Ryokan Ayu-no-Sato — Hotel in Hitoyoshi

Stayed 3 nights in Ayu no Sato (Ayu, name of a local fish). Very glad about the spacious room where we could open the windows and listen to the continuous rafting sound of the fast flowing Kuma river. ||Pick-up service from station was good and we enjoyed the welcome drinks and "Coal-coated peanuts" on lobby lounge.||Public onsen for ladies was on 3/F and gentlemen on 5/F, which were supposed to be switched over on next day but it never happened. ||Kaiseki dinner was served on 1/F Seiryu Sansui. Food quality was satisfactory, but they brought out all hot dishes while we were still eating the cold entree. ||Cleanliness failed in this hotel as the basin was stained with brown slime and mold around the outlet drain. Paper towels container was also very dusty. If you need tourist information about the area, please never ever ask the male staff at the concierge or front desk. They would give lots of information but most of them was wrong. I once asked about how to travel back after the Kumagawa river cruise, he told me the only way was to take a taxi as the bus stop was very difficult to locate. Two days later, I made the same enquiry to a female staff and she responded that there was free shuttle bus on return trip.||However, the location here was very convenient with walking distance to tourist sites, supermarket and restaurants. ||||Special thanks to Nisina san and Mr Youn Joung Su who provided us with excellent services in restaurant and bar. Mr Youn was very attentive to details over...

I have mixed feelings about this place, especially given the fees we paid for two nights (about 650 EUR/95000 JPY in total).

The vegan meals were splendid. The foot bath is really nice. The onsen are probably too, but I couldn't use them as I was feeling a little ill during my stay.

This place is quite remote, considering that the railway station is currently closed due to the flooding in 2021. You have to take a highway bus from either Kumamoto or Kagoshima which will drop you off at Hitoyoshi Interchange, about 30 min on foot from the ryokan. In advance of our stay, we emailed twice asking whether they could reserve a taxi for ous, since our Japanese is quite limited, to which they never responded. To make things worse, this place has a shuttle service, but for some reason we weren't allowed to use it (perhaps because we didn't stay in one of their super premium rooms, who knows?) The windows in our room were really dirty and looked like they hadn't been cleaned in years. Such a shame, since the river view from the room is really pretty! There were LOTS of spiders and insects in our room. No insect screens in the windows. The drain in the shower room was smelly. Our room came with biscuits containing eggs and milk even though we booked this room with a vegan meal plan. Not...

I stayed at Ayu no Sato Hotel in Hitoyoshi, with my parents and sister (and would also recommend the hotel for young couples), for 4 nights and that was not nearly long enough!! Our room had a balcony with a foot spa and a beautiful view of the Kuma river and the Hitoyoshi Castle ruins. There are 2 hot spring bath areas to choose from and each one has a different theme with indoor and outdoor baths of different sizes and temperatures. The breakfast buffet was wonderful with western and japanese choices and we also had dinner at the french restaurant in the hotel, which was fantastic!! Everything was just perfect. The staff were amazing, very helpfull and polite. Even though many of them did not speak english very well there was almost always someone available to translate, and when she was not available, the staff improvised by searching words online and doing everything they could to help. There are also many good restaurants in there area and the shochu factory is just around the corner. If I ever get a chance to visit Japan again I would make sure to book a few nights at...