Arima Onsen Gekkoen Yugetsusanso

I’ll never come back. The room was freezing, the stove was weak, and the shower head was so low that I was trembling with cold. Towels were only available at the front desk, and there was no soap or towel in the onsen area. There was no cold or room-temperature water in the room, only hot water. Are you serious? It feels like they cut costs to an extreme and make you buy from the vending machine. The food was awful, worse than party-room food. The tuna was chewy, and the food had been cooked and left to go cold for hours. The equipment was old and worn. This hotel should be blacklisted.

The best things I can say are that dinner and breakfast were all-you-can-eat, and the ryokan had old traditional charm. But that oldness showed in the very worn hallway and stair carpets, and our room smelled dank. We didn’t want to use the room’s bath/ofuro, which looked unappealing. At other ryokans we’ve stayed in for half the price, the room baths, ofuros, or rotenboros were much better. We wanted to use the private baths instead, but each 40-minute booking cost ¥2200. I’ve never been charged that at the other ryokans I’ve visited. We used two private baths twice, adding ¥4400 to the stay. Check-in was also frustrating and confusing when a foreign staff member mistook us for guests without dinner or breakfast bookings. We’ve stayed at many ryokans and were very disappointed for the price. We’ve had much better amenities and service for half as much. This one might be worth half what I paid. For ¥66,704 for one night, we felt disappointed with what we got. We won’t stay here again or recommend it.

The food really was good, as Japanese reviewers had said, and the onsen was good too. We had dinner and lunch as buffets instead of kaisaki. I booked through Agoda for one night from Osaka. The bus from Umeda bus terminal takes just an hour. The room view wasn’t that good, even though it was a Mountain View.

The dinner buffet came with a main dish, and there was plenty of food. The onsen ryokan had a multitude of indoor and outdoor baths, plus private baths that you have to reserve and pay for. Best onsen ryokan experience ever! I’d book a room here again if I’m in the area. 11/10 👌👌