Omuraya — Hotel in Tanabe

We stayed here as a family group of 9 - 4 adults and 5 kids. We were put in the overflow building behind the main building and had the whole place to ourselves. Plenty of space for our group by Japanese standards. The kitchens in the house were quite dirty and poorly equipped (we didn’t plan to use these, so not a major problem). The rest of the rooms in the house were clean. The Onsen in the main building was functional, but a bit grimy and no view. There is a small natural hot spring pool in the river opposite which we didn’t use but we saw other people using, which is in a beautiful location. On 2nd day we walked through the road tunnel to Watarze Onsen (about 15 mins) to use the outdoor public bath there, which was beautiful and worth it. |We found that the food at Omuraya in the evenings was great and plentiful - sashimi, noodle soup we cooked ourselves over a small stove and a hot plate to grill meat / fish. Breakfast was similar - traditional Japanese with soup noodles, fish etc., which personally we were not keen on for breakfast, but that was a matter of personal taste rather than reflection of the quality. It may have been possible to order some more western options for breakfast if we’d done so earlier. |All in all a good value, very traditional Japanese experience as part of walking the...

When we arrived I was taken aback by the obvious presence of pets in the hotel ; the place is not The Hilton . . . But then the lady owner/manager approached us and bowled us over with her genuine attitude of friendliness and hospitality - her spontaneity and good spirits made up for anything the hotel lacked. She offered us the choice between a Japanese or a Western room ; we chose Western, only because it was a large room and had its own toilet. Dinner was excellent and the service very friendly. The onsen was a bit dingy, but very hot and it fixed our sore muscles.The Kawayu River Onsen is just a 2 min walk across the bridge and a must to do ! The next morning, the good lady bent over backwards (ringing her daughter to act as an interpreter) to help us out planning our free day. She is a gem, thank you so much for all your...

This is a fairly large guesthouse with rooms spread across 2 buildings in the village. When we arrived we had to walk between buildings during a heavy rain shower but the hotel has umbrellas to borrow. I stayed here with my husband and my parents. My parents had a western room - which comes with an ensuite toilet and basin, we had a Japanese style room which only had a hand basin. The toilet was just across the hall however and the place was not busy so this wasn't a problem. What we found odd however was that hand soap was not provided anywhere. There was shampoo and shower gel in the onsen but nothing at any of the hand basins. My mum asked at reception and the lady simply gave her a bottle from the onsen. Food was nice enough with a few dishes that you cook yourself...