Asaba Ryokan — Hotel in Izu

This was truly one of the most incredible resorts we’ve ever stayed at! Located in the countryside, in a small village called Shuzenji, Asaba is the perfect escape from the hustle and bustle of the city. This Relais & Chateux property is a 500+ year old traditional ryokan, yet everything is immaculately updated and modern at the same time. The property has a beautiful Japanese garden / pond that many of the rooms overlook, and in the evening, glowing lanterns are placed in the pond by one of the dedicated staff. Breakfast and dinner were served in our room daily — these incredible kaiseki dining experiences focused on the simplicity of fresh and local ingredients, and seemed never-ending at times, but we certainly weren’t complaining! Our room was one of the smaller ones, so a staff member would flip the room to make our beds (the most comfortable futons ever) and / or set up or dining table each day. The resort has a beautiful outdoor onsen that overlooks the Japanese garden, and it alternates between men & women throughout the day. There is also an indoor onsen for just women, and one for men only. My husband and I often used the indoor family onsen which is a first come first serve basis. The resort provides kimonos, and all amenities you would need during your stay — our 3 night stay simply wasn’t enough! We also booked hot shell massages for ourselves, which was an experience in itself. The hospitality at Asaba is unparalleled, the staff are extremely courteous, polite, efficient, and helpful. Thank you Mayumi, Jun, Sugimoto, Kikuchi to name a few; you truly made our stay so wonderful! We’ve booked our next stay for March 2019, and can’t...

From the moment we arrived, we were taken away by how stunningly beautiful this ryokan is. Everything is tastefully designed and at times it feels more like a museum than a ryokan. We loved our room Hagi which faced the pond. We also absolutely loved the food that was served here - the ingredients were very fresh and the dishes, to our palate, were better than the ones at Fufu (and mind you, food is a strong point across all Fufu properties). Our room attendant, Yoko, was also friendly, knowledgeable on a lot of things and had a cool personality. The tatami was also plush and very comfortable, possibly the best futons we have ever slept on.||What wasn’t so great for us, however, was the lack of proficiency in English. There were a couple of service lapse, which we assume is due to language barriers despite what we thought was clear communication and acknowledgment. We feel that it should be better for Japanese speaking guests. We also feel that most staff here were a little bit old and feel that we might be a bit too young to be a guest, I’m not sure how we got the feeling but just didn’t click for us. For the room, it lacked the normal skincare amenities of an onsen ryokan and the hairdryer was very weak, which would pose an issue for the ladies or gents with long hair. Service here, while good, was not great per se. In the end we had a good stay here but were not blown away.||Room: We stayed at Hagi room, which is adequately sized for two and enjoyed a great view of the garden. Would happily stay there again if we return. One night would be enough given the very small size of the...

This was our third visit to Asaba ryokan in the last 12 months, and you might be wondering why. Asaba is a ryokan that offers something unique unlike any other; various performances take place throughout the year on a beautiful Noh stage set on the opposite side of a pond and surrounded by a gorgeous garden. This time, we came to see a Kyogen (狂言) performance by the famed Nomura Mansai (野村 萬斎.) As soon as the performance schedule for 2022 was posted on their website, we got on the phone to make a reservation. By the time we did, however, many of the choice rooms were booked. Given that we were a party of four, we took Makiginu (巻絹) and Doudan (満天星) - one was a spacious room with an Onsen bath on the second floor (but no view of the stage), while Doudan was on the first floor and had a commanding view of the Noh stage, meaning that we could watch the performance from the room. We felt this was an acceptable combination... one room with a view so that we can all gather to watch the performance, with the other room serving as a nice gathering spot for the family, and the place where we'd all dine together. While it was a solid plan, I was disappointed in Doudan.||||Of...