Aquaignis Bettei Yunoyama Onsen Sosuikyo

Villa Tekkei Tekkei was one of nine villas beside the Mitaki river, and watching the clouds clear from Gozaisho mountain while I soaked in the private outdoor alkaline hot spring was my favorite part. There are 12 villas to choose from, each with its own style. The hotel is in Yunoyama onsen town, a serene, nature-rich destination since the Nara period, about an hour from Chubu airport. Shrines and museums are nearby too. Check-in happens in the room and was super efficient, and the service was excellent. I could have used the public bath Agua Ignis, but didn't feel like leaving. For dinner I went to Sa-la Bianchi Al-che-cciano, with cuisine inspired by Masayuki Okuda. There are several restaurant choices. I usually enjoy Japanese ingredient twists on Italian or French food, but Il-ché-cciano, the locavore option, was only decent quality. Dinner and breakfast brought the total to $845. I loved the villa, but the Italian dinner disappointed me, so next time I'll choose Japanese food. Villa Tekkei also wasn't very private: it overlooks the river, Kannon Shoja, the community center, and sits closest to Yunoyama Bridge and the main road. 4/5.

I spent two nights at this relaxing hotel in Mie, roughly between Nagoya and Shiga. The food was great, and I'd definitely come back.

It's a quiet little mountain retreat, exactly what we needed between days at Suzuka circuit for the F1 race. Having the hot spring bath to use every night was a godsend. The staff even tried to arrange a taxi to and from the track, though I'd strongly recommend booking a private driver well ahead. It's quite remote, there's no rideshare like Uber or Didi, the local cab service isn't great, and the staff couldn't find a private car service. This is a full-service place, and they expect you to make meal reservations when checking in. We hadn't planned for that, and since we booked through a third-party site, it hadn't been explained. We arrived without much idea what to expect. Our Uber driver from Osaka dropped us at their partner property aqua ignis, a public bath for locals where nobody spoke English. It took about 20 minutes to work out we were meant to be at the other property, but I figured that was our mistake. The villas are beautiful and design-focused, although some basic amenities you'd get elsewhere are missing. Our all-white unit had a 32-inch TV, tiny by today's standards, but we didn't want to watch TV with so much to do. The walls had discoloration and marks from previous guests rubbing against them. They clearly try to maintain the place and nothing looked awful, but the design doesn't handle wear very well. Still, it was more comfortable and incredibly beautiful compared with the Airbnb we had in another city. The private open-air hot spring bath in our villa was the perfect temperature most days, and a bit too hot one day. They provide a control beside it to add cold water. The food was 10 out of 10 at all the restaurants except the Italian one. I didn't expect much from Italian food in Japan. The homemade focaccia was a high point, probably some of the best bread I've ever had. The rest of that meal was forgettable except for the beef, which was so tough we struggled to cut it with the dull steak knives. The other restaurants made up for it, though. Maybe some dishes have been changed to suit the Japanese palate, so I'm trying not to judge too harshly. The Japanese restaurant and the eel restaurant were amazing, no notes. Breakfast was great too, with small changes every other day. As foreign tourists, we found the staff spoke very little English. One very patient woman did her best with a translator app, and we're so grateful. She made our stay amazing. I wouldn't recommend coming if you aren't willing to be patient with people who don't speak your language. An American family there was rude to staff who couldn't speak English, and as an American it embarrassed me. We heard the mother making fun of one server for not speaking English. I think it's worth coming if you have some humility or are willing to learn a few Japanese phrases to get by. It seems to cater more to locals than tourists, but they did their best to accommodate us. I once stayed in a San Francisco penthouse suite with a butler and got far worse service than at Sosuikyo. If I've ever had better service, I don't remember it. This was a unique experience. If we go to the Grand Prix next year, I'd really like to stay here again.

Dinner was delicious Italian, and the front desk and dining room service were excellent. The room was spacious and clean, with a great open-air bath fed directly from the hot spring source. My one concern was that the changing room had no partition, so it would be difficult to use the toilet if someone was in the room's open-air bath.