Yamaichi Bekkan — Hotel in Hatsukaichi

Probably our favourite place to stay in our 2-week holiday, with the best food and warmest welcome. ||Shinko-San was very friendly and welcoming. She kindly annotated a local map and advised us on what to see on Miyajima, as well as what times the low and high tides were to see the torii gate. ||Go and see the torii gate at sunset - the gate is floodlit so we got stunning photos there. All the day trippers had gone home so it was nice and quiet. Miyajima itself is such a lovely island, with a great shopping street full of places to eat, including street food, and a shop selling Studio Ghibli items which was perfect for my daughter. We did the cable car up Mount Misen, did the final walk up to the top, then walked all the way down. Beautiful and peaceful. ||The food here was extremely tasty, presented beautifully, and Shinko-San explained what everything was, and how to eat it. She wanted to make sure that we all liked it and substituted items for our son when there were ingredients that he didn’t eat. We especially enjoyed the tofu dishes and the fried oysters (you can see the oyster beds when you are on the ferry over to the island). Highly recommend the Japanese-style breakfast - the best breakfasts we had in 2 weeks. ||We stayed in a Japanese-style room (4 people) and there was 1 shower and 2 toilets in there, which was good. The futons were very comfortable, and we had a lovely view of the water. The bathroom that had the shower and toilet was quite cramped but it was fine for the 2 nights that we stayed there. ||We loved our stay here, and would definitely...

Probably our favourite place to stay in our 2-week holiday, with the best food and warmest welcome. ||Shinko-San was very friendly and welcoming. She kindly annotated a local map and advised us on what to see on Miyajima, as well as what times the low and high tides were to see the torii gate. ||Go and see the torii gate at sunset - the gate is floodlit so we got stunning photos there. All the day trippers had gone home so it was nice and quiet. Miyajima itself is such a lovely island, with a great shopping street full of places to eat, including street food, and a shop selling Studio Ghibli items which was perfect for my daughter. We did the cable car up Mount Misen, did the final walk up to the top, then walked all the way down. Beautiful and peaceful. ||The food here was extremely tasty, presented beautifully, and Shinko-San explained what everything was, and how to eat it. She wanted to make sure that we all liked it and substituted items for our son when there were ingredients that he didn’t eat. We especially enjoyed the tofu dishes and the fried oysters (you can see the oyster beds when you are on the ferry over to the island). Highly recommend the Japanese-style breakfast - the best breakfasts we had in 2 weeks. ||We stayed in a Japanese-style room (4 people) and there was 1 shower and 2 toilets in there, which was good. The futons were very comfortable, and we had a lovely view of the water. The bathroom that had the shower and toilet was quite cramped but it was fine for the 2 nights that we stayed there. ||We loved our stay here, and would definitely...

My wife and I stayed here during our honeymoon. Our entire stay was absolutely fantastic, and I can't recommend Yamaichi Bekkan enough. The owners are extremely nice, the rooms are lovely (especially the Japanese style rooms), the food is excellent, and the location is perfect. And in fact, when we stayed, it was also the most inexpensive hotel on the island (except for perhaps the youth hostels).

We stayed two days in a Western-style room, and two in a Japanese-style room (they offered to upgrade us after another group cancelled, since they knew I'd originally wanted a Japanese-style room but they filled up before I could book). We also had breakfast all four days, and dinner one night, at the restaurant on the first floor. Between the rooms, food, and hospitality, even by very high Japanese standards, everything was excellent.

A few notes, especially for foreign travelers: (1) The owners do speak English. (2) The only down-side is that they can fill up quickly. So you should book early if you want a guaranteed place. (3) The Japanese-style rooms are (in my opinion) much better, but they fill up earlier, so book well in advance. (4) The food is excellent. Consider having breakfast and/or dinner at the hotel each day during your stay. (5) Most restaurants on the island close in the late afternoon (especially on weekdays), so there are very few dinner options. If you don't want to deal with having to search for an open place, I suggest booking your room with...