Yunohana Resort Suisen — Hotel in Kameoka

If you want a stay at a bona fide luxury Onsen (natural hot springs) Onsen within a stone's throw from Kyoto, this is as good as it gets. Kyoto City proper isn't known for Onsen; in fact, there are very few - if any - luxury hotels or ryokans in the city that offer in-room free-flowing, straight-from-the-source, never recirculated hot springs baths. When they say "Onsen" in Kyoto, it usually means the Onsen is trucked in from somewhere and recirculated. Kameoka is a city on the outskirts of Kyoto and just 30 minutes away by direct train via JR, and from there it's a 15 minute courtesy shuttle ride to Kyo Yunohana Resort Suisen (that's its full name.) Kameoka is valley that is known to be perpetually foggy, making it ideal for growing a wide variety of produce. In fact, it is one of the important food production areas in the Kansai region.||First off, while on the face of it Suisen might appear expensive, it's actually an excellent value given what you get, and when you consider the alternatives (which doesn't exist.) And, if you compare it to the nicer properties in Hakone, for instance, it's downright inexpensive. Every single one of the 13 rooms have open-air Onsen baths on the balcony, and base room rates are less than 40,000 yen per person per night, half board. In addition, the entry-level rooms are not at all constricting; they're over 50 square meters in size.||The property is relatively compact, but they make good use of the comparatively limited space - the property grounds are thin and long, but there is a small creek running through the grounds, with a dry rock garden on one side and an embankment with a forested garden on the other side - it also houses the one private rental Onsen bath. Speaking of the rental bath, it's available only to paid guests and costs a whopping 3500 yen per hour - whether it's worth it is a personal decision, especially when every room already has its own open-air Onsen bath. That said, the walk across the creek and up the stairs to the rental bath structure is an enchanting one, and the Onsen itself is a pretty rock bath. If you're looking to maximize your hot springs experience, why not? That's what we did, anyway.||In addition to the in-room Onsen and the rental bath, there is also a communal, gender-segregated one as well. I visited just before dinner, and I had the place all to myself - I'm assuming most guests simply use the bath in their room. Anyways, it was pure bliss. There is both an indoor and outdoor bath.||We were really looking forward to the highly regarded kaiseki cuisine, especially given that ||On the cuisine department, Suisen did not disappoint. Fall (and Spring) is generally considered the best season for the best produce, seafood and wild vegetables in the country - Early Fall offers newly-harvested rice as well as numerous mountain vegetables like wild parsley, bracken, matsutake mushrooms, lotus roots and mustard greens. Using these ingredients, the kitchen staff artfully crafted some unique dishes that were unmistakenly kaiseki but had their own twists to the formula. The steamed Yuba (Tofu skin) with Tofu Mochi beneath it, with both in a simple yet sublime dashi broth was simple yet unique at the same time, and was wonderful in taste. The simmered vegetables in a semi-sweet broth was prepared to perfection, as was the Nagaimo (Japanese mountain yam) paste with Shrimp that was steamed and then deep-fried with thin somen noodles. Of all of the servings, the next-to-last one was a bit underwhelming - the Octopus cooked with rice in a clay pot was somewhat disappointing. It wasn't bad at all, but given that it's newly-harvested rice season, we would have preferred perfectly steamed rice with some excellent condiments to round out the savory part of the dinner.||Breakfast was as delightful of an experience as dinner, which is saying something. Sanma (Pacific Saury) is a very common fish in Japan, but they grilled and flavored it to perfection. And the various condiments to accompany the (thankfully) steamed white rice were all awesome. The corn dressing for the salad was homemade, and they even sell the dressing in their boutique - it was fabulous; we bought two bottles to take home with us.||Overall, we enjoyed our stay at Suisen. While I wouldn't quite put it in the same class as, say, Asaba or Takefue, its accessibility from Kyoto, legit Onsen, and succulent cuisine makes Suisen a great option for people that want to try out a ryokan but don't have the time or energy to go farther afield for such an experience. It's a darned good value, too.||Since it's so accessible from/to Kyoto, I wouldn't advise non-veteran Japan travelers to spend too much time touring Kameoka. However - one of the fun things to do is taking the Hozu River boat from Kameoka down to Arashiyama (home of the Bamboo Grove.) It's a 20 minute cab ride to the boat dock, and it's a scenic, leisurely, 2-hour ride down Hozu River (which, by the way changes its name to the Katsura River at Arashiyama.) Other potential activities in the area include some historic temple visits (very uncrowded compared to the famous ones in Kyoto), Strawberry picking during the Winter months, and a very pretty Cosmos flower garden that is photogenic...

