Tabist 風雪 奥飛騨温泉郷 — Hotel in Takayama

Odd Experience for an Onsen Hotel (long review please bear with me)

The indoor onsen that we entered has 2 rooms: First you get in a room to change clothes, then you open the glass door which connects both room to enter the onsen. At first when we entered the onsen room (naked), it felt cold and foggy so it took a while to discover there was another glass door inside which was wide opened. We needed to close it immediately to keep warm (The temperature outside was around 3 celsius). Then we took a quick shower following the onsen etiquette. By that time the onsen room was still not in the comfortable temperature so we decided to try the onsen itself and surprisingly (another surprise but not least) the water was hot on the surface (41-42 celsius) but cold (20-25 celsius) underneath... Then I realized that there was a water pipe running more water to the onsen, I checked (while naked and chilly) and discovered the water from the pipe was cold and it seemed it was meant to cool down the onsen (without being operated properly).... So I turned it off. I was with my mom and she was about to give up this experience. This was our first time in Okuhida Onsen, a real Onsen in Japan and so far it was just disappointing. I still convinced her to wait a little as now the cold water was off and maybe it would get hotter soon. We tried to stay a bit more and that was when I noticed there was another small window was opened from up (out of my reach as I am only 156cm tall), no wonder why we kept feeling as if there was wind inside the space.... I figured it would not work anyway, so I left that onsen room, quickly dried my naked and cold body to wear a yukata and went to the reception to ask for help. We only stayed one night here and I didn't want my mom to leave with bad memories. LUCKILY, we ended up being able to change to another vacant onsen and could eventually warm our bodies up. (Disclaimer: This onsen room became vacant for us because it was my dad that was using it and he just happened to finish his turn. We 3 went to use the onsens at the same time and while me and my mom struggled, he could already spend his time like how it should be) If this was just a normal hotel, we would not mind much. However, Tabist Kazeyuki is an Onsen hotel. And we chose to book here for that exact expectation. NOTED that when this happened, it was around 6:30-6:50pm, ONLY a while after their onsen working hour (From 5pm-9am), it was not like we used it at midnight and took trouble to be a nuisance. They just didn't deliver what they advertised.

~ Sum up: Kindly check the onsen room before removing your clothes at the changing room. If you feel cold, definitely something goes wrong. Hopefully the staffs will have more control over the operations of their onsens (only 3 available by the time we checked in) to maintain the quality of the service, just like how they automatically, with no mistakes, charge the onsen fee + one night stay 20,250yen when check-in. (Yes, it's not free of charge. We paid 150yen/person to use the onsen) Bonus: This hotel they use heating machines on the 1st floor, which run by a certain fuel and constantly produce a strong smell that we could sense even though we stayed on the 4th floor. If you don't mind this, then it's...

The ryokan is located around one hour away from the Takayama station in the secluded and tranquil Hirayu Onsen town. They didn't provide 24 hours reception so we have to leave our luggages at the lobby and do the check-in later once they are available as we miss the hours.||Room is spacious, comfortable and comes with a seating area. We get to sleep on tatami mats and futons for a real ryokan experience and they provide all the necessary amenities and yukata set for the onsen.||There are four private onsens at the Ryokan and one of them is an outdoor onsen but it doesn't have a view. The good thing is all onsens are all free to use and there's no need to book in advance. They have a tag at the door for us to indicate that the onsen is in use. As we were the only guest on that day, we get to use all the onsen freely. ||Would advise to skip the hotel breakfast as it is not really worth it for the spread. It was raining on the day we check out and they went the extra mile to shelter us to the bus stop. We had a good stay...

We really enjoyed our stay in this hotel, our best stay in Japan! We were upgraded to a room with a mountain view which was simply spectacular! We really enjoyed drinking tea looking out the window and relaxing. This place feels a bit like a retreat, you have peaceful solitude with private onsens (hot springs, indoor and outdoor) which are amazing after exploring nearby walking! Also hirayu onsen is down the road offering larger public onsens, as well as the bus stop just down the road too. It's a great place to base yourself if you are hoping to go to kamikochi to hike, entrance to kamikochi is only 1 stop away by bus. No meals included here but there were some delicious restaurants nearby. I would 100% recommend this hotel to anyone looking to relax with onsens and beautiful scenery. Traditional futon bed provided here - I found this very comfy, but perhaps if you have difficulty with your back you might be prepared or ask for an extra mattress, I have seen in reviews other guests ask for the same.Thank you for a...