Magome Chaya — Hotel in Nakatsugawa

We stayed overnight at Magomechaya in May 2024 as a family of 4 before walking the Nakasendo. As a minshuku, the rooms are simple with just a table in a tatami room and futon you set out yourself, but it's clean and comfortable and we had a nice view from our corner room on the 2nd floor. The weather was nice so we slept with our windows open and it was so nice to hear the birdsong outside and feel some fresh air blow through after being in the city so long. The shared bathroom got a bit busy right after dinner, but was always clean. The shared bath area was uninspiring, but perfectly functional, clean, and got the job done. The front staff was also friendly, helpful, and spoke wonderful English. ||I recommend having breakfast and dinner there as things close up early in town and the food was delicious. The traditional Japanese meals are served in the dining area across the street at a specified time for everyone and though each room had their own table, it felt a little like eating in a communal area, knowing everyone was staying at the same place and all sitting down to eat at the same time, which was fun. Breakfast is served bright and early at 7:30am, so if you like to sleep in, you won't get to if you want to eat. (Nearby Hillbilly Coffee is great for coffee afterward though!). The food was delicious for both meals. ||The thing to be mindful of is that this is an old building that has been around for over 100 years, so there isn't a ton of sound insulation from other rooms and you're not getting lots of modern conveniences. This wasn't an issue for us (and we weren't disturbed while sleeping at all) and we enjoyed it, but look at their website so you know what you're getting.||The best part about staying here is the location. Magome is beautiful and charming. I highly recommend arriving early enough to enjoy the town as things closed up pretty early while we were there (around 4pm) and there are a lot of cute shops, the tourist info station, and a traveler rest stop (good stamps, if you're...

We stayed overnight at Magomechaya in May 2024 as a family of 4 before walking the Nakasendo. As a minshuku, the rooms are simple with just a table in a tatami room and futon you set out yourself, but it's clean and comfortable and we had a nice view from our corner room on the 2nd floor. The weather was nice so we slept with our windows open and it was so nice to hear the birdsong outside and feel some fresh air blow through after being in the city so long. The shared bathroom got a bit busy right after dinner, but was always clean. The shared bath area was uninspiring, but perfectly functional, clean, and got the job done. The front staff was also friendly, helpful, and spoke wonderful English. ||I recommend having breakfast and dinner there as things close up early in town and the food was delicious. The traditional Japanese meals are served in the dining area across the street at a specified time for everyone and though each room had their own table, it felt a little like eating in a communal area, knowing everyone was staying at the same place and all sitting down to eat at the same time, which was fun. Breakfast is served bright and early at 7:30am, so if you like to sleep in, you won't get to if you want to eat. (Nearby Hillbilly Coffee is great for coffee afterward though!). The food was delicious for both meals. ||The thing to be mindful of is that this is an old building that has been around for over 100 years, so there isn't a ton of sound insulation from other rooms and you're not getting lots of modern conveniences. This wasn't an issue for us (and we weren't disturbed while sleeping at all) and we enjoyed it, but look at their website so you know what you're getting.||The best part about staying here is the location. Magome is beautiful and charming. I highly recommend arriving early enough to enjoy the town as things closed up pretty early while we were there (around 4pm) and there are a lot of cute shops, the tourist info station, and a traveler rest stop (good stamps, if you're...

Reading all the reviews every has had a great experience and I would say the same with me. There were just a few things which is why I gave it a 3-star. This is just based on my experience but I wouldn't say this is everyone's experience.

The people running the business are kind and know English very well. Some people really appreciate this but it wasn't a necessity for me, but was nice.

You can only pay in cash which wasn't really clear to me when I arrived. I think this should be just more clear prior to arriving with an email or during check-out. I was in luck that the post office was open with the ATM right across the street, but this may not be the case for everyone!

Seeing everyone's review and photos of their rooms they seem to be quite spacious. However, the room I was given with my partner barely fit two mattresses side by side. My partner and I aren't super picky but it was definitely tight. Might've just been our room though (see photo).

It is an older building to be mindful of there is noise from the neighboring rooms and the upstairs washroom and sink.

It was raining one of the days we were in Magome so we wanted to be in the lounge room however there was a family in there and it didn't fit more people so we were stuck in our rooms.

We didn't get a tour of the place which is fine - we were just given our key and told its upstairs.

Be very careful of the stairs! They're quite steep and are ok, but with the slippers they provide can be quite dangerous so just be aware!

Otherwise, great location and was overall ok. It's a long travel to Magome so be mindful of when you're arriving with shops...