Takami Hotel — Hotel in Higashiizu

An Outsider perspective.

Two of us booked a special promotion room for 1 night, it was heavily discounted and looked like a good deal. I tired filling out the personal information online but it was a little confusing and translation via google wasnt the best.

When we arrived in this picturesque place we walked a wierd way to the hotel, only realised there is local hotel buses and taxies that take you there 😅 we were silly

Upon arrival it was a very nice old looking inn, the welcome was fantastic altough the slippers provided were definitely too small of both of us 😆 im a UK size 12, I think I had to walk in size 6. Went downstairs to our room, the host explained a lot of details to us in japanese and we understand most of it. We were given our timeslot for private bath usage.

As explaied between 6pm and 8pm its women only, before that its mix bathing anf after 8pm is the reserved private sessions. The stairs to the bath are dangerous and not put together great so definitely go down slowly and hold the hand rail, this is my only negative

Our dinner was served. It was incredible. But too much food. We called reception to have our dishes cleaned and room changed around to sleeping arrangment. The futons are thin and walls you can hear through but the sleep was nice, we booked our breakfast for 8am and at 7.45 out hosts came,changed the room around and laid out our food, it was delsishous but too much again. We felt bad not being able to finish everything.

The other reviews seem confused to me about this place. Its a charming old venue in a beautiful location with phenomenal service. Yes its old. Stop complaining, iv had so much worse in Europe for much more money, if you dont like going out of your city comforts. Don't.

To any foreigners reading this. If one of you can speak and read a modest amount, definitely worth booking. Online translation wasn't great with many of the documents and papers explaining things, everything is old and charming, It's so worth the visit and all the charming wierd museums and attractions nearby are a great way to break up the travel to and from tokyo.

Thank you to our hosts, the whole team was amazing. If we ever come back to this region we will be...

It was a 4 because:||1) Service was impeccable in typical Japanese fashion - unfailingly polite, welcoming from start to end. The front counter person asked us where we were headed after and brought out an area map, pointing us specifically to the next location. ||2) Food - we took a half-board meal plan. ||Dinner was sumptuous, we were stuffed with the local delights. Highlights included one whole braised Alfonsino fish (a local specialty catch), wonderful miso soup with clam, seafood nabe, grilled scallop with butter and lemon juice. Capped with dessert of pudding and local orange jelly. ||Breakfast wowed again. Horse mackerel (aji) on the grill, a fantastic soup and onsen egg (and much more).||3) Cleanliness - room was very clean and tidy. ||4) Outdoor onsen was lovely - water wasn't overly hot||5) Stunning views of Sagami Bay and the mountain from the room. Breathtaking to wake up to this sight. ||Why it didn't get a 5:||1) Shower tub and indoor onsen - they looked grimy and blackish on the sides. I didn't use either because of the off-putting appearance, but honestly, I doubt it was because it was dirty. I think rather, it was probably clean but so old they couldn't remove the black appearance despite scrubbing||2) Musty smell throughout the establishment, particularly in the in-room shower and onsen changing areas. It was probably due to age, but it was a minus in my books ||All in all, taking into account the price paid, good value for money. But there are cleaner/newer ryokans around, just at a slightly increased...

It was a 4 because:||1) Service was impeccable in typical Japanese fashion - unfailingly polite, welcoming from start to end. The front counter person asked us where we were headed after and brought out an area map, pointing us specifically to the next location. ||2) Food - we took a half-board meal plan. ||Dinner was sumptuous, we were stuffed with the local delights. Highlights included one whole braised Alfonsino fish (a local specialty catch), wonderful miso soup with clam, seafood nabe, grilled scallop with butter and lemon juice. Capped with dessert of pudding and local orange jelly. ||Breakfast wowed again. Horse mackerel (aji) on the grill, a fantastic soup and onsen egg (and much more).||3) Cleanliness - room was very clean and tidy. ||4) Outdoor onsen was lovely - water wasn't overly hot||5) Stunning views of Sagami Bay and the mountain from the room. Breathtaking to wake up to this sight. ||Why it didn't get a 5:||1) Shower tub and indoor onsen - they looked grimy and blackish on the sides. I didn't use either because of the off-putting appearance, but honestly, I doubt it was because it was dirty. I think rather, it was probably clean but so old they couldn't remove the black appearance despite scrubbing||2) Musty smell throughout the establishment, particularly in the in-room shower and onsen changing areas. It was probably due to age, but it was a minus in my books ||All in all, taking into account the price paid, good value for money. But there are cleaner/newer ryokans around, just at a slightly increased...