Yumotokan — Hotel in Otsu

Tl:dr: money went missing but otherwise a good onsen.

Not 4 star because our visit was soured because money ( a few 10000¥ notes) went missing from our rooms, and we had to spend several hours reporting it to the police. For that, I felt a discount would have been a good gesture, but that was not offered. This stung as we had limited cash after money going missing from our rooms, but to be fair we had not used the safes,and our rooms were set up in the evening which we had not expected. Looking at reviews doesn't look like other people have had this problem, but it did not feel very reassuring or like the staff would necessarily be spoken to. A Single large note was taken out of 2 of our party of 8's wallets, we would not have been sure it was taken if there had not been two affected, both in different rooms but next to eachother. Use your safe either way as this is better for insurance, don't assume your room will not be entered. We had a window open because the air conditioning was very poor, so the police and staff suggested it was someone who broke in through window, despite us being on 5th floor and no other items or money (we had expensive electronics) being taken. Not very nice way to end our onsen experience, didn't feel very supported but to be fair there was no need to trust us, but it did not feel great. As we had missed the free shuttle bus station due to the police report the hotel did send the bus out again which was considerate.

Felt very traditionally styled. Baths were clean and there was a fair amount of variety, the floor 8 baths were my favourite. Not a tonne of english but the traditional meals had menus in English to explain what we were eating, it was an intense experience for dinner but a little overwhelming when we were given a similar highly traditional breakfast the following morning...lots of fish with faces and rice. Mixed feelings in our group of 8 about the traditional food as to be expected but it was nicely presented and offered a variety. I really loved the special honey based sake and the bit where you grill your own meat at dinner. It was expensive and definitely felt high-end, you do get what you pay for (esp in the food) although it was probably out of our...

Came here with family during the Sakura season. It's easy to get to the onset hotel. After arriving at the Ogoto Onsen JR station, towards the south exit you will find a cell phone attached to a board with explanation how to use the phone to call one of the onsen hotels. After the call, their shuttle bus will then come and pick you up between 2pm to 6pm I think. The hotel staff in general are very welcoming. Our family scored a deal with their penthouse suite with private indoor and outdoor onsen. Four of us stayed in the suite and the price is only slightly more than four of us staying in 2 regular rooms. It also came with a beautiful fruit platter for you to enjoy.||The suite is very spacious with 2 separate toilets. The bath area has 2 sinks, a shower stall as well as a japanese style bathing area connected to the 2 onsen baths (indoor one is a hinoki wood tub and the outdoor one is a stone one. The outdoor onsen does have a slight privacy issue as there are some residential buildings in a distance. While my mom was a bit too modest to use the outdoor one (which I am not and fully enjoyed it), she did take full advantage of the indoor private onsen.||Of course the hotel also has a public onsen for the guests. In fact they have two. One in each towers. I used the one on the top floor in the morning and it was a bless seeing the sunrise while soaking in the hot onsen water.||Our package also included both dinner and breakfast that were served at their private dining room. Both meals were done in kaiseki style. We were particularly impressed by their dinner. Not only was it cooked with high quality ingredients and with beautiful presentation, they did not skimp on the quantity as well. Often after eating dinner at other onsen hotel, I would not feel full and actually felt a bit hungry later at night, at Yumotokan the courses kept coming and I was completely stuffed at the end. In fact I did not finish the rice even though it was so yummy (cooked from scratch in front of us with a flamed mini-stove). | |All in all, a very satisfactory experience. I can recommend anyone who comes to Kyoto/Osaka and wants an excursion and experiences the traditional...

My partner and I stayed at Yumotokan for 2 nights in May 2025. This review is in the context of us paying over JPY150,000 (AUD1600) for the 2 nights for the room, breakfast and dinner.||||When we arrived there was no concierge offering to take our bags to the room. We had to sort that ourselves. Not the easiest task over thick carpet.||||We arrived at the room, nice but nothing special. The bed was essentially pushed against the wall, so if you had mobility issues, getting in and out of bed would be a challenge.||||The onsen was nice however was very hot and you couldn’t adjust the temperature.||||We attended the banquet type dinner in a private room that night, which was lovely. It was however a challenge to know what we were eating until we were provided an English version of the menu. That helped to some degree, however provided no insight into how to eat each of the dishes (ie:, what order to eat them, sauces to use, etc). To add to the difficulty the person serving us essentially spoke no English.||||Following the dinner I became very ill and had food poisoning like symptoms, which I can only conclude was from the dinner as I had only eaten some bread for breakfast that day and had felt fine the entire day.||||My partner went and ate breakfast around 8.30am and subsequently went and told management of my state and that I wouldn’t be having breakfast the next morning and we wouldn’t be having dinner that night. They informed her that dinner has already been prepared and could not be cancelled. They kept referring to their terms and conditions. They stated that they would only provide a credit for one breakfast for JPY3000 !||||The most disappointing aspect is how the situation was handled, focused on denial and hiding behind terms and conditions. Not what I would expect from a hotel promising and charging so much.||||I suggest there will be better experiences...