Hot Spring Resort Matsunoi — Hotel in Honshu

A superb old style Japanese hot spring (Onsen) inn (ryo-kan) in a very clean, well run modern building. I'm not sure, but there may be a few buildings on the lot, but our room was in the new one, and the only one with a balcony with a small table and chairs. Upon parking our car in a huge parking lot with well seasoned Japanese garden walls, a gentleman helped us to check in with a golf cart. We opted for the one with in-room, hot cedar bath. It was 24-7 continuously running spring hot water with a small shower room annexed (wash first, then soak), and wooden blinds were the only thing that separated inside and outside - practically open door to a garden view!!, on the 2nd floor of the building. Not all rooms are the same, so pls ✅. Both interior and outside (aged gardens) are well maintained, with great attentions to details. The inn had 3 Ryoten Buros (large public tubs with open air structure - with privacy from outside) (only for the hotel guests), each featuring different hours, ambiances, sizes. The one that opens@5am (2 tubs) was excuisite with Japanese garden view, and nobody came in when we were there early in the am! To learn how to properly take a public bath in Japan, pls research well - there are no exceptions, but it is really worth it. Another surprising thing about this inn was the buffet dinner and breakfast -for being in a country side, the food was great, in variety, quality and taste, with plenty of local ingredients/traditions along with "Western" items if you want to stick to them. This visit was the 1st week after COVID closure of a few years, so it was quite surprising how well they have done (so streamlined). DIsposable food prep gloves to the food areas. All within the building people were still wearing a mask (I think the masks are not mandatory any longer, but we followed the local's "dos"). Very clean operation.

They accepted all ccs, incd Amex. We didn't see English posts anywhere (including food labeling), so if you need lots of special arrangements and help, it may be difficult to enjoy this place, but you should definitely try it with flexibility in mind. This was my 20th to 30th Onsen visit in Japan, and this one ranks the top for a great match of clean, modern operation combined with solid dose of well seasoned Japanese gardens and quietly ornate interior. Definitely returning in my next visit to Japan.

Lastly, we saw an older gentleman in a suite and tie sweeping a parking lot, picking up a leaf or two early in the morning. There were a few inn staffs standing around, waiting to help the guests to check in and out. We figured out that the man was the owner, and it was this kind of spirit that created the...

Here for autumn leaves at Tanigawadake and Suwakyo and early November's the perfect time! Could see this humongous hotel complex from diagonally across Minakami Station over the river to the left but actually took us quite a while to walk around to get to it as the little suspension bridge seeming to lead to it was in complete disrepair.||||Our western style twin room with bathroom was decent but slightly disappointing compared to how nice the rest of the hotel looks. Good amenities though. There are 2 gender separate indoor and outdoor half-covered hot springs, both beautiful and clean - one with flame torches at night called "Hiakari" (open from 12-11 pm & 5-9 am) and the other named "Tsukiakari" (from 12 pm to 10 am) looks out into a gorgeous garden lit up at night in addition to having a misty sauna plus a dry one where you can lie down. Yet another hot spring bath called "Hotaruakari" alternates between men and women every few hours - a huge pond and garden with firefly-like lights twinkling under the stars - it was pure magic! If you only have time for one hot spring soak at night, make it this garden bath!||||We had the buffet option at 7:30 pm and it was glorious! All-you-can eat steak (even though the plan said roast beef), nigiri sushi, tempura, and other high quality items. Drink bar is an additional 1500 yen. Breakfast was decent too. No...

We stayed one night at the huge Matsunoi onsen hotel. This is a massive hotel build on a large property - based on the design and the room fixtures, I guess it was built in the late 60's or early 70's. It's pretty obvious that the maintenance effort is not keeping up with the needs of this aging property, but it still has it's charms - rooms are quite large and the hotel has an extensive garden, carp pond, large outdoor baths, as well as a large outdoor swimming pool. On the negative side, though, the place smells of mildew - particularly in the elevators and hallways - and I saw many areas where wallpaper was torn and stained, plaster crumbling, etc. Our room was clean enough and rather funky with 70's era fixtures. Some of the doors were only 5 1/2 feet tall - glad I didn't need to use any of those!||||The other major down side is the buffet style meals - there is only one dining room for the whole hotel and even though they segregate guests into several time slots, it was a madhouse trying to find a table and then dealing with hordes of people attempting to fill their plates. Food quality was OK, but not as good as another hotel we stayed at in the area also offering a buffet (Minakami Kogen Hotel 200). ||||To be fair, the price of this place was quite reasonable, and I feel we got our money's worth. Definitely nicer places to stay, but...