Hanamurasaki — Hotel in Kaga

Hanamurasaki ticks off most of the boxes when it comes to a top-tier luxury onsen ryokan. It's located in Yamanaka town (the best of the 3 in the Kaga area) near the famous Kakusensei footpath, it has polished and attentive service, and the food, especially during the Zuwai-gani (local Snow Crab) season, extraordinary food. The main drawback is that meals are not served in your own room, which is unlike some of the nicer ryokans like Gora Kadan (in Hakone.)||||We booked the top room at Hanamurasai - #101, the Comfort Suite Haru, which is 170 square meters of spaciousness. The living room is huge, with large couch and a dining table (which is strange, given they don't serve meals in the rooms.) The separate bedroom is on the small side, by comparison. Comfort Suite Haru has a bathroom, shower, a sauna and a private onsen bath. What it doesn't have is any views, nor is there a private garden (since it's on an upper floor, and I'm not sure if rooms on the ground floor have gardens in any case.) It's a very nice room to laze away, but I wouldn't consider it an idyllic experience.||||The highlight - and the main reason anyone would come here - is the food... especially the regional specialty during the Winter - Zuwai-gani (Snow Crab.) It blows away any other crab, and enjoyed it in a variety of ways, including sashimi style, which is the best. The crab was sweet and savory, with wonderfully firm texture. The breakfast spread is equally impressive. There was a LOT of food in both meals, but because it's light, non-oily and healthy, we never felt bloated afterwards.||||One issue regarding dinner - they have a crazy extensive menu (both in English and Japanese), and it's very difficult to decide what to have. To further complicate matters, many of the food items are not familiar to most people (including Japanese), so ordering seems a bit like a crapshoot. What puzzled us was the omission of Crab sashimi from the menu itself. Enjoying Zuwai-gani sashimi is one of the world's culinary delights, and most fine establishments offer it when in season. In Hanamurasaki's case, we had to speak directly to the food & beverage manager to request that they serve it. His reply - "I guess we can do that." I strongly suggest that they provide it as an integral part of the Winter dinner menu.||||The public (for the ryokan guests) onsen bath is open-air and very nice, and not unlike those found in other properties. It's definitely worth experiencing during one's stay, even if you have an onsen bath in your room.||||Hanamurasaki was hosted to a very high standard. All of the ryokan staff were gracious and unwavering in their desire to ensure a great stay at both Hanamurasaki as well as the local area.||||We had a great time here, but it wasn't perfect. If the private in-room onsen bath had a view (or at least was open-air), ordering dinner was not so complicated, Zuwai-gani sashimi was at least on the menu and meals were served in our suite, we would consider Hanamurasaki one of the elite ryokans in all of Japan. As it stands, it is "merely" one of the top choices in the...

Hanamurasaki ticks off most of the boxes when it comes to a top-tier luxury onsen ryokan. It's located in Yamanaka town (the best of the 3 in the Kaga area) near the famous Kakusensei footpath, it has polished and attentive service, and the food, especially during the Zuwai-gani (local Snow Crab) season, extraordinary food. The main drawback is that meals are not served in your own room, which is unlike some of the nicer ryokans like Gora Kadan (in Hakone.)||||We booked the top room at Hanamurasai - #101, the Comfort Suite Haru, which is 170 square meters of spaciousness. The living room is huge, with large couch and a dining table (which is strange, given they don't serve meals in the rooms.) The separate bedroom is on the small side, by comparison. Comfort Suite Haru has a bathroom, shower, a sauna and a private onsen bath. What it doesn't have is any views, nor is there a private garden (since it's on an upper floor, and I'm not sure if rooms on the ground floor have gardens in any case.) It's a very nice room to laze away, but I wouldn't consider it an idyllic experience.||||The highlight - and the main reason anyone would come here - is the food... especially the regional specialty during the Winter - Zuwai-gani (Snow Crab.) It blows away any other crab, and enjoyed it in a variety of ways, including sashimi style, which is the best. The crab was sweet and savory, with wonderfully firm texture. The breakfast spread is equally impressive. There was a LOT of food in both meals, but because it's light, non-oily and healthy, we never felt bloated afterwards.||||One issue regarding dinner - they have a crazy extensive menu (both in English and Japanese), and it's very difficult to decide what to have. To further complicate matters, many of the food items are not familiar to most people (including Japanese), so ordering seems a bit like a crapshoot. What puzzled us was the omission of Crab sashimi from the menu itself. Enjoying Zuwai-gani sashimi is one of the world's culinary delights, and most fine establishments offer it when in season. In Hanamurasaki's case, we had to speak directly to the food & beverage manager to request that they serve it. His reply - "I guess we can do that." I strongly suggest that they provide it as an integral part of the Winter dinner menu.||||The public (for the ryokan guests) onsen bath is open-air and very nice, and not unlike those found in other properties. It's definitely worth experiencing during one's stay, even if you have an onsen bath in your room.||||Hanamurasaki was hosted to a very high standard. All of the ryokan staff were gracious and unwavering in their desire to ensure a great stay at both Hanamurasaki as well as the local area.||||We had a great time here, but it wasn't perfect. If the private in-room onsen bath had a view (or at least was open-air), ordering dinner was not so complicated, Zuwai-gani sashimi was at least on the menu and meals were served in our suite, we would consider Hanamurasaki one of the elite ryokans in all of Japan. As it stands, it is "merely" one of the top choices in the...

As we have traveled around Japan over the last several years we have stayed in dozens of ryokan, large and small. This was our first stay in a high end establishment. The price was literally six times as much as we paid the night before in a small minshuku in Kanazawa. We were curious to experience Japanese elegance and refinement at this level. Not the most expensive place that we looked at at, but certainly not at the low end.||||From the moment we stepped off of the free transfer from the Kagaonsen train station, we were a small army of attentive and considerate staff. We were gently ushered through the check out and our room where our personal attendant, Yukina, discussed our menu preferences, our yukata size, the available onsen options and more.||||We started with a relaxing bath at the open air rooftop onsen, which I had all to myself. The facilities are excellent and my wife reported that the cosmetics are top of the line. The view from the outdoor bath was perfect. Somehow it was no longer apparent that we were in a developed section with many large ryokan. Looking across the hillside I could see nothing but trees, a varied forest, gently swaying in the breeze. Completely beautiful and relaxing. ||||As others have said here, the food is exceptional and varied. We took the standard meal, did not order from the lengthy list of the optional additions. This meal was more than we could eat and each course seemed to top the one before. If there was something we didn't eat, Yukina asked us about it and brought a replacement that was to our liking. Breakfast was equally delicious and we, again, were given a great deal of personal attention.||||After another dip in the onsen we walked along the beautiful river path until it was time to check out we returned...