The staff and the food! My goodness, the hospitality was exceptional! We were also so well fed. Highly recommend signing up for half boarding especially as the hotel is quite far out from town with infrequent shuttles..you do need to plan your days VERY carefully - especially if you want to visit Kyoto’s bar scenes & catch Geishas, as dinner’s last sitting is at 6.30pm (last shuttle at 5!) The private Onsen was fantastic; amazing views.

I’m very fussy with bathrooms and I felt it wasn’t as clean as it could be. The hote location itself was beautiful but definitely inconvenient and difficult to get to especially if you want to explore central Kyoto - it’s a 15 minute uber ride from Hanazono JR station (Hanazono itself has trains every 15 minutes..) and the hotel shuttle didn’t run frequently enough.

It is tucked away in between the natures. Feels zen when you step into the ryokan. The staff there are very friendly and helpful. Even though some of them did not speak much English, they did their best to help us. Private onsen was lovely. It was at an extra cost of 4000yen for 45 minutes. You have a few timings to choose from. We chose the 8.30pm slot and a staff was at the stairs waiting for us to guide us to the onsen. We had to go through an outdoor area, up some steps to get to the private bath. Interesting experience, however the water was a little too hot after a while. We had to get out of the water after about 20 minutes. There was a wide spread of food for dinner and breakfast. Free shuttle service to and from the ryokan. Picked us up from Hanazono station. The futon was very comfortable and we had a great night's sleep. The view from our room was amazing as well.

If water was to be included with the reservation of the private onsen , that would be great. We were so thirsty after onsen, had to get bottled water from the vending machines outside the ryokan. They did provide a bottle of water each in the room, but that was clearly not enough. Did not understand the menu as it was in Japanese. Google translate was able to help us figure out most of the food we were eating. Check out time was at 10am, but the shuttle bus leaves at 9.20am, which meant that we had to rush through breakfast and quickly pack up. Did not leave us much time to enjoy the beautiful surroundings. It would be great if there was a later time for shuttle.

It was easy to get to this remote ryokan taking the JR West bus, it literally drops you off right outside, so don't be concerned if it looks like it's out of the way. The hospitality we encountered, and the amazing scenery made this an unforgettable stay.

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This turned out to be the perfect spot for us for a one-night stay for us to experience onsens/traditional meals. Our room was absolutely beautiful, overlooking the mountains. They also provided us with complimentary water bottles for each person, sweet bread available only at their location, & matcha tea! We booked a private onsen outside, the views were absolutely stunning. Personally, my most memorable moment was at dinner! We checked in June 16th, & at this time they provided dinner outside on a terrace overlooking the river for the summer. What I hadn’t realized was that it was practically a 6 course meal! The servers were very attentive. Not only that, but we also experienced a performance by a maiko! More than one maiko came up to speak to our table personally as well as take pictures. Then afterwards, they turned off all the lights & watch fireflies. Truly a one of a kind experience & left us feeling so special. The next morning we did the public onsens which was also just as nice as well as a delicious breakfast. Also wanted to mention the staff were extremely helpful & even after one day, we felt a sense of closeness where my mom & I felt like tearing up when leaving the property. Definitely worth staying at!

Location - in the mountains north of Kyoto, away from the city. Beautiful wooded areas with rivers running through. Different walking trails and paths to various temples and shrines in the area. Very enjoyable to hike and explore- would recommend trying to arrive early for exploration if you're into that - we arrived in the early afternoon and couldn't fit it all in before dinner. Staff were very welcoming and easy to ask for assistance and the service was excellent. Optional outdoor Onsen (hot spring) was quite enjoyable. Dinner was a set meal on a platform right by the river which was very unique and charming. Great view of a tree in bloom and wooded mountains from the hotel room window as well as the sound of a running river.

The food at dinner was good but would have appreciated some additional guidance on what we were eating and how to eat it. Even if staff don't speak English, a card would have sufficed to explain the food items and how they're typically used (example - table next to us thought the egg on the table was hard boiled and cracked it open only to find out it was raw - we later found out the egg is added to your soup by staff). I have seen other restaurants adopt this strategy and it would go a long way to make foreigners feel more at ease. Beds were firm, but this seems to be the norm at most hotels in Japan.

Everything about this stay was exceptional. They were accommodating for our limited Japanese vocabulary. The experience was everything and more for two Japanese enthusiasts. The food itself was amazing, the outdoor private bath was a dream come true, the view from our room was magical. We were fortunate to come at a time when we had dinner outside by the river with Maiko entertainment and words cannot express how amazing it was. Truly will be the highlight of our trip.

The only thing I had a hint of disappointment about was I thought we would sleep on futons but we had western mattresses.

Complimentary shuttle service from the nearest subway is particularly useful. The view from the hotel and the room is nice. Dinner and breakfast are very delicious but the portion is really too big. We were struggling to finish the dinner!

The room and the fittings are quite old. There is an extra charge if you want to use the private onsen. You are only allowed 45 minutes in the private onsen. The onsen and the private onsen don't look very clean. The facilities are also quite old. We were expecting a bit more for this price.

Amazing ryokan, we arrived a bit late (around 18:00) but we were received well and we managed to get to the dinner on time. The Kaiseki dinner was very good, everything was delicious. There were yukatas in our room that we could wear, with clean socks, tea with sweets to have a tea break in the room, and the view from the room was very calm and nice. We reserved a room with futons, and while at dinner the staff rolled the futons for us to sleep in. The futons were surprisingly comfortable, and we had a very good sleep. We received a suggestion upon arriving to reserve the private Onsen on site, but we didn't use it unfortunately. Breakfast was very good too, although if you have trouble with eating a lot of fish and miso in the morning you might find it too much. They have a shuttle to 2 train stations, and we took it on our way back. It was very convenient as the ryokan is a bit far from the city center.

The ryokan is not very close to the city center, so you might reserve some time to get there early. It took us more than an hour to get there by a bus, and we had a bit of a hard time to find the actual bus (this one had no English translations on it like most of the busses in Kyoto)

The staff was amazing, very attentive and friendly. The view from our room was beautiful. It was a very comfortable stay. Food was amazing.

Everything just felt a little rushed. I understand that things need to stay on schedule, so it was fine. I just felt like we got there, then right away had to be down at dinner, then we had our scheduled onsen time for 45 minutes, and by the time that was done it was already very dark. The next morning, we had to be up for breakfast by a certain time and then right away it was time for check out. I felt like we didn't get to really relax and just enjoy the quiet.

A reasonably priced ryokan with lovely staff. The travel there was much easier than anticipated as the shuttle is really quite convenient. If you get there earlier in the day it’s lovely to get out and explore the areas with its beautiful shrines and bridges in the forested mountain. If you’re a heterosexual couple I would highly recommend the private onsen as it was lovely to be able to relax together rather than always having to separate for dips, we reserved the early morning slot which was wonderful as it meant the sun was out and we had a beautiful view of the mountain side.

I understand that in ryokans the food isn’t a la carte and that this is intended to encourage you to try traditional dishes you haven’t tried before. However as a fussy eater I wish I had been able to opt out of certain dishes as I was very conscious of my food waste.