Hotel Shin Makomo

The beds were comfortable, room was spacious, the reception staff was very friendly, made a pot of coffee for us.

The onsen didn’t seem to match the pictures. Maybe there was another private one i didn’t see

A nice and quiet countryside hotel with good location and onsen. Perfect for 1 or 2 days.

It is a bit strange that the hotel ask money for borrowing a yukata.

The private baths were a god send after riding 75km to get to the hotel.

Front facing over the road/river was a little noisy, especially during high winds.

I loved Shin Makamo and will definitely return. The view of the river from my room was spectacular. Everything was spotlessly clean. The staff was helpful and amazing, even helping me with my broken suitcase and recommending cafes and places for dinner. Whenever I went to the main desk, the staff was friendly and helpful, even though I had to use a translator since I don't speak Japanese. The spring baths were amazing and there were many time slots and privacy so I could use the bath every day. The location is excellent, as it's right on the river and it is easy to walk around to visit the temples, bridges, parks, and everything the small city of Itako offers. A large grocery mart is about 1km, and a cafe is two blocks away. On the back street is an amazing restaurant where I had dinner twice. The train station was about 1.5 km from the hotel. I loved that everything was in walking distance.

The hotel was a little older and could use some updates. It would be great to have a working cafe in the lobby for morning coffee, but they do offer some delivered meals. There is an airport shuttle in the description, but it's actually not in service. The two public ryoken baths were being serviced, but it didn't matter because they had the private tubs available. I think the hotel was probably really rockin in its day with all of the banquet facilities and tours. Overall, I liked everything really.

The location

The check-in was complicated using their iPad.

On arrival we were greeted by the manager/owner who was a really nice guy he was keen to share information about the town which was nice of him. However, the town itself looks to be in dire need of a spruce up &/or local government cash injection... as there was a great deal of abandoned looking places around... one huge mall was completely closed down. The hotel itself is on quite a busy road & you need to be careful pulling in & out due to power poles obstructing your vision. There seems to be some renovation going on so that's a real positive, there was a mature gentleman putting things together in the lobby. The actual room was a good size, a little old however, a great river view. Tatami style & comfortable with a table & chair sitting area, full bathroom & a w/c separate sink & even a hotplate. The one gripe have to bring up was the fridge needed a good clean! The onsen was pretty great was an actual real one & had a large view of river area. Anyway can imagine in the peak of summer this area would be better as there are many canal waterways nearby & a lot of people fishing. We ate beef bbq at a nearby restaurant which, was very very good.

Clean the fridge