If you want a stay at a bona fide luxury Onsen (natural hot springs) Onsen within a stone's throw from Kyoto, this is as good as it gets. Kyoto City proper isn't known for Onsen; in fact, there are very few - if any - luxury hotels or ryokans in the city that offer in-room free-flowing, straight-from-the-source, never recirculated hot springs baths. When they say "Onsen" in Kyoto, it usually means the Onsen is trucked in from somewhere and recirculated. Kameoka is a city on the outskirts of Kyoto and just 30 minutes away by direct train via JR, and from there it's a 15 minute courtesy shuttle ride to Kyo Yunohana Resort Suisen (that's its full name.) Kameoka is valley that is known to be perpetually foggy, making it ideal for growing a wide variety of produce. In fact, it is one of the important food production areas in the Kansai region.||First off, while on the face of it Suisen might appear expensive, it's actually an excellent value given what you get, and when you consider the alternatives (which doesn't exist.) And, if you compare it to the nicer properties in Hakone, for instance, it's downright inexpensive. Every single one of the 13 rooms have open-air Onsen baths on the balcony, and base room rates are less than 40,000 yen per person per night, half board. In addition, the entry-level rooms are not at all constricting; they're over 50 square meters in size.||The property is relatively compact, but they make good use of the comparatively limited space - the property grounds are thin and long, but there is a small creek running through the grounds, with a dry rock garden on one side and an embankment with a forested garden on the other side - it also houses the one private rental Onsen bath. Speaking of the rental bath, it's available only to paid guests and costs a whopping 3500 yen per hour - whether it's worth it is a personal decision, especially when every room already has its own open-air Onsen bath. That said, the walk across the creek and up the stairs to the rental bath structure is an enchanting one, and the Onsen itself is a pretty rock bath. If you're looking to maximize your hot springs experience, why not? That's what we did, anyway.||In addition to the in-room Onsen and the rental bath, there is also a communal, gender-segregated one as well. I visited just before dinner, and I had the place all to myself - I'm assuming most guests simply use the bath in their room. Anyways, it was pure bliss. There is both an indoor and outdoor bath.||We were really looking forward to the highly regarded kaiseki cuisine, especially given that ||On the cuisine department, Suisen did not disappoint. Fall (and Spring) is generally considered the best season for the best produce, seafood and wild vegetables in the country - Early Fall offers newly-harvested rice as well as numerous mountain vegetables like wild parsley, bracken, matsutake mushrooms, lotus roots and mustard greens. Using these ingredients, the kitchen staff artfully crafted some unique dishes that were unmistakenly kaiseki but had their own twists to the formula. The steamed Yuba (Tofu skin) with Tofu Mochi beneath it, with both in a simple yet sublime dashi broth was simple yet unique at the same time, and was wonderful in taste. The simmered vegetables in a semi-sweet broth was prepared to perfection, as was the Nagaimo (Japanese mountain yam) paste with Shrimp that was steamed and then deep-fried with thin somen noodles. Of all of the servings, the next-to-last one was a bit underwhelming - the Octopus cooked with rice in a clay pot was somewhat disappointing. It wasn't bad at all, but given that it's newly-harvested rice season, we would have preferred perfectly steamed rice with some excellent condiments to round out the savory part of the dinner.||Breakfast was as delightful of an experience as dinner, which is saying something. Sanma (Pacific Saury) is a very common fish in Japan, but they grilled and flavored it to perfection. And the various condiments to accompany the (thankfully) steamed white rice were all awesome. The corn dressing for the salad was homemade, and they even sell the dressing in their boutique - it was fabulous; we bought two bottles to take home with us.||Overall, we enjoyed our stay at Suisen. While I wouldn't quite put it in the same class as, say, Asaba or Takefue, its accessibility from Kyoto, legit Onsen, and succulent cuisine makes Suisen a great option for people that want to try out a ryokan but don't have the time or energy to go farther afield for such an experience. It's a darned good value, too.||Since it's so accessible from/to Kyoto, I wouldn't advise non-veteran Japan travelers to spend too much time touring Kameoka. However - one of the fun things to do is taking the Hozu River boat from Kameoka down to Arashiyama (home of the Bamboo Grove.) It's a 20 minute cab ride to the boat dock, and it's a scenic, leisurely, 2-hour ride down Hozu River (which, by the way changes its name to the Katsura River at Arashiyama.) Other potential activities in the area include some historic temple visits (very uncrowded compared to the famous ones in Kyoto), Strawberry picking during the Winter months, and a very pretty Cosmos flower garden that is photogenic...

