Enraku — Hotel in Kurobe

Enraku isn't the most modern ryokan, but on our recent stay, the service, room and food were really top notch. I recommend staying in a room with a private bath. It's not cheap, but the experience was truly relaxing and wonderful. The room is a Japanese style room with an interior bath and WC. The tatami room was simply but nicely adorned. But the real treat was the outdoor terrace with wooden hot spring bath and view of a high mountain across the river. ||||After we were greeted with tea and sweets by our truly gracious attendant, I washed and got into the tub. You can adjust the temp of the water to suit westerns tastes ( the Japanese seem to like their bath water poaching hot). After getting into our Yukata, we sat down to a truly sumptuous feast of local, seasonal delights in our room. Really top notch and surpassing one of the famed Kaiseki restaurants we experienced at the Nagano Righa hotel on the way to kurobe the night before. After dinner our attendants came in and set up our futons for sleeping.||||The public baths are wonderful as well and there is always one open for women. It's not a hotel... So don't expect laundry service. I had to locate a very small coin operated machine and dryer in town. But as service goes, everyone was helpful and genuinely cheerful and happy to help. ||||They will also pick you up at the train station nearby and drop you off to the local trains that head to the Kurobe Gorge. ||||By New York Prices, it's a name hotel room cost plus the cost of an exquisite dinner for 2'with many drinks. The 2 of us enjoyed our stay immensely and found it a good deal. Not sure how the normal rooms are, but if you want to splurge..... I...

An older and established ryokan onsen, we came to Unazuki Onsen area to take the scenic Kurobe Railways through the gorge to Keyakidaira. Enraku is a charming throwback to classic Japanese interior and authentic traditional ryokan. Having stayed at a smaller traditional Ryokan in Arima onsen area, I was worried at first that this would be large and not as personal but the Enraku onsen facilities, hospitality and quality of the food exceeded our expectations - it was definitely a trip highlight.||||We were shown our room and offered traditional green tea and sweets while explained the hotel facilities; onsen, karaoke, dining area and asked to set the time we wished to have dinner and breakfast. Our room faced the mountain and had a veranda overlooking the flowing water hitting rocks. The onsen area was spotlessly clean and the bath had an open view of the mountain face - it was the most zen onsen view I had enjoyed, had my skin not wrinkled up I would had soaked for much longer. Our breakfast and dinner meals were served on the restaurant level, in private rooms all to ourselves. The ladies who served our meals were delightful and patient with us given our limited Japanese. The multi-course kaiseki style meals were like eating mini dishes of art at every bite, leaving our stomachs full yet light and happy. We enjoyed a peaceful night of rest and woke up for a quick dip in onsen before breakfast, breakfast was equally as delightful and satisfying as the night before without the multi-courses. We were the only foreign tourist at this hotel on the night we stayed, the other people at the hotel were native Japanese. The wifi...

An older and established ryokan onsen, we came to Unazuki Onsen area to take the scenic Kurobe Railways through the gorge to Keyakidaira. Enraku is a charming throwback to classic Japanese interior and authentic traditional ryokan. Having stayed at a smaller traditional Ryokan in Arima onsen area, I was worried at first that this would be large and not as personal but the Enraku onsen facilities, hospitality and quality of the food exceeded our expectations - it was definitely a trip highlight.||||We were shown our room and offered traditional green tea and sweets while explained the hotel facilities; onsen, karaoke, dining area and asked to set the time we wished to have dinner and breakfast. Our room faced the mountain and had a veranda overlooking the flowing water hitting rocks. The onsen area was spotlessly clean and the bath had an open view of the mountain face - it was the most zen onsen view I had enjoyed, had my skin not wrinkled up I would had soaked for much longer. Our breakfast and dinner meals were served on the restaurant level, in private rooms all to ourselves. The ladies who served our meals were delightful and patient with us given our limited Japanese. The multi-course kaiseki style meals were like eating mini dishes of art at every bite, leaving our stomachs full yet light and happy. We enjoyed a peaceful night of rest and woke up for a quick dip in onsen before breakfast, breakfast was equally as delightful and satisfying as the night before without the multi-courses. We were the only foreign tourist at this hotel on the night we stayed, the other people at the hotel were native Japanese. The wifi...