鬼怒川温泉 別邸笹音 — Hotel in Nikko

We had the pleasure of staying at the Wakatake no Syou over the past weekend, and it was such a wonderful and luxurious stay! We stayed one night, and I believe we stayed in Room Type B, which was in the annex portion of the hotel and had a onsen bath attached to the room. The room was gorgeous with a tatami area and a separated bedroom, a spacious bath area, and a terrace overlooking the river. It was immaculately clean and very well appointed. I loved the design and the amenities were quite nice! We enjoyed some tea and delicious treats upon check-in, and then we were shown to our room. We changed into our yukata robes, and then headed down to the dining area for dinner. We were a group of 4 and had our own private dining room. ||||I can't say enough about how wonderful this dinner was! I've stayed in plenty of ryokans and hotels in Japan, and this was by far the best meal I have enjoyed at a hotel (granted, it was a definite rank up in price from other places I have stayed, so you definitely get what you pay for). It was kaiseki style spread over at least 8 courses. We enjoyed delicious sashimi, different soups, tempura, steak, rice dishes, so many dishes I can't even remember them all! The presentation was spectular and our attendant Chiba-san was very nice and attended to all our needs immediately. ||||After we were completely stuffed, we moved along to the outdoor baths in the main building. It was gorgeous and we spent over an hour enjoying the stars and the sounds of the river. Afterwards, we stopped for a drink and the very swanky bar in the annex building, and we enjoyed chatting with the bar master as he served up his recommended cocktails for each of us based on which country we came from. He was great!||||We then enjoyed our private bath in our own room as we wound down for the night. All of our bedding was prepared while we enjoyed dinner, and we had two in beds and two on futons. We slept great and we were up very early as we were heading for rafting and canyoning the next day. We had a filling Japanese breakfast in the dining rooms, and then proceeded to check out. The service we had was excellent throughout our stay, and this was truly a luxury experience. The view overlooking the river was absolutely gorgeous in the morning, and we truly enjoyed ourselves! I even forgot my iPad, and they called the next day and had it shipped back to me. A great overall experience and highly...

We had the pleasure of staying at the Wakatake no Syou over the past weekend, and it was such a wonderful and luxurious stay! We stayed one night, and I believe we stayed in Room Type B, which was in the annex portion of the hotel and had a onsen bath attached to the room. The room was gorgeous with a tatami area and a separated bedroom, a spacious bath area, and a terrace overlooking the river. It was immaculately clean and very well appointed. I loved the design and the amenities were quite nice! We enjoyed some tea and delicious treats upon check-in, and then we were shown to our room. We changed into our yukata robes, and then headed down to the dining area for dinner. We were a group of 4 and had our own private dining room. ||||I can't say enough about how wonderful this dinner was! I've stayed in plenty of ryokans and hotels in Japan, and this was by far the best meal I have enjoyed at a hotel (granted, it was a definite rank up in price from other places I have stayed, so you definitely get what you pay for). It was kaiseki style spread over at least 8 courses. We enjoyed delicious sashimi, different soups, tempura, steak, rice dishes, so many dishes I can't even remember them all! The presentation was spectular and our attendant Chiba-san was very nice and attended to all our needs immediately. ||||After we were completely stuffed, we moved along to the outdoor baths in the main building. It was gorgeous and we spent over an hour enjoying the stars and the sounds of the river. Afterwards, we stopped for a drink and the very swanky bar in the annex building, and we enjoyed chatting with the bar master as he served up his recommended cocktails for each of us based on which country we came from. He was great!||||We then enjoyed our private bath in our own room as we wound down for the night. All of our bedding was prepared while we enjoyed dinner, and we had two in beds and two on futons. We slept great and we were up very early as we were heading for rafting and canyoning the next day. We had a filling Japanese breakfast in the dining rooms, and then proceeded to check out. The service we had was excellent throughout our stay, and this was truly a luxury experience. The view overlooking the river was absolutely gorgeous in the morning, and we truly enjoyed ourselves! I even forgot my iPad, and they called the next day and had it shipped back to me. A great overall experience and highly...

We booked 2 tatami rooms at this ryokan thinking that it was in Nikko and discovered the day we left Tokyo that we'd actually be 40 minutes away. When we arrived, we realized that we were out in the middle of nowhere, but the ryokan was a very short walk from the small train station. When we walked into the driveway, we were greeted by a woman who grabbed out bags and led us into an elegant but simple lobby. I knew at that point that we would not be disappointed. There were nice sofa-chairs and we were brought tea and we did the check in there while relaxing. We then were led to our rooms and found them to be large, immaculate, wonderfully appointed, with huge windows overlooking a river. We were given yukatas to wear which we wore to the onsen before dinner and then to the most incredible meal. We spent 1.5 hours at the dining table in a private room and had dish after dish of perfectly prepared Japanese foods including sashimi, vegetables, etc. We also enjoyed a bottle of sake. After dinner we returned to the room to find our futons out for the night. Great sleep in a quiet and dark room. Another amazing meal, breakfast, awaited us in the morning, again in our private room. That day we enjoyed walking along trails beside the river, taking a gondola ride up to see darling monkeys playing, and relaxing with more time in the hot springs at the ryokan. Another superb dinner with totally new courses and another splendid breakfast. It was an experience that I'll never forget--so Japanese and so totally different from the time we spent in Tokyo. The price was more than fair, especially given the quality of the meals and the service (which was generous and gracious). Thanks to all the staff for giving us an...