山水館 川湯みどりや — Hotel in Tanabe

We stayed here for one night while walking the Kumano Kodo in February (I wished we had stayed 2 nights). We booked a Western-style room - Iwas thankful we did since I had a painful knee from the walk, so I didn't have to stress it getting up and down off the floor at night. The open air Onsen was amazing, it really helped my knee and other sore muscles! This is one of the few where you need to wear something since you're visible from the other gendered Onsen and the river, but they have bathing yukata to borrow in the locker rooms. The dining room overlooked the river and had a huge buffet dinner and breakfast, mostly Japanese offerings - since we were foreign a very helpful lady helped us know what went with what, how the fuel pellet hotpot worked, etc. It also has a great little souvenir shop, we bought several things there. The front desk has someone who speaks English and they were very helpful, they even booked us a complimentary shuttle to the Kumano Kodo trailhead the next morning. Overall an outstanding stay!!! Highly...

For a westerner this is a bit of an odd place. Its quite easy to list its deficiencies- there is no bar, no place to sit in the Sun and , I’m afraid to say, we did not find the food vey palatable. Elsewhere in Japan we have steered for the small local restaurants with no English menu - we’ve loved the food but not here. The best you can say about breakfast is that you can construct a bacon butty but as for dinner … well we had pot noodles in our room most nights. A question of taste I guess. |Why 5 stars then? Firstly the staff are marvelous- went the extra marathon never mind a mile , simply the best. Secondly our Japanese style room high up above the river was fabulous with awesome views of the river and oodles of space. Even loved the futons. |The outside onsen is a great place to chill, if that is the word for a hot spring even if you have to wear an item of clothing which is a cross between a kilt and a loin cloth and does little to cover your modesty. A...

For a westerner this is a bit of an odd place. Its quite easy to list its deficiencies- there is no bar, no place to sit in the Sun and , I’m afraid to say, we did not find the food vey palatable. Elsewhere in Japan we have steered for the small local restaurants with no English menu - we’ve loved the food but not here. The best you can say about breakfast is that you can construct a bacon butty but as for dinner … well we had pot noodles in our room most nights. A question of taste I guess. |Why 5 stars then? Firstly the staff are marvelous- went the extra marathon never mind a mile , simply the best. Secondly our Japanese style room high up above the river was fabulous with awesome views of the river and oodles of space. Even loved the futons. |The outside onsen is a great place to chill, if that is the word for a hot spring even if you have to wear an item of clothing which is a cross between a kilt and a loin cloth and does little to cover your modesty. A...