Negiya Ryofukaku — Hotel in Kobe

I'll start off with pros and cons of the place based on my experience:||||+ Easy to navigate and book in English on their official site||+ Great location (within walking distance to both the train station and the bus station)||+ 2 outdoor baths offering different views. One of the outdoor baths is the gold hot spring waters. I am not sure if the other is silver (Arima Onsen is famous for gold and silver waters)||+ There are staffs who speak good English and Chinese||+ Room is spacious and comfortable||+ The ryokan has decent barrier-free installations in place despite its age||||- The stay is considerably costly compared to similar offerings in other onsen towns such as Kinosaki Onsen. However, based on observations, it seems like Arima Onsen is generally more expensive||- Wifi strength to our room was iffy||||||It was a one night stay on the 28th of November. I reserved a basic Japanese-style guest room for 3.||||I was quite surprised by the competency of English and Chinese language shown by the staff which they have assigned to handle foreign customers. I later learned from their survey slip that the owner of the ryokan is expanding their business to cater to the foreign crowd as well, which explains the very well done English web-site and also the the staffs' fluency in the English and Chinese language. ||||Room is very spacious and comfortable. There's a massage chair which is great for relaxing after a dip in the onsen. Air-conditioner's heaters are more than sufficient to heat up the room to a comfortable temperature. Futons are comfortable.||||The plan I booked comes with kaiseki dinner in our room and a breakfast at a common room. To be honest, the food is good, but don't expect it to be mind-blowing. No complains though. The hostess serving us was a lovely lady who tried explaining to us the kaiseki dishes in English, though her command of the language was noticeably weaker than the other staff. I could speak a bit of Japanese though, so that made the whole experience a lot more enjoyable.||||There's two public onsen baths in the place, both have indoor and outdoor pools for your enjoyment. One is assigned as the male bath while the other as the female bath. The assignment will switch depending on the time of the day. If you're staying overnight, you'll get to experience both baths. I was surprised that the gold hot spring onsen was available on premise. Views from the outdoor pools are pretty great during autumn. There's also private baths available, but you'll have to pay. However, they were doing a promotion on the English site where you'll be offered a complimentary use in one of their private bath if you book through their site, so be sure to use that if you booked through their site like I did. ||||The cost of the night stay is very costly though, compared to similar experiences offered at Kinosaki Onsen or Kusatsu Onsen. I suspect it is due to easier access and also its close proximity to Kobe/Osaka. ||||Overall, it was an enjoyable stay, albeit a little more expensive that I would have paid for at other Onsen towns. You can see that owner is putting in real efforts to attract foreign guests, so that should be a plus to many. However, I am slightly worried that they may implement too much change which may impact on the "authenticity" of a ryokan stay (their survey asked if we foreign guests will prefer to have kaiseki dinner in room or at a common room, and I much prefer to enjoy the experience of having kaiseki dinner at my room). So who knows how the place may turn out to be a few...

I will write it in English so that many people can see it. Our group was a total of four Korean men, and this was our first trip to Japan. I decided to go to Kobe as a healing trip after my trip to Osaka. I booked this hotel because I wanted to go somewhere nice. This was the best choice of my life.. As soon as I entered, the service of the employees welcomed me was the best, and it was so kind. As soon as I entered the accommodation, the staff greeted the guests with a smile, carried heavy luggage, and gave me green tea, and it was so delicious. He showed me to my room right away, and the person who showed me was so kind, The size and cleanliness of the accommodation were really wide, clean, and good. One thing that was disappointing was that there was no place to heat food like a microwave, but it was such a good accommodation that I didn't need a microwave. I came back from dinner and used the hot spring, and the open-air bath was really pleasant and it was the best hot spring I have ever used on my trip to Japan. The first place that came to mind when I came home without lying was this hot spring. After using a nice hot spring, I fell asleep well in the evening. I fell asleep better, maybe because the bedding was so good. When I woke up the next morning, GAISEKI was prepared, and the person who served and guided me was really friendly and nice. Needless to say, the meal was perfect. The rice was well made, the miso soybean paste soup was warm and delicious, and all the side dishes were clean and light, so I enjoyed the meal so much. Especially, the grilled salmon was perfect for the roasting and tasted like going to heaven. One interesting thing about this property is HISTORY, which happened in the morning when our group left the room. I slipped on my way out of the room after leaving. My foot was bent properly. When I was in so much pain that I couldn't get up, all the staff in the property came out. I brought my first aid kit, put a pain relief patch on my foot, bandaged it, brought a chair to sit down, and covered it with a blanket in case it was cold. It was really touching that all the staff came running, and it was also touching to ask if every one of them was okay. They even provided me with ICE PACK, extra bandages, and pain relief patches so that I wouldn't get sick during the trip. This HISTORY is a touching story that I will never forget in my life. I will definitely book this accommodation again on my next trip to Japan. I want them to remember me. And I hope you can take a look at this review. I'm writing this because I want everyone to feel this kind accommodation. If you come to Kobe, make a reservation for this accommodation. I swear to God you will be very...

One of the most scenically beautiful and stunning Ryokans I may ever be lucky enough to visit.

Negiya Ryofukaku is nestled on top of a hill in Arima Onsen providing fantastic views of the town below and lush surrounding landscape and the Rokko mountains. Truly very stunning!

We were greeted warmly by staff at the entrance and helped with our bags. The shuttle service was handy and convenient. Check-in was at first split over two members of staff a little confusingly. However Izumi-san was a shining star throughout our stay and stepped in to make sure all details were clear for us then showed us to our room.

Rooms - I would definitely recommend booking an upper floor room in the newer West Wing of the Ryokan. This provides the best views of the mountains and room we had two beds, plus a lovely tatami room and private shower and bathroom.

The Kaiseki Dinner was incredible from start to final bite - The Kobe Beef Teppanyaki option was both very good value and simply delicious, showcasing the incresible local produce and ingredients.

Breakfast was a varied and very pleasant experience on both days - The staff keep service running smoothly like a well-oiled machine and each dish was interesting in both the Bento box and more individual breakfast we had on the second morning.

Staff were very kind to arrange an earlier pre-Marathon breakfast for me which I very much appreciated and tried my best to try each dish, eating as much as I could!

Onsens - Both the Public and Private Onsen options were very good. Although the Private Onsen with Half Indoor/Outdoor baths was a lovely experience, I personally really enjoyed the larger Public Onsen when it was the men's timing to use it (Mens & Ladies timings alternate between the two Public Onsens each day).

Service was fantastic throughout our stay from all of the wonderful, kind, friendly and very warm staff that we met.

A special mention and thank you again to Izumi-san who was incredibly hospitable and helpful throughout our stay - Helping to pre-book our Dinner and offer post-Marathon dinner suggestions when I was exhausted. Then, even suggesting to arrange a shuttle for us without us asking. Perfect examples of both "Omotenashi" and "Omoiyari".

Amazingly attentive touches that went above & beyond to elevate our stay and made us feel at home, being very well taken care of.

Izumi-san was so kind and caring that we would come back to stay just to see her and spend more time in Arima Onsen. Konichiwa Izumi-san! Thank you for being so wonderful and taking care of us as if we...