Yashio — Hotel in Wajima

The staff were excellent, the room spacious, and the public hot spring baths well cared for with indoor/outdoor options. Our critiques were with the location, the food, and a little problem with the roof outside our window. Perhaps we just had too high expectations to start with. We thought a hotel overlooking the ocean would have great views and great seafood, but there was neither. I guess its just the way the hotel sits and the way the surrounding area is configured, but the views of the sea and distant harbor just weren't particularly pretty. The other big Wajima selling point besides the sea, is the city market, which is a pretty long hike away (if you have a car, there is plenty of free parking downtown). For the dinner, the chef's-choice menu featured tilapia prepared 4 different ways. We were hoping for a little more mixture of seafood, but the real shortcoming in my wife's opinion, was that the food was not tasty. My wife is Japanese and a foodie and in her opinion the chef did not seem inspired. Her other pet peeve was that as we looked out our second floor window rocks and bamboo that were once decorations were strewn about the roof below. I hesitated to write this critical review, because the staff were truly great, the hotel has many good qualities, and the rates were very reasonable, but we had hoped for more at this seaside locale and...

The staff were excellent, the room spacious, and the public hot spring baths well cared for with indoor/outdoor options. Our critiques were with the location, the food, and a little problem with the roof outside our window. Perhaps we just had too high expectations to start with. We thought a hotel overlooking the ocean would have great views and great seafood, but there was neither. I guess its just the way the hotel sits and the way the surrounding area is configured, but the views of the sea and distant harbor just weren't particularly pretty. The other big Wajima selling point besides the sea, is the city market, which is a pretty long hike away (if you have a car, there is plenty of free parking downtown). For the dinner, the chef's-choice menu featured tilapia prepared 4 different ways. We were hoping for a little more mixture of seafood, but the real shortcoming in my wife's opinion, was that the food was not tasty. My wife is Japanese and a foodie and in her opinion the chef did not seem inspired. Her other pet peeve was that as we looked out our second floor window rocks and bamboo that were once decorations were strewn about the roof below. I hesitated to write this critical review, because the staff were truly great, the hotel has many good qualities, and the rates were very reasonable, but we had hoped for more at this seaside locale and...

The ryokan sits just outside of the hubbub of Wajima Onsen. The property overlooks a pretty, mostly western-facing beach on the Sea of Japan. Service was attentive, kind, and professional throughout. Our Japanese-style room with tatami mats and futon was plenty large, clean, and comfortable. Included wifi worked fine. Sadly, however, and as is often the case at ryokan, the windows had no screens to admit fresh air. ||||The included half-board meals (dinner and breakfast) were consistently wonderful throughout our two-night stay. Meals were served in individual shoji-screened dining areas. In particular, we really enjoyed the bountiful dinner time offerings of delicious fresh fish. ||||The onsen (public baths) was nice, but also a tad disappointing: indoors, the water was overly hot; and outdoors, the rotenburo was too small for the number of people who wanted to use it.||||Wajima Onsen is an interesting and noteworthy town; and, assuming you have a (rental) car at your disposal, ryokan Yashio is a fine base for enjoying and...