Tsushima Grand Hotel

The food was good, and the view is great. The place feels a bit like visiting your aunt after her husband has died: she’s keeping up appearances, but money’s tight and everything is worn around the edges.

The hilltop setting gives you beautiful views both day and night, with a nice walk down into town. Head left for Daiso, a convenience store, and an electronics shop. On the way south, there’s also a cute coffee place called Sprouts Cafe before Daiso. If you’re up for a longer outing, Shiratake mountain takes a few hours to reach, with a lovely route through ruins to the granite summit. There’s a trail from Shiratake to Ariake too, but it wasn’t well maintained when I last did it, back in 2003. This hotel is a little dated. I first stayed when it was new in the early 00's, during a push to bring more tourists to the island. Still, it’s a great option for the island. Breakfast is included, and you can choose a time between 7 and 9am. The meal is nicely prepared, hot dishes are brought out after you sit so they don’t go cold, and there’s a sign with your room number by the food. Coffee, tea, and juice are self-service. I also saw several seating setups for kids, so it seems very family friendly. The public bath is included, has a great view, and stays open until midnight, which is handy after a long day of touring. There’s also a separate onsen on the grounds for 400yen. That one uses spring water, while the hotel bath uses municipal water, as most hotel baths do. The staff were friendly and patient with my broken Japanese, and they were helpful too. In the room, there’s a shower over a soaking tub, plus a Japanese toilet with all the fixings, and two yukatas to wear around. Just remember, left over right, unless you want to dress like a corpse. And no shoes on the carpet or in the bathroom. Use the slippers.

I’ve eaten at the restaurant several times, and I’m only commenting on that. In 2021 I’d have called it three stars, compared with four in 2010. The views are excellent, and the staff are friendly and courteous, but the meal quality doesn’t seem to match the “Grand” in the hotel’s name. It had slipped some after the bakery was lost. Good bread can make up for shortcomings, though even when the bread was great, they didn’t provide butter. I said I’d return occasionally to see if things improved. By 2025, I felt the menu and food quality had dropped to two stars.

The onsen was lovely and traditional. You need to shower before going in, and enter the bath naked. They have both Japanese and Western breakfasts, and ask at check-in or the evening before what time you want to eat, between 6 and 9am. We had a family room in a separate building. The sea views were fantastic. It had a tatami area as well as a Western-style section with two beds, and staff laid out futons for us.