Kinjohro

Style and size of room, kindest staff, delicious food.

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It was a wonderful and beautiful experience. The ambience, the ryokan, the people. It was a true Japanese experience. The beds were so comfortable. And the food- it was amazing. Too much to eat.

Nothing. Guests should brush up Japanese phrases.

Beautiful Japanese style Ryokan

Nothing

Exceptional food experience: the kaseiki evening meal and the breakfast were really outstanding in terms of the ingredients & the presentation. I especially enjoyed the incredible ceramics (like eating on museum grade ceramics) and the 2 exquisitely refined dining rooms looking out onto beautiful snowy garden views. If you appreciate antiques, historical lineage (the garden at the entrance is 500 years old), and 'wabi sabi' this is for you. It's not a place of modern conveniences but there's plenty of old school service and when you slow down you can really experience a profound relaxation.

The bathroom was a bit tired...

Breakfast was good. We were picked up by staff at our room and led to a private dining room where we were served. It was lovely. Everyone we met was well-meaning and gracious. The food was very good, although I wish we had been told that the dinner would be identical on the two nights. We would like to have had the chance to explore a restaurant on the second night.

Many of the staff members spoke no English at all and relied completely on Google Translate. Although the staff was polite, we felt that the Kinjohro was missing a bit of the "personal touch" that we experienced at other ryokans on our trip. There was no central manager or front desk. It is hard to describe, but it felt like something was missing.

There are only six rooms and each had a corresponding dining room on the ground floor. It was possible to walk around the ryokan without meeting another guest. This is a rare luxury. Breakfast and dinner was served in our red themed room with windows looking out into the garden. The dinner was superb with good quality food like seasonal female snow crab and Noto beef. It was possibly the best meal we have had in a ryokan. Breakfast was good but one must understand this was News Years Day 2025. There was a very nice mochi making ceremony in the car porch attended by all the staff and guests. This was a nice touch.

This is an expensive Ryokan by Kanazawa standards. However, one must balance this against the truly excellent dinner we had and the complimentary in room beverages- which included sake, beer, tea and cider. There was no indoor or outdoor bath available but the deep soaking cedar bath tub in each room made up for this.