Onomichi Guest House Anago-no-Nedoko — Hotel in Onomichi

Slightly mixed feelings about this place, although generally more positive than not.||We arrived in Onomichi on a hot summer day and immediately headed towards the hostel for a quick check in to enjoy fine weather outside.||||- At 2 pm we're told that we still couldn't check in which was a bit frustrating.||Luckily they changed their mind allowing us to move in and we soon found out that our room was ready long time ago - one of those situations (that you often come across in Japan) when you try to understand & logically explain things to yourself, but you never can...||||- Central location of the hostel (part of the long yet quiet shopping arcade) was a big bonus in my opinion, within walking distance to many local attractions & eateries and not too far from the train station either.||Staff was generally polite and understanding, speaking some decent English as well. ||||- It's obviously a low budget place accommodating mainly backpackers & local students and we fully understood that, however I should mention a few details that might help some people who plan to stay at Anagononedoko in the future... ||||If you have a heavy luggage (backpack) and book one of the private rooms upstairs, it could be quite a struggle for you to carry it all the way up since the building and it's corridors are extremely narrow. It's rather difficult if not inconvenient to move around incl. walking up & down the stairs. ||On a more positive note, rooms themselves are pretty functional and spacious, with clean sheets and good air-con, definitely worth their price.||||Bathroom facilities downstairs must be improved though (sooner rather than later). Very impractical and not entirely hygenic to put this mildly. ||Plenty of ppl use them and you often gotta wait in long queue for your shower which isn't the best thing in the world when you want to refresh & relax yourself at the end of the day...||||- Overall, I would happily consider staying at this quirky hostel again on my next visit in the area, esp. when those minor faults (mentioned above) are dealt with...

The Onomichi Guest House Anago Nedoko was quite an experience. This hostel is nestled within an old building on an old, covered street riddled with quaint mom and pop shops. The walk into the hostel is a thin, dark hallway which gave me a "this is the real japan" feeling.

Immediately upon entering, you find the small, tatami mat common area with and adjacent inside and outside toilet (outside is a squatty). No shoes allowed anywhere inside of the hostel. There is a kitchen for guests to use and it is complimented with most things that you would need to create a meal.

The shared rooms are air conditioned and has electrical outlets next to or inside of each bunk bed. The bunk bed I was on creaked like crazy. It was really loud. It was on the one on the bottom of the very left side when you enter the men's room. Every time I tossed/turned, it was like a tree was falling. They need to address this situation because I felt as If I was bothering everyone else in the room.

The two showers were clean and had some interesting tile work.

The staff is friendly and helpful and the included breakfast was just what I needed to get the day started.

Would I return? Absolutely. If i had to, I would. Otherwise, I'd opt for a private hotel room. The experience of this hostel is what makes it amazing....

We (2 parents, 2 kids, 1 grandmother) stayed in the family room for two nights and loved it. We were a bit surprised that there was another “private” room next to ours, separated by a simple sliding door (locked) only. So there is little privacy, but it is a real traditional old building. This is what all houses used to be. We used the washer and dryer, very handy to have that on the premises. Staying in a place with shared spaces always needs a bit of luck : hope that the other guests have similar preferences as you do. We were lucky : the staff helped us with finding a good restaurant and made the reservation, some guests were interesting conversation partners. We planned to stay for 1 night but had to adjust our schedule to 2 and we were very happy : Onomochi is an interesting place worth a visit, so even if you considered it as a start/ the end of the Shimanami biking trip I would recommend you take your time here and...