Yoshigaura onsen, Lamp-no-yado Ryokan — Hotel in Suzu

The Lamp is isolated and in a beautiful location; it only has 14 rooms; no kids are allowed; no smoking is allowed. It is quiet, it is elegant, it is beautiful, it is well maintained....the food is exquisite and the service is impeccable. Cleanliness is event throughout.||My wife and I stayed for two nights, and enjoyed every minute of the time we spent at the Lamp. The peace and quiet, the sea views, the isolation, and the food and service made our stay a page out of paradise.||What is not to like?|1. Our room, #3, included an upstairs bedroom, which was beautiful. However, users of the upstairs bedroom need to understand that there is a steep staircase up to the room and no upstairs bathroom. A guest who attempted to use the stairs in the middle of the night (to empty one’s bladder, for example), would be faced with a dilemma — turn on the light and wake one’s wife or navigate in the dark and risk breaking your neck. In the end, we asked for a futon to be set up on the ground floor, and if you like Japanese bedding, this was wonderful. I am not sure who would use the upstairs bedroom...||2. The meals were delicious, and the quantities were perfect. EXCEPT, The Lamp seems to skimp on the last breakfast. Our last breakfast was only about 60% of the food we received on the previous day’s breakfast....The quality was exceptional, but it was almost as if the kitchen got tired and stopped making breakfast half way through. Guests should insist on a breakfast equivalent to the one they were served the day before.||3. An attraction of The Lamp is its swimming pool. The photos seem to indicate that a guest could swim 25+ meters, but this is not the case. First, the water is not heated, which means that the pool is only functional for three months every year; second, the “swim-able” portion of the pool is not the full length shown in the photos....only a small portion can be swum, and only if there are like-minded guests or no one else using the pool.||4. While we asked if our in-room rotemburo could accommodate two adults at a time, and weren’t assured that there would be no problem, understand only two small people could fit in the rotemburo at one time. For the prices The Lamp is charging, larger rotemburos should be provided in the room. The Lamp does offer a “kashikiri” or family bath which you can rent for JPY3,000 for one hour. The bath is beautiful and well worth the JPY3,000.||5. The kashikiri has no mirror and provides none of the normal body and skin care products. You must bring the skin lotion, body cream, etc. from your room to the kashikiri. This is very unusual, at least based on our many visits to kashikiri at luxury ryokan in Japan||6. Unlike most luxury ryokans in which we have stayed, The Lamp served dinner and breakfast to guests in a communal dining room. To us, we expect to be served in our room or in a private dining room. Fortunately, if you ask for a private dining room, The Lamp has one. But, you must ask!||7. Tall people beware — the ryokan has large wooden beams throughout. It you are over 6 feet tall, you are guaranteed to hit your head painfully on these beams. Be prepared to walk in a modified bend...

While researching a day trip to Noto Peninsula from Kanazawa I stumbled upon this ryokan located seemingly at the "end of the world" – and decided there and then that I just had to stay there. Moved my plans around a bit to make the time for it.||||Getting there takes a fair amount of commitment. The drive was a slow 2-3 hours from the nearest large cities Kanazawa or Toyama. It's mostly single-lane dual carriageways, but there are fairly interesting spots along the way to stop by at to break up the drive, including the Notojima Aquarium, which was an excellent find. Also, don’t miss the stretch of "musical road" on the Noetsu Expressway just north of the rest stop that plays a tune as your tyres roll over the grooves. The rural views are very pretty as well.||||We arrived at 3pm at the carpark at the top of the cliff with no clue how to get down to the ryokan, and went into the shop to ask for directions. The man there then told us to take a number and wait at a booth in the carpark for the shuttle. This took about 20 minutes of thumb twiddling, as there’s only one Alphard (and frazzled driver) that zig zags down the winding road to the ryokan. ||||While charming, this didn’t feel like a great welcome to what was a very expensive ryokan – perhaps the establishment should have put up signage to direct guests, and should really have a second car to cut the waiting time. Pro tip: if you wish to maximise your stay at the Lamp no Yado instead of hanging around in a carpark, arrive a bit before 3pm.||||After check in, we were shown our Roten room with open-air bath (the middle option in the room list) by a man who spoke very good English; he continued to take care of us throughout our stay. There are apparently only two or three such rooms on the property, and they are large, outfitted in the typical sparse Japanese tatami style. It comes with a wooden deck overlooking the ocean with two deck chairs. Adjacent to that is a glassed-in rotenburo bath and shower room. The WC and sink are in yet another room.||||The view is beautiful and rather unique for a ryokan – we spent hours just staring into the vastness. This is what you are paying for.||||There’s a small onsen on the property built out over the rocks, but it is unfortunately not very private, made worse by a guest who decided it was a good idea to fly a drone from his deck over the onsen to (presumably) film the sea.||||Dinner was an exquisite affair with delicious seafood and meat served over what must have been 10 or so courses. My partner, who can’t ever resist wagyu, ordered an additional Noto beef steak (¥7,560). We brought our own sake, which was charged ¥3,240 in corkage. The dining room serves only guests from the wing that we stayed in, so it felt cosy and exclusive.||||Apart from eating and spacing out, there wasn’t very much to do in the ryokan itself. But up the cliff there’s an observation tower and tours to the Blue Cave, which apparently imparts mystical energies to those who visit. ||||We enjoyed our stay at the Lamp no Yado, more for the novelty value than anything else. There are ones with better food and service, but the location for this one is...

After having stayed at some of the finest onsen ryokans in Japan, we wanted to go off the beaten path, but still have a high-quality experience. No, Lamp No Yado is not Gora Kadan or Ginyu or Beniya Mukayu. However, what it has to offer more than makes up for some of its minor shortcomings.||||Based on our experiences at some of the top ryokans, we expected all of them to offer private in-room dining. It turns out this is not the case, and Lamp No Yado is no exception. Everyone has their meals in a communal dining area, with one exception - guests that book the top room (Nami no Rikyu) have the "option" to be served meals in their own room, and that's what we did. We also were not expecting the food quality to be on par with the very best that Japan has to offer, but we were pleasantly surprised. Everything was top notch. Not as inventive or memorable as, say, Gora Kadan, but we can say that it contributed to an overall great experience there.||||The property itself is in a stunning location just below the cliffs and right along the ocean. All rooms have incredible views, including ones of stunning sunrises. Given the age of Lamp No Yado, I was expecting it to offer a sense of place, but was half expecting it to be run down and in dire need of a refurb. My concerns were definitely unfounded - it was in very good shape, while still exuding rustic charm, which is a tough balancing act to pull off.||||It's already located in a very remote part of Japan, but on top of that Lamp No Yado prohibits non-guests from entering its property, which contributes to the exclusive feel of the ryokan. That, combined with the comfortable rooms and the beautiful and trainquil pool area, really gives out a peaceful vibe. You really can laze away on premises and have a wonderful time.||||Be aware that things to do around Lamp No Yado are few and far in between. If you don't rent a car, our options are limited, not to mention that it'll be difficult to make efficient use of your short time in the area. With a car, in one day you can visit many of the interesting sights such as the Salt Village, Rice Terraces and old Samurai-era homes.||||Lamp No Yado is unlike any other ryokan that we've stayed in. It's definitely a place we'll...