Minshuku Kuraya — Hotel in Tanabe

We stayed for one night. It is a beautiful little house with great onsen room to use privately. You can do your laundry there yourself for free which was very needed since we had been travelling for a few days... however the washing machine is old and not automatic, so in the end I spent almost an hour just there doing laundry.. this is not the fault of this house though, just a tip if you were looking to wash clothes, make sure you have the time.||||Really great atmosphere here as all rooms were full, and there were all Japanese except for us. Felt very authentic and real. We enjoyed dinner in the dining room with the other guys (all separate tables) but I have to be honest, the dinner and breakfast was not as good as the other ones we had in other minshuku or ryokan places. ||||Onsen was great, they use the natural hot spring water. ||||The only major problem is that all the guest rooms are all on the second level, and the walls are very thin understandably.. so when we were in our room, we could hear all the chatting and laughing and TV playing, which was OK for us because we don't speak Japanese and it was easier for us to block it out, but imagine if they were speaking a language we understand, it could be very distracting and not that nice when you were here to...

Kuraya is a really nice minshuku, in the heart of Yunomine Onsen. The hosts are friendly - but speak little English. The place seems to be especially popular with Japanese couples, we were the only foreigners that night. ||There are three or four tatami-floored bedrooms, spotlessly clean and well equipped (towels, yukata ; + wifi working in the room). Toilets are shared ; as for bathing, there is a small private building outside, just a few metres from the minshuku. The onsen is quite rustic but I really loved the atmosphere.||||Dinner is served in the common room - one table for each bedroom - and is made of several small plates, all home made with local products. The food was really tasty but slightly less impressive than what we experienced one night before. The Japanese-style breakfast was good even if us, as Westerners, are not used to eat baby fishes in the morning...||||As one previous review said, the walls are so thin that it can be really noisy. It was okay at night since everyone got to bed early, but don't expect to sleep...

I stayed here for my final night of the Kumano Kodo trail...

A warm welcome from the hosts...

The bedroom was comfortable, with green tea and some snacks on the table. The futon bed was comfortable, not too hard.

There is free WiFi available to keep in contact- the speed is good enough to make a WhatsApp call.

The on-site Onsen is available 24hrs a day and is revitalizing; the hot water temperature is just what the body needs after a long hike.

Mealtimes, dinner and breakfast, were great, with delicious, traditional Japanese fare.

I recommend staying here for your Kumano...