Kidoya — Hotel in Shirakawa

Absolutely incredible customer service!! We were late coming into Shirakawa-go due to a scheduling mix up and were worried about being able to check in. One of the ladies running the place actually drove down to the bus stop to check for us, and caught us while we were walking to the hotel. We had quite a few bags with us and she helped us load them into her car, expressing how she was glad she found us. They still even served us dinner despite it being past the set dinner time--I had assumed we would have to go without! Both the ladies there were incredibly friendly and energetic, though they don't speak a lot of English. Definitely enough to get by, and they seem to make certain that they're able to explain all of the dishes served at dinner/breakfast. The rooms are clean and beautifully furnished, and the hosts are very thoughtful about everything. We had a bit too much baggage to fit on the tarp that protects the tatami, so they took the time to lay out another one for us while we were eating dinner. The food was great, I'm notably a very picky eater but I was able to eat almost all of the dishes they provided. Shirakawa-go is a small town, so everything is pretty close together in general. I wouldn't worry too much about the location of this place, it's a straight shot from the bus station and not any further than anything else. Kidoya is very homely, and if you're looking for a full traditional Japanese experience at a ryokan I cannot recommend...

Before coming, I read about how such houses are old houses, not well heated etc. So we were preparing for a stay at a somewhat dilapidated farmhouse, deliberately kept that way to preserve the authenticity of such period buildings. Well, we were in for a surprise.||||Kidoya is a substantial building with three rooms to rent. The room was okay for the three of us. Futon was good and warm. Food was also good in line with minshuku standard in general.||||The map showed us a way to drive around the village to reach Kidoya. That we did, and had to negotiate very narrow paths to get there. Actually, one could easily have reached Kidoya from the main road without doing the U-circuit.||||We were there on 25 Dec and there was no snow that day, none even after dinner. But the following morning, we woke up to Shirakawa-go under heavy snow. We had the best of both worlds, and were gratified to have seen the village under snow. ||||Kidoya requires checkout at 9 am but we were able to keep our car parked outside Kidoya until later that morning. Oh, the parking area is sizable and can park quite a few cars! ||||The bath facility was alright except that the bath is closed after 9 pm, perhaps for fear of noise generated by users (as they need to walk past two bedrooms...

Before coming, I read about how such houses are old houses, not well heated etc. So we were preparing for a stay at a somewhat dilapidated farmhouse, deliberately kept that way to preserve the authenticity of such period buildings. Well, we were in for a surprise.||||Kidoya is a substantial building with three rooms to rent. The room was okay for the three of us. Futon was good and warm. Food was also good in line with minshuku standard in general.||||The map showed us a way to drive around the village to reach Kidoya. That we did, and had to negotiate very narrow paths to get there. Actually, one could easily have reached Kidoya from the main road without doing the U-circuit.||||We were there on 25 Dec and there was no snow that day, none even after dinner. But the following morning, we woke up to Shirakawa-go under heavy snow. We had the best of both worlds, and were gratified to have seen the village under snow. ||||Kidoya requires checkout at 9 am but we were able to keep our car parked outside Kidoya until later that morning. Oh, the parking area is sizable and can park quite a few cars! ||||The bath facility was alright except that the bath is closed after 9 pm, perhaps for fear of noise generated by users (as they need to walk past two bedrooms...