Biwako Hanakaido — Hotel in Otsu

It was a great stay at this ryokan! The hotel is able to arrange a car to fetch you from the JR station. You can call them using a dedicated phone at the station which is used to contact the different ryokans. The car arrived in 10mins or so. The ride to the ryokan was also less than 10mins. The hotel also fetched us to the station on the last day of our stay. The ryokan itself is homely and cozy. We were greeted by an english speaking staff who introduced us to the amenities of the ryokan. There was also a nice welcome tea and matcha chocolate. Our bags were brought to our room as well during this time. The room is spacious and cozy. The hotel prepared 2 welcome biscuits in the room which was a nice personal touch. The room has a nice living room and a great view of Lake Biwa. Recommend to catch the sunrise over the lake! There are 2 normal beds as well as futon beds (need to set up yourself). Both are comfortable. The hotel also prepared pretty yukata for both female and male guests which you can wear during the stay. There are 4 different designs for ladies, and one design for the guys. You can request for different size if the one in the room doesn’t fit you. There is also a full length mirror and a mini dressing area at the side of the living room. It was fun dressing up in the yukata! The toilet, basin, shower and hot tub areas are all separate. The toilet is a little small, but the basin and mirror area is very spacious. The shower area is quite small as well and the shower head is rather low so you need to hold the shower head if you wish to wash up while standing. There is a small stool given for you to sit down though. The hot tub area is semi-outdoor and you can see Lake Biwa. But it is quite small (only good for one person). It was too cold so we didn’t use the hot tub. Instead, we booked the private onsen for 50mins. The private onsen has a private toilet and dressing area which is equipped with hairdryer, body lotion etc. There is a water dispenser as well if you need to hydrate yourself. The onsen area has a washing area, and the hot tub area is spacious for 2 person. There are privacy screens around the onsen area but there is a small gap to let in cold air for ventilation. Wish there is a good view from the private onsen but it was still enjoyable! Dinner and breakfast was Kaiseki style, and the meals were one of the highlights for my husband and I. We really enjoyed the courses which are clean tasting yet wholesome, fresh and flavourful. It was such a sumptuous treat! The ryokan also has a souvenir shop if you wish to buy anything back. Overall, my husband and I really enjoyed the stay here and we agreed this was one of the main highlights of our 12 days trip in Japan....

My husband and I just stayed at Biwako Hanakaido for the first part of our honeymoon and I don't think we could have asked for better. We actually missed our first night due to some poor planning on our part with the bullet train schedule. The staff were ver accomodating with us. We arrived at Ogotoonsen Station and used the public phone to call the inn and the shuttle arrived 10 minutes later to take us to the property. The hospitality was the most professional and welcoming with bowing as the shuttle arrived, loading our luggage for us, offering a cup of tea and just talking to us as they prepped our room and yukatas. Our room was beautiful with the tatami mats and view of the lake. While we were at dinner they rarranged our rooms to put out the futons for sleeping. I enjoyed having the yukata to wear around the property. We headed straight to the private onsen to unwind from the hectic traveling (we had to sleep the previous night on the airport benches). We even enjoyed going through the gift shop and got several souvenirs.||||The food was served in the inn's resteraunt. I am a picky eater so there were definitely many new flavors to try. I enjoyed the Shabu Shabu (where you cook your own food in the heated broth). ||||My husband appreciated being permitted to play the piano in the main lobby and even drew a small audience from the hospitality staff :)||||Our appreciation goes out to Ms. Chihiro Ikeda and the Biwako Hanakaido staff. our stay was without a doubt, a highlight of...

My husband and I just stayed at Biwako Hanakaido for the first part of our honeymoon and I don't think we could have asked for better. We actually missed our first night due to some poor planning on our part with the bullet train schedule. The staff were ver accomodating with us. We arrived at Ogotoonsen Station and used the public phone to call the inn and the shuttle arrived 10 minutes later to take us to the property. The hospitality was the most professional and welcoming with bowing as the shuttle arrived, loading our luggage for us, offering a cup of tea and just talking to us as they prepped our room and yukatas. Our room was beautiful with the tatami mats and view of the lake. While we were at dinner they rarranged our rooms to put out the futons for sleeping. I enjoyed having the yukata to wear around the property. We headed straight to the private onsen to unwind from the hectic traveling (we had to sleep the previous night on the airport benches). We even enjoyed going through the gift shop and got several souvenirs.||||The food was served in the inn's resteraunt. I am a picky eater so there were definitely many new flavors to try. I enjoyed the Shabu Shabu (where you cook your own food in the heated broth). ||||My husband appreciated being permitted to play the piano in the main lobby and even drew a small audience from the hospitality staff :)||||Our appreciation goes out to Ms. Chihiro Ikeda and the Biwako Hanakaido staff. our stay was without a doubt, a highlight of...