Asukasou

Like this Hot Spring Hotel especially the food is excellent.

The room was small but clean with breakfast included in the best breakfast room I have seen. It had views of a lovely garden and the food was excellent. I was able to hire a bicycle and leave my luggage while I visited the various temples.

I never thought this hotel would be that good!! The staff was nice. The room size was the biggest during my 14-day trip in Japan. The bath was sooo good! It's outside. I haven't in an outside bath even in Hakone. Everything is so good except we didn't get the breakfast because we arrived too late. And the check out time was too early.

Fantastic stay! However, I paid in advance from hotels.com and the hotel charged me $25 -but I don't know why :(

Famtastic staff at this traditional Japanese hotel make it a great stay. Very well located. Good value for what you get.

You never know which one to go with when scrolling through the countless options on the Internet, but we are very glad we stayed at Asukasou. The people were genuinely friendly and helpful and the room was really nice - the best futon I've ever slept on! There is an open air rooftop bath that is a must do if you stay here. Be warned: those travelling with English only may have trouble finding this inn as the sign (I think) was only in Japanese.

We stayed here just one night. The public spaces and facilities have an outdated, 1970's feel (including the stale scent of nicotine and dust), but the room (we chose the non-smoking modern, Japanese room) was updated, clean, and very comfortable. Robes are included for hanging out in the gender separated outdoor or indoor baths, or as pajamas. The traditional baths were fine, not luxurious, and maybe a little too much of a public bath house feel. Rules for foreigners on proper etiquette are provided. Another option is to rent a private outdoor bath for 3,000¥ (~$30). The hotel strictly follows their check-in time of 3pm, leaving us to wander for a couple hours after a long train ride. Even though we politely asked for an earlier check-in, the hotel would not bend the rules. Smoking is available on the second floor.

Our family of 6 with small children stayed in a ryokan room for 1 night. The room was LARGE! It was the largest room amongst the Japanese and American hotels we stayed in during our trip. We enjoyed the tatami style room and onsen bath. The outdoor bath was especially nice. Location was very good - a 5 minute walk to Kintetsu nara station. The corridors were a bit outdated though. The towels could be better. Overall, a good experience.

We only stayed for one night and wanted to experience a ryokan prior to leaving Japan. The location of the hotel is great, the service is exeptional and we loved the onsens. The only negative was that we requested a non smoking room and got a smoking one, which was okay unless you turned on the air conditioner unit and the smell of stale smoke quickly filled the room.

Good way to experience Japanese inn. Only complaint is that we did not know what we were eating for breakfast or how to eat it.