Atarayo Nishiizu

I wasn’t convinced by the booking-site listing, but after staying here I felt the visit was well worth it. The room had exactly what I expected, twin beds and a bathroom. The photos hadn’t made it clear that there was no shower, but once I used the public bath and shower, I didn’t mind. It’s beautiful there, and the soap, shampoo, and conditioner were great. The open-air hot bath on the seventh-floor balcony looks out over the ocean, another lovely surprise. My party was more than happy with what we paid. 10/10, I’ll be back.

From here you can see the sea, and on a clear day, the sunset too. We stayed one night and got a great Japanese-inn experience. Private onsen baths are available with some room bookings, and food courses can be ordered ahead when you book. The rooms are quite small, and it’s a popular place that can get expensive in peak season, but I think the experience is worth trying.

The Annex was the worst onsen hotel I’ve stayed at in Japan. We had a private bath, but there was no body soap or bathroom chair. There was no room service, the Wi-Fi didn’t work and nobody seemed to care, and there was no front desk staff. We had to set up the tatami ourselves, dinner wasn’t worth it, and everything was self-service.

We had a really good time here and I’m glad we stayed. A room with a private open-air bath was reasonably priced, and the bath itself was so good.