Ryokan Sennari

We paid ¥68,000 for one night for two people, including half board, and left feeling the price didn’t match what we got. The stay was fine, but honestly felt like a donation. We’ve had similar quality elsewhere for under ¥20,000 a night. Maybe our night at Nipponia in Ozu had set our expectations too high. The meals were okay, but we’d hoped the kaiseki would showcase local ingredients and dishes, thoughtfully prepared by a local chef. Instead, it felt ordinary, with no local specialties or sense of care in the items served. Shrimp appeared three ways at dinner, including in the tempura, which oddly didn’t include toriten, a well-known local chicken dish. Dessert was two small citrus slices. Breakfast was a standard Japanese meal. The pickles and seaweed seemed store-bought, like the ones in my fridge at home in Hokkaido, and didn’t taste homemade. We got only a small piece of salmon. There was no napkin or wet towel at the table, so I had to ask and wait with dirty hands while a bug ate at my citrus slice. The room was clean, though dated and in need of renovation. The windows looked out over the lovely central garden, where frogs chirped in the evening, but guests couldn’t access it. We’d thought our room included a veranda. Of the three onsen baths, only one was semi-open air, positioned near the side of the street. It was nice to reserve the private bath and go together as a family, though the hotel doesn’t allow children. Check-out was at 10am, leaving no time after breakfast for a stroll or to enjoy the unusually sunny morning during the rainy season. The check-in process was stressful. We arrived at 2pm and found a sign saying check-in wasn’t allowed before 4. As we put our bags back in the car, a man came out, spoke with us, and let us bring them to the entrance, where staff took them, but we still couldn’t check in. He kindly gave us directions to Beppu station and the Jigoku pools tourist site. We planned to return at 5:30, an hour before our 6:30 kaiseki dinner, and messaged the inn with that time. They replied that check-in after 6pm wasn’t allowed. No one had told us that when they first sent us away. They repeated the rule even after our bags had been placed in our room. We’d booked at the last minute and couldn’t get a refund, so there was a real chance we’d pay a lot and have nowhere to stay. Our bus ran a few minutes late, so we had to run from the station in hot, humid weather and arrived at 5:59, sweaty and stressed, just in time.

Our first ryokan stay was a pleasure. The service was nice and the food was good. Thanks so much, and greetings from Switzerland.

Dinner and breakfast were average, though the staff were nice and helpful, and could speak English. The private onsen setup was good: there are three baths, one outdoors and two indoors. You write your room name on the board by the bath you want to use. There was no face cleanser or lotion, and parking was free.

The room looked onto a beautiful garden and was spacious, with an enclosed terrace where we could sit and relax. It was a cold day in March, but we didn’t need to turn on the heater. They also set up a futon with two mattress pads for us, which was thoughtful since we foreigners aren’t used to sleeping on them. The indoor and outdoor baths were booked in 50-minute slots and were just right. The ryokan is charming and well laid out, on a quiet one-way street. Check-in is strictly at 4pm. Booking had mistakenly listed just one adult in each room even though we had four adults total, including dinner and breakfast. The proprietor quickly sorted it out and was very apologetic, though the booking error wasn’t their fault. The meals were plentiful and delicious, with sashimi and A5 wagyu. Foreign students attending the local university helped at the ryokan, so it was fun chatting in English and practicing our Japanese.