Soba and Waterfall Takimi-kan — Hotel in Obanazawa

Lovely ryokan totally 10/10 experience. I book them through my friend via phone, with no down payment. They have shuttle bus from oishida sta to the ryokan, you can book via email & they will reply politely.

Once you arrived they will explain everything about room, onsen, dining place & shuttle to the main ginzan road. Mind you their hotel is not on the main road, so you need to walk to get there. The road is kinda slope-y so it might be hard for elderly. But they have shuttle in the night after dinner, since ginzan is so beautiful at night. They have boots & jacket you can borrow, so comfy!!

The dinner is a set of japanese food with soba (ginzan speciality is soba i guess since every shop is selling them) so delicious. They gave us a5 yamagata beef. They will ask you to specify the time for dinner.

The breakfast is also set of japanese food with fish.

The room is very spacious for 2 person, bed is comfy, clean, it got toilet & sink. The amenities is in the lobby you can freely take what you need, they provide everything (yukata, toothbrush, comb, etc). I book for the first floor, the view is so pretty plus it was snowing, so dreamy. They dont have bathroom inside the room, you need to go in the onsen for taking a bath 😄. The onsen got amazing view. They have indoor & outdoor onsen.

For the check out is also fast, they can send us back to oishida sta in the morning. Convenient.

Also plus point for all the staff. They’re so nice & polite. Also speak English very well. 🫶🏻

This ryokan is probably my...

My husband and i went here on autumn, and it was raining when we came. We stayed at the other building on the main road of ginzan hot spring. Meanwhile the main building, where the open air bath is located, was at a different location. We had to walk if we want to take a bath in the hot spring. It was not far but quite difficult because of the slope. You have to climb the stairs, quite tiring lol.

The receptionist was very friendly and helped us around the building and room. However after 4 pm there is no staff in the other building (they are only available in the mail building). That’s okay but it would be great if there is a telephone to contact the staff in the main building in case of urgency. Because the wifi in the other building was not working, and i didnt know whom to contact for help.

Lastly we had breakfast and it was good, but the time for to eat breakfast was only from 8 am to 9 am. Personally it’s too short for me. And we came at 8.30, the staff was hurrying us to eat and had to finish at 9 am. Because it was a set meal (kaiseki), the portion was quite big so i cannot finish everything on time.

The location of the other building is more strategic because it’s in the main road, and it was beautiful at night. We also was given free drinks at the function room and we really enjoy it! We can see the waterfall from there! Thank you

Overall the hotel is enjoyable but also there is some shortcoming, i hope you can improve for the...

Check-in and check-out times were weird. More on that later.||||Old and dated, not only in its structure but in the furniture inside the room. The bedding even smells dated!||||Service was horrible, perhaps because we don't speak Japanese. Upon check-in, we were forewarned that if we check out late the next morning (9 a.m.), we will be charged an extra day's rate. Who on earth checks out so early in the hospitality industry!!||||At dinner, the server did not try to explain anything at all. It was just placing things on the table. I had a thought throughout my dinner, that either she was forced to work there as a indentured worker by someone or that she despised non-Japanese.||||No water was served at dinner. We were shown a beverage menu. Not a drinker, I ordered juices for the whole party. One tiny glass of canned juice cost USD$7. Canned/concentrate, not fresh juice. And, we already paid almost USD$700 for just one night, with meals included. They have the audacity to charge extra for juice, and we ordered only because we did not know we had to pay extra and we just needed some liquids to down the food with. I should have brought my own bottled water!||||What ryokan experience?? Nothing warm or welcoming. The only saving grace was that we got to enjoy the outdoor onsen (man-made) early the next morning since we checked in at 4 p.m. the first day and wanted to at least dip in some onsen before we had to rush to eat breakfast and check out EARLY...