Bracken Onsen Ryokan Warabino — Hotel in Takayama

The only good things going for Warabino are: black out curtains in addition to paper shades (a rarity in traditional onsen ryokans where paper sliding shades are the norm), two friendly and warm staff (not the two old ladies who seem to own the place?), and the public onsen just outside the ryokan (where locals from nearby villagers flock to in afternoon for their baths, very local, but a beautiful onsen nonetheless with gorgeous wood structure and a nice view of the padi fields from the rotemburo). ||It’s quite pricey given the quality of food and remoteness. It isn’t near anything of particular interest. The Japanese dinner and breakfast isn’t of very good quality: there were strange cheese cubes (??!) in the chawamushi, the grilled dishes of a small trout and green pepper too heavily salted, other dishes were uninspiring. Breakfast was even worse with sausages and very heavily alcoholic dishes. The only good dishes for dinner were the very fresh sashimi, a yam dish, and the tempura (there was a delicious bamboo shoot!) (and trust me I know what makes a good Japanese meal; I’m not a newbie to Japanese cuisine or ryokans). ||One of the old grannies was extremely grumpy, while the other one was much friendlier. Child of 6 years old (and we paid approx ¥9000 for one night for child stay!) had dinner that was mostly 80% meat all fried food and sausages. Very strange and unappetizing. ||The room itself was relatively spacious, overlooking a garden and padi fields. But it was quite kitsch with some strange European touches such as the picture frame (mock rococo style!?) and carpet by the balcony. Futons laid out for us smelled very strongly of moth balls. Also, room wasn’t very sound proof and we could hear other doors slamming down the corridor or other guests. ||The two onsens in ryokan: one was ok, with an outdoor rotemburo that was very dubious in its privacy. It seems like part of the restaurant or something would overlook the outdoor onsen/rotemburo, and if you were of average height, you could look into some parts of the other guests room! The waters also smelled faintly of chlorine. The indoor one (they swap the onsens by gender at 9pm) was even worse, just a steam room, a sauna basically as it is so hot with no windows nor ventilation. We didn’t even bother using it. ||There is another private onsen available for booking for a fee of ¥1500 which has a view of the padi fields and is quite lovely. But I feel that to charge for that is quite cheeky. ||Wouldn’t return for the price... there was nothing much to do there in early June and is not part of a town or anything interesting where we could walk around. I would only recommend it if you were en route back to or from Nagano and wanted somewhere relatively affordable. Still, I didn’t find it worth it and would have rather stayed in a normal hotel and searched for dinner or...

The only good things going for Warabino are: black out curtains in addition to paper shades (a rarity in traditional onsen ryokans where paper sliding shades are the norm), two friendly and warm staff (not the two old ladies who seem to own the place?), and the public onsen just outside the ryokan (where locals from nearby villagers flock to in afternoon for their baths, very local, but a beautiful onsen nonetheless with gorgeous wood structure and a nice view of the padi fields from the rotemburo). ||It’s quite pricey given the quality of food and remoteness. It isn’t near anything of particular interest. The Japanese dinner and breakfast isn’t of very good quality: there were strange cheese cubes (??!) in the chawamushi, the grilled dishes of a small trout and green pepper too heavily salted, other dishes were uninspiring. Breakfast was even worse with sausages and very heavily alcoholic dishes. The only good dishes for dinner were the very fresh sashimi, a yam dish, and the tempura (there was a delicious bamboo shoot!) (and trust me I know what makes a good Japanese meal; I’m not a newbie to Japanese cuisine or ryokans). ||One of the old grannies was extremely grumpy, while the other one was much friendlier. Child of 6 years old (and we paid approx ¥9000 for one night for child stay!) had dinner that was mostly 80% meat all fried food and sausages. Very strange and unappetizing. ||The room itself was relatively spacious, overlooking a garden and padi fields. But it was quite kitsch with some strange European touches such as the picture frame (mock rococo style!?) and carpet by the balcony. Futons laid out for us smelled very strongly of moth balls. Also, room wasn’t very sound proof and we could hear other doors slamming down the corridor or other guests. ||The two onsens in ryokan: one was ok, with an outdoor rotemburo that was very dubious in its privacy. It seems like part of the restaurant or something would overlook the outdoor onsen/rotemburo, and if you were of average height, you could look into some parts of the other guests room! The waters also smelled faintly of chlorine. The indoor one (they swap the onsens by gender at 9pm) was even worse, just a steam room, a sauna basically as it is so hot with no windows nor ventilation. We didn’t even bother using it. ||There is another private onsen available for booking for a fee of ¥1500 which has a view of the padi fields and is quite lovely. But I feel that to charge for that is quite cheeky. ||Wouldn’t return for the price... there was nothing much to do there in early June and is not part of a town or anything interesting where we could walk around. I would only recommend it if you were en route back to or from Nagano and wanted somewhere relatively affordable. Still, I didn’t find it worth it and would have rather stayed in a normal hotel and searched for dinner or...

We stayed one night in ryokan warabino, and wished we could stay for longer.

When we first made the booking, we were planning to take the bus from suzaka station, but they kindly offered for us to be picked up at the station. Taka san came sharp at the agreed time and dropped us at the ryokan to be checked in. We booked a japanese style deluxe room with both dinner and breakfast included, it had all the amenities it needed including a private toilet. Everything was sparky clean and the room itself was very spacious. Onsens were private, they had 3 of them which we could go and enjoy for maximum one hour at a time.

Dinner was served sharp at 6. Food was delicious, they offered a traditional, menu with seasonal produce. We were fully stuffed at the end of the dinner. Traditional beds were so comfy. We had a good night's sleep, had a morning bath in the onsen overlooking the mountains. Breakfast was also served sharp at 8 in the morning. We loved the overall experience with both the dinner and breakfast, we got to try many traditional dishes, prepared with locally sourced ingredients. They were so kind to then drop us off at the suzaka station after we checked out. Staff were very welcoming.

Our stay at ryokan warabino helped us to relax and rewind. Highly recommend this to anyone looking for an authentic Japanese experience, and a comfortable lovely stay. We would definitely come back to stay longer when we next...