Smile Hotel Nara — Hotel in Nara

The hotel is just a 3 minute walk from Nara Station.|The front desk staff are friendly and it seems that some (though not all) speak some English.|The hotel is cleaner than I expected throughout. I’ve found all hotels in Japan to be clean but this was was memorable as it seems they’d dusted everywhere and paid that much more attention to cleanliness than most. |Commendable effort!||I stayed in a double (non-smoking) room which at 19 square meters was fine for just myself. Still a small room compared to many countries but big enough for one. As such I wouldn’t recommend a single room for even a solo traveler.||The room was sparsely furnishes as expected for a rated 3 star (though more like a 2 star hotel to my mind) hotel.|It had a small fridge, table top humidifier, large flat screen TV, and individual A/C controls. Though not uncommon the electrical outlet set alongside the head board (along with light / alarm controls) was welcome.|I booked the room the afternoon of the stay for |¥4678 ($41.5 USD) which was very cheap even for this hotel. Single rooms were going for about ¥3,500 ($31 USD).|Check out is a little early at 10:00 but I was pleasantly surprised that there was no early morning noise as is often the case from early risers (e.g. business men who get up early for meetings etc).|The staff happy to let me leave my bag at reception for a few hours while I went sightseeing which was great and hassle free.|Overall a great place to stay for a night or two in Nara though any longer treat yourself to a 4 star hotel if you can afford it for that...

I really like the city of Nara and I like the reception staff of the hotel who greets their customers with a smile when they arrive (which is something rare in hotels these days as they see so many people in and out each and every day). I also like they have tea and amenities available for you to take yourself to replenish whatever you need yourself. The rooms look decent too and I like the layout, honestly. I really want to like this hotel as I like this city a lot but unfortunately I need to tell you my room has black molds on the ceiling, on the corners of the bathroom walls and the bathroom have poor ventilation. Their morning breakfast buffet is also a ripoff even though it may sound like a good deal at first because they dont replenish the food when it’s gone (their reason is they want to pokorte zero food waste) so it’s only a buffet with all the choices if you come as soon as you open. Their list of breakfast items is misleading because they dont have all of those items daily. (But they dont change their poster of what is included)

In addition, the sink in my bathroom has cracks before I arrive and the drain of the bathroom sink is quite scratched up...

I give 1 stars for the rooms because it has black molds for me!

Other than that, the hotel is decent, as its closed to the train station and have good quality and affordable...

What are pleasant surprise!|With it being only a couple minutes from JR station and the bus terminal, this is a great location for a visit to the great little city of Nara. It's an older (retro?) Japanese businessman's Hotel that delivers at almost every turn. Smaller room with a typical one piece bathroom. Room comes with mini fridge, kettle and humidifier. Nice towels, strong shower and wifi, and all of the free toiletries you could hope for. Add to that, the suprise free and delicious coffee in the afternoon, the manga library, the warm staff, the proximity to a good grocery store and restaurants, and the 800 yen breakfast buffet. |Only negatives for me were the haaaaaard bed (still slept like a baby) and the big step ups to the bathroom and shower, which were only problematic as I'm still recovering from knee surgery. |From the nearby station, it's a cheap five minute bus ride to Nara park. The town of Nara, itself, is a wonderful reprieve from the craziness of Tokyo or Osaka. It's a great location for a day trip from Kyoto or Osaka but would make for a great the day stay to absorb Japanese culture. And feed the...