Ryokan Masuya

The rooms are beautiful and historic, the hot springs are high quality, and the prices are reasonable. It’s right in the heart of Yunotsu. Highly recommend!

We booked two rooms directly on the hotel’s website several months ahead for our first trip to the San'in region with family and friends. From check-in to check-out, the service was excellent. Staff walked us up the wooden stairs and explained the rooms, dining area, and onsen in detail. Both meals were included. Dinner was Japanese kaiseki, beautifully presented in lovely tableware, and every dish was delicious. Breakfast was a tasty Japanese set meal that showed the chef’s care. The rooms felt elegant, warm, and clean. Mine had no bathroom, but there was a small onsen downstairs. The hotel is about a 15-minute walk from JR Onsen-tsu Station. Without heavy bags, it’s a nice walk through the old fishing port area. There are fishermen’s restaurants, unusual cafes, tea houses, and other shops along the route. We left our large luggage at the hotel in Izumo City where we’d stayed the previous day and brought only backpacks. I’d recommend doing the same, then taking your time to enjoy the scenery and food. The hotel has a website, but rooms are limited, so booking directly in advance is a good idea. There’s a second-floor room over a century old, and the historic wooden building is wonderful. It’s a very relaxing, carefree trip, and I’d highly recommend the hotel.

The room was spacious, and we ate at the table in our room. The second-floor banquet hall had been divided into a bedroom and dining room. The food was delicious, and the sake was inexpensive: a No. 4 bottle of Junmai Daiginjo cost 3,000 yen, while four cups of unpasteurized sake were 4,800 yen. The bath water was slightly cloudy, a little acidic and salty, and had no smell. There was a coin laundry nearby, which was handy. The two things that bothered me were the raised bed floor, which was easy to trip over, and the confusing corridors, a result of the building having been expanded so many times.

I’ve come back here several times. For a historic inn, it’s regularly cleaned and maintained, so it doesn’t feel old in a bad way. The food uses local ingredients, and the dishes change when you stay multiple nights. I especially like being able to soak in the hot springs for a long time, it’s very relaxing. The owner is a lovely person, and this is somewhere I’d happily return to again and again.