Watanabe — Hotel in Hatsukaichi

The most magical inn ever! The location is perfect—just a 10 minute walk to the ferry station, and it’s right at the base of Daisho-in. They picked us up at the station so we wouldn’t have to carry our luggage.

When we arrived, it was hours before check-in, but they invited us to sit down and enjoy a cup of tea and a manju. After we got our bearings and felt refreshed, we went out to explore until it was time for check in.

This is a traditional ryokan, so you’ll be greeted with a low table and tea when you first enter the room. There are chairs on the enclosed balcony if you want to enjoy the view. The traditional shower/bath is made with hinoki wood, and they had a bath drawn and a hot kettle for tea when we checked in.

Our room overlooked the back yard, which is right on the bank of the stream and adjoining forest. We could hear the flowing water, frogs, and the leaves in the wind. I’ve never felt so calm! You can watch people hiking up the mountain path during the day. The food was absolutely delicious, and we felt cared for from start to finish.

This inn is run by a family: grandparents, parents, and their kids. They are the sweetest family, and they made sure we were comfortable, relaxed, and VERY well-fed. We are already planning to come...

This place is magical! The level of hospitality we experienced here was above and beyond. The hosts are just absolutely lovely - spoke perfect English, picked us up when we arrived at the ferry terminal, carried our overpacked/heavy luggage, and made us feel at home during the entirety of our stay. The room was really big with an amazing wooden tub. And the food was absolutely delicious. I had the best beef of my life here with flavours I've never encountered before. The other great part about this place is it's location - at the foot of a beautiful shrine that we were lucky enough to see decorated with candles for a special event at night (and the Rokoku Tea house we went to for great cocktails, where we could stumble down the steps home!). This is also the start of a hike to Mt Misen that you can loop onto another trail leading into town (we went directly to the brewery). We were originally back and forth about whether to stay over or just do a day trip like most. Seeing the shrines, Torii gate, and walking around without any other tourists was the right call. Completely different at night and we were happy we stayed two nights :) If we ever come back to Japan we would make sure to stay here again. Thank you...

Our entire experience at this inn was top-notch from the initial contact through the final wave goodbye. Our overnight would have been a trip highlight even if the iconic torii were not on Miyajima! ||Due to weather related train delays we had to keep changing our arrival time. We were given very clear instructions on how to contact the inn to be picked-up from the ferry when we finally did arrive.|| Our 16 tatami room was gorgeous with a separate sitting and futon area. The auto fill cedar soaking tub was a delight after our long travel day. The dinner and service was exceptional. It was some of the best food we had in a trip filled with great dining. I especially liked the fact that the portions were not huge, even though we certainly had plenty of food to eat. After dinner we were told the tide was high, and it was a perfect time to see the famous torii, at night with no crowds. We had the same experience at breakfast after a lovely night's sleep - excellent food, and great recommendations as to how to spend our day. At day's end they drove through the swarms of holiday crowds to deliver our bags to us at the ferry. Excellent service...