Ryokan Sakai

The one upside is that dogs are allowed. My relatives were set on bringing theirs, but if you want to enjoy your trip, I think you'd be better off leaving the dog at a pet hotel and staying somewhere else.

For the price, this doesn't feel like an adequate place to stay. The Wi-Fi didn't work, the hot spring wasn't working so the tub wouldn't fill, and the bathroom clock was wrong. The sash they supplied was too short, and they didn't have a longer one to give me.

The staff didn't greet us when we arrived or say goodbye when we left. At breakfast they were busy clearing things away and seemed not to care about the guests, and the meal itself was very disappointing, plain and carelessly done. I was also unhappy with the room: four of us shared a roughly ten-tatami room that smelled damp, and the futons felt moist and smelled bad, so sleeping was hard. I'd expected much better after reading some older positive reviews. The stay was the opposite of what I hoped for.

I went in September and the hot water was lovely, so I was able to relax. The meals were another story. Dinner was average, but the rice was surprisingly bad, even though it wasn't the season when new rice would be expected. Breakfast was so skimpy there was hardly anything to eat, and the rice was hard, like it had been microwaved, and inedible. Such a shame, because the bath water was so good.