旅館 翠嵐楼 — Local services in Hitoyoshi

Suiranrou was an absolute gem of a ryokan. I booked it through jalan.net (if you can navigate the Japanese site using Google Translate, you can get many more packages) and chose the package which included a room with a rotenburo (that's your own personal in-room outdoor hotspring bath!) AND the Kuma River boat ride. Price was 16600 yen per adult, 9000 yen for children, which is exceedingly good value.||||We arrived early before the check-in time, but the reception gladly helped us unload our luggage and gave us a simple itinerary to sight-see and lunch in Hitoyoshi (which worked out pretty well despite our limited Japanese and their limited English).||||We checked in at about 5pm, at which point we were introduced to our 'nakai-san' (can't remember her name!), who was very friendly, serving us welcome drinks, and helping us to navigate the ryokan and its many baths. She was particularly attentive to our daughter (8yo), which is always a winner in my books.||||And the baths! No mixed bathing here, so no worries on that front. There were outdoor rotenburos where you bathed under the shade of red maples. There was a super-hot indoor bath at the basement for the hardcore bathers. Levels 2 and 3 featured a large indoor / outdoor bath (you can view the river from it) for men and women respectively. And in our case, there was still our in-room rotenburo. Heaven!||||Food was kaiseki style, served in-room, and featuring 'sansai' (mountain vegetables) grown on the ryokan gardens. Highlights included a yamame (mountain trout) grilled in salt, chawan mushi filled with buckwheat, slices of pork and vegetables cooked in a tagine with miso stock, stewed carp...13 courses of culinary excellence. Needless to say we were stuffed.||||After a good night's sleep on futons loving laid out by 'nakai-san', another bath, and traditional Japanese breakfast of beaten raw egg over hot rice, pickles, cold grilled fish and miso soup. And then we reluctantly checked out and were seen off by our 'nakai-san' with many an 'arigato-gosaimasu' and bows. ||||But there's still more. As I mentioned, our package included the Kuma river cruise. What we did NOT expect was when the boat rowed past our hotel (Suiranrou is right on the banks of the river), our 'nakai-san' and two other hotel staff turned out on the river bank waving flags and shouting 'Farewell!', 'Hope to see you again!' with the hotel loudspeakers playing Auld Lang Syne in the background! This absolutely takes the cake hospitality-wise. ||||I will be...

Suiranrou was an absolute gem of a ryokan. I booked it through jalan.net (if you can navigate the Japanese site using Google Translate, you can get many more packages) and chose the package which included a room with a rotenburo (that's your own personal in-room outdoor hotspring bath!) AND the Kuma River boat ride. Price was 16600 yen per adult, 9000 yen for children, which is exceedingly good value.||||We arrived early before the check-in time, but the reception gladly helped us unload our luggage and gave us a simple itinerary to sight-see and lunch in Hitoyoshi (which worked out pretty well despite our limited Japanese and their limited English).||||We checked in at about 5pm, at which point we were introduced to our 'nakai-san' (can't remember her name!), who was very friendly, serving us welcome drinks, and helping us to navigate the ryokan and its many baths. She was particularly attentive to our daughter (8yo), which is always a winner in my books.||||And the baths! No mixed bathing here, so no worries on that front. There were outdoor rotenburos where you bathed under the shade of red maples. There was a super-hot indoor bath at the basement for the hardcore bathers. Levels 2 and 3 featured a large indoor / outdoor bath (you can view the river from it) for men and women respectively. And in our case, there was still our in-room rotenburo. Heaven!||||Food was kaiseki style, served in-room, and featuring 'sansai' (mountain vegetables) grown on the ryokan gardens. Highlights included a yamame (mountain trout) grilled in salt, chawan mushi filled with buckwheat, slices of pork and vegetables cooked in a tagine with miso stock, stewed carp...13 courses of culinary excellence. Needless to say we were stuffed.||||After a good night's sleep on futons loving laid out by 'nakai-san', another bath, and traditional Japanese breakfast of beaten raw egg over hot rice, pickles, cold grilled fish and miso soup. And then we reluctantly checked out and were seen off by our 'nakai-san' with many an 'arigato-gosaimasu' and bows. ||||But there's still more. As I mentioned, our package included the Kuma river cruise. What we did NOT expect was when the boat rowed past our hotel (Suiranrou is right on the banks of the river), our 'nakai-san' and two other hotel staff turned out on the river bank waving flags and shouting 'Farewell!', 'Hope to see you again!' with the hotel loudspeakers playing Auld Lang Syne in the background! This absolutely takes the cake hospitality-wise. ||||I will be...

As with other reviews, I was greatly impressed with the service provided plus the accommodation and meals.||||My group of 8 people stayed in mid Dec 2014 after scanning through the accommodation reviews in Hitoyoshi. To begin with, Hitoyoshi is a very nice quaint onsen town. I booked directly through their website with package for breakfast and dinner.||||The rooms were spacious and the beddings were also comfortable. The indoor and outdoor onsens were fantastic and the view of the river was great. All our rooms faces the river and it was lovely. The meals provided was delicious, varied and nicely presented. Considering the price we paid and the service and meals provided, it was a very good deal.||||To end our stay, the staff were very kind to splash buckets of water onto our cars to remove the overnight ice formed on the windscreen and a group of the staff came out to send us off with smiles and a bow. It was really a great stay.||||Would definitely come back to stay again for a relax break in Hitoyoshi and...