Oedo Onsen Monogatari Kinosaki — Hotel in Toyooka

My family stayed in the OOedoonsen Kinosaki for two nights in late December 2018. The hotel was rather a big one relatively to small ryokans in the little Kinosaki town. The hotel had a large free car park. The reception staff clearly introduced the hotel to us in English. Our room seemed to be recently renovated and was very large (the lounge alone was about 20 tatami). Our futon beds had been already set when we arrived. There were still ample spaces for all our lugguage cases and sitting and even kids’ running. The room had a beautiful river view. It had a bathroom though we did not use it. The room was absolutely quiet all the time. As a shallow sleeper sensitive to noise, I could still sleep really well in the room in both nights. ||We used the hotel onsen for several times during our stay. There were two sections, that shifted regularly for male and female users. Both contained large indoor pools and smaller outdoor pools. My kids liked the onsen very much. Onsen users had to bring their own room towels. The hotel also provided each guest an “onsen pass” for the seven onsens of Kinosaki. I had tried two of them. I found that these legendary onsens could have their own characteristics yet they attracted too many users. To me it was more relaxing and convenient to use the hotel onsen. ||The dinner buffet began at 17:30, and guests could freely join till 20:30. There was no limit of eating time during this period. The buffet served a wide range of food except crab dishes. The food varieties and tastes were better than expected. ||When planning our Kinosaki trip, I had also considered the smaller traditional ryokans in the town. These centrally located inns might appeal to travelers who sought quaintness, hospitality, and crab set meals. But I finally chose OOedoonsen for its ample room space, large hotel onsen, reasonable rate, generous buffet meals, free car park, and variety of hotel amenities (games facilities and a comic book library). We really enjoyed the relaxing environment and the sense of freedom during our stay in OOedoonsen. We were all satisfied and definitely gave the highest rating....

I had a great stay at this ryokan style hotel that offers great amenities and friendly service.

Pros: Offers both Japanese style and regular rooms. Main difference is the bed in the regular room is a modern, raised bed on a frame. Japanese style bed is a 2-3 inches thick pad on the floor. My Japanese style room #312 was very spacious, river view, and super quiet. Has its own on-site onsen which is bigger and better than some of the public onsens. However, it's closed from 10:00am to 3:00pm daily. Unlimited popsicles and drinks (including various sodas, juices, and Asahi beer) in their lounge from 2:00pm to 10:00pm daily. Their dinner buffet had a great spread including sashimi, nigiri, salad station, various soups, tempura, noodles, dumplings, and Hagendaze ice-cream. Their breakfast buffet also had a great spread including poke station with raw seafood, eggs, sausage, and croissants. Like most ryokans in Kinosaki, included in your stay is a yukata (traditional outfit) and shoes you can wear when visiting the public onsens. A shuttle to the train station is offered in the mornings until 11:00am. A shuttle to center of town is offered in the evenings from 4:00pm to 9:00pm.

Cons: Not located along the main canal so a bit away from the central part of town. A shuttle to center of town is offered, but at limited times. During mid-day, the on-site onsen is closed, the lounge with free drinks is closed, and no shuttle service so you don't want to be there from 10:00am to 4:00pm.

Also note, an onsen tax of 450 JPY/night/guest must be paid in person. Credit card can be used to pay this. This gives you access to all 6 public onsens.

Even though it is a bit of a walk to the main part of town, their on-site onsen, free drinks in lounge, and quiet location made up for it and I wound definitely...

Every ryokan in Kinosaki was booked out for the weekend and was glad that I chanced upon this ryokan that had there last room available. It was such a pleasant stay!

They provide free shuttle bus service from kinosakionsen station (the timetable should be on the website), if not, it’s about a 13 min walk to the ryokan from the station.

The stay included a breakfast and dinner buffet which has quite a decent spread! The food was pretty good and I would say it’s pretty fresh and yummy for a all you can eat 😊 The booking also came with a pass to all 7 onsens in the onsen town and the ryokan offers free shuttle bus services to the town area where there are all 7 onsens are. There are shops and cafes around that area too so you can have lunch there!

The ryokan also has their own hot spring which is (in my opinion) much bigger and better than the 7 onsens 😂 they provide skin care and hair serums for you to use so you don’t have to bring anything! They also have a lounge area with free beer, drinks, snacks and ice cream to enjoy! That area also has a massage chair that you can enjoy 😇

You also get to choose your own yukata and baskets to bring along to the onsens so that was pretty fun. It’s also very kid friendly! There is a mini games room with claw machine games and other mini entertainment.

Such an amazing experience!...