Hotel Shikimi

We chose Shikimi as a base for our November and December 2025 trip to Kyusyu, mainly so we could reach Takachiho Gorge for a morning boat ride. It's one of the few modern hotels there that lets you stay without meals, and we were very happy with the choice. Our room, 303 above reception, was new, modern, spacious, and clean. I had a look at the onsen, but it seemed small and dated, so I didn't spend time there. We booked through rurubu.travel and got good discounts. The Japanese site wouldn't accept our names in English, so we emailed the hotel to explain that the booking only showed our names in Katakana. Miss Kai kindly confirmed that was fine and reminded us about the stay. She greeted us on arrival and arranged a small van to help move our large suitcases from the parking lot to the entrance. There are stairs between them, so carrying luggage could be difficult. We arrived around 6pm and had time to catch the free 7pm shuttle to the Kaguya. We hadn't booked tickets online, but got two at the entrance. The shuttle left right at 7pm, took about 15-20 minutes, and brought us back after the event. We were told there were izakaya's within walking distance for dinner or supper, but we stayed in and ate the snacks we'd brought. The drive from the hotel to the Takachiho Gorge parking lots is about 15 minutes. After checking out at 9am, we parked at the 2nd lots and walked the beautiful path to our 11am boat. It was quiet and much less crowded than on the way back around noon. Afterward we managed to get nice grilled beef for lunch and take the Takachiho Amaterasu Railway. We forgot to buy tickets before lunch, though, and had to wait a long time at the station for the next train. The small museum where we waited was quite interesting.