Katsuragawa — Hotel in Izu

The Katsuragawa hotel is located closer to the Shuzenji station than most other onsen hotels. But the Shuzenji onsen area is not big, everywhere is within walking distance. It is located on top of a small hill, overlooking the traffic interchange and Katsuragawa river.||Check in was relatively smooth. Then you have to take off your shoes to walk out of the reception area. Strangely the hotel does not provide any slippers, be it disposable or durable ones. It means you have to walk all over the hotel in bare foot, or with your socks. Initially it is ok, but after one night’s walk, the feet started to feel bad.||We booked a room at the end of the hallway so we have both windows and a balcony, with a private onsen. The room is nicely decorated and bright enough. All amenities are included, safe, yugata, double sink, shower, humidifier, etc.||There are all together 12 family onsen available for hotel guests to use, in addition to the public onsen. The family onsen is one of the best I have ever visited. Those family onsen is half oudoor, giving you fresh air, and a glimpse of view. Basket and shower area is also available inside.||Dinner and breakfast are both buffet style. The dinner buffet has a good selection of food, guests should not be disappointed with such wide choice. Breakfast is in the same restaurant.||The hotel has quite many activities provided, Karaoke lounge, game centre, late night noodle, massage lounge chair, etc. One important aspect of the hotel is that the price for one night is relatively in-expensive. It is an ideal hotel for budget travel. Check out is self-assisted with a vending machine. You put in the room key and it will tell you the amount due and it is...

The Katsuragawa hotel is located closer to the Shuzenji station than most other onsen hotels. But the Shuzenji onsen area is not big, everywhere is within walking distance. It is located on top of a small hill, overlooking the traffic interchange and Katsuragawa river.||Check in was relatively smooth. Then you have to take off your shoes to walk out of the reception area. Strangely the hotel does not provide any slippers, be it disposable or durable ones. It means you have to walk all over the hotel in bare foot, or with your socks. Initially it is ok, but after one night’s walk, the feet started to feel bad.||We booked a room at the end of the hallway so we have both windows and a balcony, with a private onsen. The room is nicely decorated and bright enough. All amenities are included, safe, yugata, double sink, shower, humidifier, etc.||There are all together 12 family onsen available for hotel guests to use, in addition to the public onsen. The family onsen is one of the best I have ever visited. Those family onsen is half oudoor, giving you fresh air, and a glimpse of view. Basket and shower area is also available inside.||Dinner and breakfast are both buffet style. The dinner buffet has a good selection of food, guests should not be disappointed with such wide choice. Breakfast is in the same restaurant.||The hotel has quite many activities provided, Karaoke lounge, game centre, late night noodle, massage lounge chair, etc. One important aspect of the hotel is that the price for one night is relatively in-expensive. It is an ideal hotel for budget travel. Check out is self-assisted with a vending machine. You put in the room key and it will tell you the amount due and it is...

Very much a family place. The whole hotel is oriented around kids. Expect a certain amount of screaming in hallways and stomping feet overhead. Glockenspiel versions of billy joel and bossa nova classics pervades every public space including the dining and private onsen areas. This becomes grating over time but if you are here with children you probably won’t notice it.

Other quibbles: you have to buy water and other essentials in a convenience store which is embedded in the hotel. The convenience store employees are wearing hotel uniforms but it is a separate business so you can’t add charges to your room. This led to awkward treks back to our room to fetch cash whenever we needed something.

Parking lot is somewhat removed from the hotel and you have to wheel your luggage in the road because the sidewalk is too narrow and in bad repair. Also it was raining and we got soaked walking from the car park to the hotel. We saw later that the hotel has umbrellas but none were offered to us when we were sent off to car park upon arrival 😥

Small complaints aside, the private onsen system is brilliant. A light-board shows which ones are available and you can walk right in and lick the door behind you. When you leave, the space automatically opens up for the next group. Water autofills into the tub based on sensors so it’s always topped-off and feels great. I hope other new hotels adopt this system. It’s truly revolutionary.

Rooms are very comfortable with lots of natural light.

Food is...