Oku Kinosaki Seaside Hotel — Hotel in Toyooka

When booking here be aware that it is on the sea one JR stop from Kinosaki (not up in Kinosaki Onsen-town). ||The hotel clings to the mountain side of a small peninsula called Nekozaki at walkable distance from beautiful sand beach Takenohama (1-200 m). This means that only the seaside rooms do the place justice. If you book "with mountain view" it will be cheap and you will be looking straight into the scrubbery and rocks below the bushes and trees on the mountain side and not have a view as such. However, from the common rooms, the on-site onsen (nice indoor/outdoor bath), terrace, etc you will have the view. And when you go outside, wauv! Location is everything. I had a mountain view room because I did not realise the difference beforehand, hmmm, well, actually I did not spend much time in it, I was either enjoying a beach walk, the onsen bath, dinner nearby, breakfast in the dining hall, or off on a hike to the light house at the tip of Nekozaki. It was off season and the town of Takeno was on the quiet side, very relaxing.||I found the building is a bit dated but nice and clean and the staff very friendly and helpful. It was built in the 60's and the mix of that era and traditional Japanese is charming in its own sense. The price reflects it and I would say you get fantastic value for your money here.||The only drawback for me was that I did not let them know I wanted dinner and when I arrived at 6 pm it was too late to order (I think this is because they serve dinner in the rooms ryokan-style?). I walked to the next place on the beach and had a great sashimi dinner with a sake tasting set of three types there, while watching the full moon over the sea so it turned...

Despite being located in Takeno, and thus away from the famed Kinosaki Onsen area, our whole group had a lovely time at this hotel. The name of the hotel doesn't lie because it literally is by the sea side of the Sea of Japan which I would have loved to take a dip in if I had brought a swimsuit. ||||The room was nice and spacious with a great view of the sea so you could relax in the yukatas provided and watch the sunset and sunrise. ||||Onsen was pretty standard, but had plenty of amenities ranging from the usual shampoos and conditioners to more luxurious beauty products like peeling gels and hot cleansing oils. The outdoor onsen gave a nice view of the sea and while small, never felt cramped.||||Dinner was amazing! We didn't get a special plan so it was the standard dinner, but even that was more than filling and delicious to boot. I really have to sing my praises to the kitchen staff for trying to accommodate food restrictions that we informed them about on the day of our stay. It must have been difficult to change so many things so last minute and I'm eternally grateful at their kindness and care in preparing the meals. How they learned even going onto breakfast did not go unnoticed either.||||Overall a very pleasant stay right by the ocean with flexible staff...

While the hotel isn't located near the main Kinosaki onsen area, which is only one train stop away, Oku-kinosaki hotel makes up for it with its beautiful placement by the sea. After arriving and waiting to check into the hotel, my friends and I enjoyed taking pictures of the scenery along the beach. Being that it is was still cold when we traveled, there weren't many people on the beach. However, if my friends and I had traveled during summertime, I'm sure the beach would have been filled with many visiting families and tourists. For dinner, despite not choosing the luxurious crab dinner, the regular dinner was still amazing. The staff was also able to accommodate two of my friends, one of whom is vegan and the other vegetarian. The size of the onsen is of an average size, with two onsens - one inside and one outside. The outside onsen allows you to view the beach from it. Outside the onsen entrance, there are massage chairs to help you further relax after your bath and a water dispenser to help you rehydrate. For the massage chairs, I recommend the full...