Ryokan Murayama — Hotel in Takayama

Manager/Owner (Maybe?)/Front desk person/Driver is polite, friendly, and professional. He also speaks reasonable English. Free pick up and drop off services from/to the JR station are provided. Pick up service is available between 12:30 until 17:30 but you have to call from the station once arrived. Drop off is also available but only 3 times, in the morning, with the last one leaves the Ryokan at 10 AM. There is a local bus station stop, coffee shop, teddy museum, and a small village just a short walk from the place. Local bus stops services around 17:00 so be wary of that. ||Free WiFi is pretty good. Ryokan we got was traditional and spacious. There is a 24 hours, pay for, vending machine with cold drinks only in the main lobby for late night thirst. There is a 24 hours, free, cold water vending machine in the main lobby as well. There is an on-site auto rental available as well. ||Everything nearby closes around 17:00. There is no Uber service in this city. Only limited taxi service. I didn't see any taxi park or waiting outside either. You have to go downhill to the main road to catch any or walk to the main area of the city yourself. Going to the main area maybe easier because of the downhill but coming back will be way too harder because of a decent uphill! It does get pretty hot in summer and snowy in winter so watch out if you plan anything late.||There is an on-site, pay for, laundry available as well which was not mentioned to us. Breakfast and dinner are provided for cost but you have to reserve at least a night before or as soon as you can. Everything is all meat and almost nothing for vegetarian. I asked some questions about the meal but was never responded. Owner was only interested if we want to get the meal or not. There is no room service available to order anything.||Place is pricey! Ryokan is very basic and dated and nothing luxury. Our main issue was when we checked into our room, a strong urine smell goes right into our nose! Upon looking further, it turned out that it was coming from the bathroom. Toilet was dry but I guess somebody peed on the floor which is all wood and therefore smell seeped in those wood floors and it was stinky :(||I complained to the manager and left the room. Coming back I was told everything was all cleaned. Unfortunately, even though smell was not as strong it was still there :( Good thing we only stayed for 1 night otherwise I would have to request room change. But the guest should not have to go through this specially after paying such a high price. Room should be thoroughly cleaned and checked for each and every new guest prior to their arrival.||All basic amenities are provided in the room except the microwave! Microwave should be provided in each and every room or at least on each and every floor. It turned out that there was only 1 microwave available for the guest, near the main lobby, but it was never mentioned to us.||Free pick up and drop off services are provided but within certain times. Complete detailed information about these should be provided with property listing so guest will know exactly what to do and expect. When I asked multiple times about the pickup through messages, I only got a response back to call when arrive. I then asked how am I going to call because I don't have local phone service and have only internet. I then asked if Whatsapp is available to communicate but never got any reply to my questions. I figured out on my own that after exiting the platform and into the train station main lobby, there is a cafeteria and inside that there is a coin operated phone which you can use. This is what I used to contact the driver. Again, this important information regarding how to communicate if someone doesn't have local phone service should be shared to everyone. ||No, open air, onsen is available. All onsens are inside. You have to pay separate 150 JPY/person, at the place, if you use the private onsen. This should be listed at the time of booking. There are separate indoor onsens available for male and female. 3 private onsens are available on a first come basis. Private onsen we used was moldish and doesn't looked cleaned. We left after being uncomfortable...

This ryokan is located far from the station. No shuttle for us because we haven’t found any public phone to call the hotel. The shuttle can only be booked by phone. So we had to go by feet.

When we did arrive - exhausted - after 15 hours of plane and 6 hours of train, they did not tell us anything about booking the restaurant. They did not help us neither with our luggages. When we came early to the restaurant at 6:15PM, it was sold out. Moreover, all the other restaurants were closed. They were aware of it but they haven’t warned us. An hotel that cares about its guests experience would have told us about it but here it is not the case. That’s very unpleasant to see the full picture.

Nonetheless, our room is authentic and very pretty. They provide a great yukata and matcha tea. But there are several uncomfortable aspects: bed hurts, heater is noisy, we can distinctly hear the other room voices, when you are lied on the bed, you realize that the floor is dirty. Maybe we must hoovering by ourselves.

The private onsen is disappointing. It stinks fuel and gas near it. In addition, it looks very used - some parts are broken and there is no decoration at all. It is very uncomfortable. It was not relaxing but irritating in the end.

To sum up: our worst experience in Japan. It gives a bad vision of Takayama. No sense...

Myself and 2 other friends stayed here for one night. ||The staff were lovely and helpful on arrival and gave us everything we needed for our stay. ||The building itself is very traditional with some parts verging on old but that’s kind of what we were looking for anyway!||The room was big and came with facilities for making hot water, a fridge and cold water jugs as well as a towel, socks, kimono and toothbrush per person. ||I had one of the worst nights sleep of my life here though, which was largely down to 3 things: |1) our inability to find a light switch meaning we were sleeping in the dark (we switched off the main light but the side lights are hard to find switches for but we’re in a cupboard). |2) my friend snoring like a trooper all night|3) the rooms temperature fluctuating from freezing to boiling every few minutes, no idea why this was. |[because 2 of these things were essentially our fault, I haven’t let this affect our review]||We used the Onsen which was a fun experience. Although I was unsure about their stances on tattoos, I kept mine covered at all times while in Takayama and therefore didn’t have any issues at all (although it didn’t seem like anyone cared as there weren’t any signs or...