Totsukawa Onsen Hotel Subaru — Hotel in Totsukawa

We stayed one night for dinner bed and breakfast. The hotel is located in the world heritage site and tricky to find at first! Our room was a twin bedded room on the ground level. Toilet and washbasin in the room but no shower or bath. As I have two tattoos I won't use the public onsen but there was a great big swimming pool as part of the hotel that we had a lovely swim in and then great shower afterwards so that worked for us! The room was rather worn looking with stains on the carpet and scuffs on some of the furniture - it was lovely and large but just rather worn. No in room wi-fi but available in the lobby. The lobby and restaurant were lovely. We had a great evening meal and breakfast in the restaurant with nice views of the hills and mountains around us. We found the Totsukawa suspension bridge and had a nice walk over that. As we were in our own hire car we also explored the area and there are many, many, many World Heritage sites in the district with great places to see and things to do. Fantastic mountain scenery all around. This was a great location to be away from European tourists which we loved so very little English spoken anywhere so we had to use our minimal Japanese along with lots of sign language and gestures and, as was our usual experience, the Japanese people...

We stayed one night for dinner bed and breakfast. The hotel is located in the world heritage site and tricky to find at first! Our room was a twin bedded room on the ground level. Toilet and washbasin in the room but no shower or bath. As I have two tattoos I won't use the public onsen but there was a great big swimming pool as part of the hotel that we had a lovely swim in and then great shower afterwards so that worked for us! The room was rather worn looking with stains on the carpet and scuffs on some of the furniture - it was lovely and large but just rather worn. No in room wi-fi but available in the lobby. The lobby and restaurant were lovely. We had a great evening meal and breakfast in the restaurant with nice views of the hills and mountains around us. We found the Totsukawa suspension bridge and had a nice walk over that. As we were in our own hire car we also explored the area and there are many, many, many World Heritage sites in the district with great places to see and things to do. Fantastic mountain scenery all around. This was a great location to be away from European tourists which we loved so very little English spoken anywhere so we had to use our minimal Japanese along with lots of sign language and gestures and, as was our usual experience, the Japanese people...

So I actually haven't stayed at Hotel Subaru but I live here in the village and frequently visit their restaurant, onsen, and pool. I have to say it is all exemplary. Totsukawa itself is a charming mountain village with access to the Kii mountain range pilgrimage and very ancient monasteries/shrines. Subaru is a welcome rest stop for day trips to these locations and even some of the beaches in Wakayama. ||||The onsen (public bath) is partially outside and has an open air view into the Japanese skyline and a gorgeous view of all the stars you can imagine. ||||The restaurant in Subaru is fantastic and always busy. Tours from around Japan come here to experience the region. The food ranges from sushi platters, chinese style fried chicken, local river fish and sushi, to ramen, udon dishes, and other traditional Japanese cuisine. ||||It's also VERY cheap. I'm talking 700 - 1000 yen per plate. If you want a very off the beath path and a truly local Japanese environment, do come here...