Izu Ricca

Check-in and checkout were simple and convenient, and there was lots of room for five of us. The sofa was soft and fluffy, and we had fun with the Othello, Uno, and playing cards tucked under the table. A few things were off: two of the three gas burners didn’t work, and the one that did wouldn’t light properly and smelled of gas, so we stopped using it. When we opened the toilet door, its vibration knocked the Wi-Fi router to the floor. The mattress, futon, and pillow for the fifth person had no sheets. At check-in, we paid the cleaning fee by credit card, though I might just have missed that information beforehand.

We were three women staying at ricca1. The next morning, the view from the living room was lovely: we could see Mount Fuji and what might have been the Southern Alps. We hadn’t realized when we arrived at night that the house was on high ground. The building is old, but the renovated interior was clean and well kept, with stylish new furniture and bedding. The fixtures and bathroom took me back to childhood; I was born in the Showa era, so they brought back a lot of memories. There are supermarkets and laundromats nearby, and Nagaoka’s hot spring town is close. It was a reasonable drive to get ingredients for dinner. We didn’t visit one this time, but it would have been nice to check in after a soak at one of Nagaoka’s day-trip hot springs. I’d definitely stay again!

Record-breaking rain during our trip meant we had to cancel all our planned rafting and canyoning. We’ll have to try those activities again another time, and if dates work out, we’d like to stay at Izu Ricca again. We were there with family and had a quiet, relaxing time in the rental villa. It’s a modern building renovated from an old Japanese house, with a beautiful interior. We were all very comfortable and my family was very satisfied.

The bath was the one letdown: we couldn’t get it filled with warm water, so it stayed lukewarm. Maybe there’s a way to improve that, but I’m not sure; a day spa elsewhere might be the better option for bathing. The room itself was spacious, with a soft, fluffy bed, and the three of us, two parents and a child, could relax comfortably. From the window we had a great view of Mt. Fuji, and at night there were lots of stars. The tablet check-in and checkout was smooth, which was convenient for my first stay in a private lodging. For dinner, we picked up drinks at the supermarket and drove to Pizza-La to order and collect pizza rather than have it delivered. The supermarket was 1.2 km away and Pizza-La 2.1 km away, so both were quick trips by car. We’d like to come back.