I spent a really, really long time looking for a place that ticked all my boxes - a luxurious ryokan with a private ensuite onsen (or the option to rent a private hot spring bath) that wasn't too far from Kyoto. I wanted to make sure that the room's bath used spring water, and wasn't just an outdoor bath (as many ryokans seemed to be). Finally, I also wanted somewhere we could be pampered and experience a traditional dinner with kimono. Right away, Yunohana stood out but I hesitated because of the price. I can now say it is worth every single penny! You are definitely paying for an experience, not just a hotel stay. We treated ourselves to just one night's stay but we were waited on hand and foot the whole time, from the shuttle bus that picked us up from the station to the moment we were gifted with sweets and origami at check out. The service is absolutely outstanding!||||At check in, we were ushered to a lovely sitting area where we were served sweets and a refreshing drink, along with the usual hot towel. The rest of our stay was planned and outlined for us, and we were asked for our preferences for meals etc too - I had forgotten to pre book a massage so I was glad when this was offered, as it seems pointless not to have a treatment when you're in such a relaxing place! The combo of a hot spring bath and a massage is definitely recommended!||||We were also given some "outdoor slippers" (for use in public areas) and shown to our room. As I mentioned, we plumped for the room with a private (outdoor) hot spring bath - WOW! It exceeded my expectations. These rooms are really large, with an entrance hall, separate toilet/bathroom/shower room, sitting room, bedroom plus a small dressing area. There was an abundance of toiletries, snacks, teas and drinks (all complimentary) - basically, you'll want for nothing. I even joked to my husband that we needn't have bothered packing any clothes because also provided were beautiful waffle pyjamas, towelling robes, more slippers and a yukata (light kimono) that you could wear outside of the room (i.e. in the public areas). I expected to find a hair dryer but was pleasantly surprised to find curling tongs and a facial steamer in my dressing room! Although I didn't use the latter, the former was really good.||||After a quick dip in our gorgeous private outdoor bath - HEAVENLY - we made our way to our couple's massage. The two masseuses were gentle, kind and spoke excellent English. Although expensive, the girls were very good and we came out feeling even more relaxed. A bonus was that my hair never looked better the next day, thanks to the oils they used during my head massage.||||Next up was our dinner (kaiseki) - WOW! I say dinner but it was really a banquet in our own private dining area. The service was excellent, and our waiter made a special effort to explain every single dish in English. There was about 12 courses and we each had a tailored menu - the resort took real care to understand our likes and dislikes. This was much appreciated since my husband hates fish and it was quite a challenge eating out in Japan, at times. Afterwards, we relaxed in the sitting area, which is really welcoming and provides free tea and coffee and snacks (inc. Haagen Dazs ice cream), before making use of the wonderful spa bath again. We had an excellent peaceful sleep too, the bed and pillows were so comfortable. The next morning, another banquet awaited us for breakfast - it was almost comical, it seemed like the dishes would never stop coming!||||All in all, a perfect relaxing break - you will not be...