Mutsu GrandHotel — Hotel in Mutsu

My sister and I used the Mutsu Grand as our two-night basecamp while exploring the Shimokita peninsula, one of several stops during our extended DIY tour of Tohoku. It is a solid 2+ hour drive from Aomori. From Mutsu, we visited Osorezan (30 minutes driving) and did the Hotokegaura boat tour (90 minutes driving). The Mutsu Grand is the very obvious tall pink building on the hill above town. It feels a little old-school but I really enjoyed the views of the city and crescent harbor from the room and top-floor dining area. The hotel seemed popular with older bus tour crowds. The room and beds were very comfortable, with free parking on site. We ate dinner our first night on-site; it was sort of pricey but very tasty and more western-feeling (salad, creamed veg-soup, small steak/roasted veg, and apple dessert). We ate breakfasts both mornings at the hotel. Breakfasts are more Japanese - with a set tray of Japanese items served to everyone, and then some supplemental buffet items (not as much western - but tasty... no yogurt, though). The local apple juice is delicious. As a non-fish person, I found the breakfasts here more challenging than some hotels because of the set-tray. There is an onsen on site which is open to guests and non-guests. It was crowded at times and the first night there were some unruly young children jumping/splashing in the baths - which seemed extremely unusual for Japan. We were the only non-Japanese guests, it should be noted. As stated, the hotel is on a hill on the outskirts of town. Without a car, it is a long walk in. That said, we greatly enjoyed walking down the hill, through the local neighborhoods, and along these great riverside paths each morning for exercise. We also enjoyed seeing some local neighborhood groups practicing for the matsuri - marching through the streets with their...

While this hotel is not new it still provides a very good cost - benefits ratio.|Our room was quite pleasant and provided a great view of mountains with the bay in the foreground. |It had all the amenities typical for a hotel in Japan (i.e. toothbrushes, combs, etc), sleeping kimonos). |The bathroom itself was small however, the hotel has an Onsen where people go to wash and relax in the hot spring, so the bathroom serves mostly as a toilet, only. |WiFi was free. |On the hotel grounds there is also an exhibition of the colorful floats being used in the local Matsuri parades.|At the hotel's restaurants we also had breakfast, lunch and dinner, the latter of which was...

Very good service hotel beside several issues.||First thing is that i think i was only western in that place for a last year :)||The room is bit small and the door is very close i mean there is no corridor at all! So every noise you make in the room is heard for a mile around the second thing is that i put sign every day asking not to clean my room and every day i come back and the sign was out and room was clean (For me it's a privacy issue). There is a big Japanese style bath in the hotel named onsen, so the room bath is very small and discomfort, i didn't use onsen and i had no choice. ||I can recommend this hotel for business but not for...