite large and it could probably have tkane 20 or more comfortably but as I say we went in when no one was there. ||On Miyajima more generally, it’s beautiful island and well worth staying for a couple of nights. The floating Tori gate at night (when it’s not covered with tourists as it is during the day) is stunning and there are good walks up to the top of Mount Misen (and cable cars for those less able or willing to do the hike). The deer are very friendly and again something...

Nice room , excellent location, but……

We booked a nice traditional Japanese room with Kaiseki dinner in the room which we were very much looking forward to. I eat almost everything and love fish but my partner is vegetarian. We have stayed in a Ryokan twice before in Kyoto and it was awesome.

I assumed (my mistake) that there would be a vegetarian option (not vegan) for dinner. We had no issue ordering vegetarian dishes at other Ryokans.

I should have checked when I booked but I thought it will be okay. When we arrived we were told that there is no vegetarian option. My partner asked if he could order some vegetarian dishes from the Restaurant menu when we checked in. That was 7 hours before Dinner. Only vegetable tempura and steamed rice was available, so we ordered it. It was complicated to communicate with the front reception staff, but they said they will ad the dishes on, at additional costs - which is fair.

When we (I) had the Kaiseki dinner it was good. Sone dishes were excellent but way too much oyster dishes for my taste and the sushi was way too cold and some pieces almost frozen touching the ice underneath.

The waiter was very friendly but his English was very bad and he could not explain a single dish as well the differences of the 3 different sakes we ordered. We have had so much better experiences in the past.

The “vegetarian dishes” arrived were one piece of tempura okra, eeg and eggplant, lotus root as well as pork, shrimp and oyster despite clearly stating that we like to order extra vegetarian . The plain rice did also never arrive.

This is really ridiculously bad and not acceptable in my view and probably also not acceptable for Japanese standards.

In summary - we should have checked beforehand, so definitely partially my fault.

But I also believe if a Ryokan accepts bookings from foreigners that there should be a basic ability to communicate in English.

For the price we paid I also expect a bit more flexibility. I love Japan for their amazing attention to detail and kindness. We traveled over 5 times to Japan. But this Kaiseki Dinner was the most disappointing Japan...

We wanted the ryokan experience and we certainly got it. We arrived early so able to drop off luggage at the front. First, the hotel has pick up/drop off services for/from the pier. Just contact them to provide the time and they'll be right out front with their black van to pick you up. The staff is very friendly, and had our luggage in our room by the time we came back to check-in. We had the 308/Kaede room. Wow, it was huge. There were basically 4 rooms, one western style dining room, one Japanese style dining with tatami mats, another tatami room, and a sitting room facing the Itsukushima Jinja Pagoda. It was pricey so maybe why the hotel didn't seem full but there were so much to the hotel. While you are out, they will setup the mattresses for the night. There is also a massage chair in the room, along with Yukatas you can borrow for the stay and to use while at the onsen.||As for the facilities, there is so much to the hotel. It has a cafe facing the street, and a rooftop terrace that overlooks the harbor area as well as the shrine. at the upstairs floor, there is a quiet reading room, as well as several focus rooms, and at both of these, there is all you can drink soft drinks, popsicles, beer, hard liquor, and coffee. We were up in the terrace multiple times through our stay and never encountered a soul. We opted for the included breakfast which is a traditional Japanese breakfast. It wasn't the kids' cup of tea but a great experience nonetheless. The onsen was in the basement, open to the public but we only saw staff come in to use the shower, and usually had them all to ourselves. There is a channel from the room that you can view to see if there are folks in the onsens but that never seemed to be accurate.||Location was remarkably convenient. It's facing the ocean and the Shopping Street was right behind it. And couple minutes walk to views of the Itsukushima Shrine.||We really can't recommend this hotel enough and worth what we paid. It lived up to our expectations and desires for the full...