Sakurajima Hotel — Hotel in Kagoshima

We took a family tour (17 members) and we voted the stay at this hotel the best Japanese experience. Yes, the facilities is older but we all enjoyed the overall experience. ||||We were welcomed by the friendly staff and were waited on attentively for the most part of the stay. As I completed checking in, the rest of the family members were served hot green tea in the lobby. It was refreshing as we had been touring all morning and needed a break to get off our feet.||||The rooms are not large and we chose the Japanese style tatami rooms where we have the futons (Japanese mattresses) laid out on the floor at night to sleep on. We wanted the kids to experience sleeping on the floor the traditional Japanese way. All our rooms had ocean views. We could see the outdoor hot spring pool below us. ||||We arrived late afternoon around 4pm and after checking in, decided to soak in the outdoor hot spings. It's not your traditional "Onsen" where you bathe indoors in the nude and are segregated by sex. They provide a short kimono style wrap that you change into in a small changing room. We all congregated at the hot springs pool. We spent about an hour, sitting and soaking away our tired bodies. The pool is made of all natural rocks and stones just along the ocean. You can hear the surf striking the rocky shoreline just below the pool. The view of the Kinko Bay and Kagoshima city across the way was exhilirating. ||||We enjoyed dinner in a private room where we sat on the tatami floors wearing our "Yukata" (light kimono wrap). Course after course of "Kaiseki Ryori" traditional single serving dishes were placed in front of each of us. It was a large variety of seafood (fish and shellfish) raw and cooked, meats, poultry and dessert. The kids had their own set menu. Some of the food was foreign for them to eat, but they found dishes they liked and were content.||||Breakfast was served in a dining room with table and chairs. It was still a traditional Japanese breakfast with rice, soup and broiled fish among other varieties of dishes.||||The staff came out to bid us farewell as we boarded our bus to take us back into the city.||||It was a great way to experience traditional...

We took a family tour (17 members) and we voted the stay at this hotel the best Japanese experience. Yes, the facilities is older but we all enjoyed the overall experience. ||||We were welcomed by the friendly staff and were waited on attentively for the most part of the stay. As I completed checking in, the rest of the family members were served hot green tea in the lobby. It was refreshing as we had been touring all morning and needed a break to get off our feet.||||The rooms are not large and we chose the Japanese style tatami rooms where we have the futons (Japanese mattresses) laid out on the floor at night to sleep on. We wanted the kids to experience sleeping on the floor the traditional Japanese way. All our rooms had ocean views. We could see the outdoor hot spring pool below us. ||||We arrived late afternoon around 4pm and after checking in, decided to soak in the outdoor hot spings. It's not your traditional "Onsen" where you bathe indoors in the nude and are segregated by sex. They provide a short kimono style wrap that you change into in a small changing room. We all congregated at the hot springs pool. We spent about an hour, sitting and soaking away our tired bodies. The pool is made of all natural rocks and stones just along the ocean. You can hear the surf striking the rocky shoreline just below the pool. The view of the Kinko Bay and Kagoshima city across the way was exhilirating. ||||We enjoyed dinner in a private room where we sat on the tatami floors wearing our "Yukata" (light kimono wrap). Course after course of "Kaiseki Ryori" traditional single serving dishes were placed in front of each of us. It was a large variety of seafood (fish and shellfish) raw and cooked, meats, poultry and dessert. The kids had their own set menu. Some of the food was foreign for them to eat, but they found dishes they liked and were content.||||Breakfast was served in a dining room with table and chairs. It was still a traditional Japanese breakfast with rice, soup and broiled fish among other varieties of dishes.||||The staff came out to bid us farewell as we boarded our bus to take us back into the city.||||It was a great way to experience traditional...

We chose to stay here rather than the more well-known onsen hotel just a minutes walk away, as we thought we could walk to the famous onsen anyway but this hotel looked less old and tired. Don't be fooled. It is indeed an old hotel and there were only a handful of people staying here at the same time, which gave it a very empty and rather eerie feeling.||||The highlights were the meal, which was super fancy (although in hindsight I should have opted for the 'slightly less quantity' version as there was simply too much food), and the onsen bath. ||This hotel having its own sea-facing outdoor onsen (though raised up, not actuallu seaside) was another reason we chose to stay here and this did not disappoint. The indoor bath area was simple but airy, with a high roof, and the outside bath was small and rustic, but offered a beautiful view over the ocean. Would become very crowded if more people were staying, although since we were there in Golden Week, I can't really see that being a problem.||||Service was friendly and attentive, but nothing special.||||The room was Japanese style, and fairly small, with a working toilet and a bath/shower that could not be used. It did have a small sun room area looking over the ocean which was lovely, although we were told not to open the windows, even though it was hot and stuffy in the room. (We did anyway!)||||Overall, I thought the money we paid to stay here was not worth it, although with all 3 Sakurajima hotels located right next to each other and about the same price, there is not much choice if you want to stay...