Hotel Shiiya

Good food and a lovely view over the lake.

I forgot to take a photo, but the renovated rooms look lovely and the facilities have a stylish feel. The hot spring isn’t large, but the food is tasty and inexpensive, so I was satisfied. You can’t see Lake Kamo from every room, and the building may face the wrong way.

My room faced Lake Kamo, and the location was great. The seafood-heavy meals were delicious, and I could refill my rice as much as I wanted. For two nights during Golden Week, my solo trip with dinner came to 32,000 yen, which seemed quite reasonable for the busy tourist season. The inn appears to have been renovated, but it still feels dated overall, as you’d expect from a historic place. There were signs everywhere of the major earthquake around New Year’s, which I accepted as an afterthought. What I couldn’t ignore was the bathroom ventilation fan, banging all night in the strong wind and waking me several times. The men’s and women’s baths stayed assigned as they were and didn’t rotate at set times. The guide showed a quite stylish women’s bath, so I wish they’d had a rotation system.

The room had been renovated and was clean, but there were a few sea lice inside, perhaps because the hotel is so close to the lake. The screen door was torn, so in summer it seems likely that mosquitoes and other flying insects could get in too. Although the hotel promotes its lakeside setting, there’s an abandoned hotel, or something like one, right in front, and the view honestly isn’t great. We could choose our meal time, but nearly everything was served in advance and left sitting out. Only the steamed oysters and meat were grilled at the table, and the rest was cold. The grilled fish was cold and tough enough that our plastic chopsticks nearly broke. Each of us got a crab, but it may have been out of season, as the legs were thin and hollow. I think they’d have been better off serving something else instead of forcing crab onto the menu. A staff member was on duty, yet we had to ask for rice or tea. That was disappointing. They treated all customers the same, so perhaps that’s their service policy. Dinner and breakfast were both mediocre. Even staying overnight, I’d choose a plan without meals. The hot spring water seemed good, but there appeared to be sand at the bottom of the bath. With the drain only in the middle of the floor, rinse-off foam stayed there for a long time. It felt unhygienic, and I couldn’t enjoy the bath. I know it’s a hotel on a remote island, but honestly, the stay was pretty mediocre.