Tobaya Ryokan

Great house.

the owner was very friendly, the hotel is traditional and neat. I was surprised when I knew i could occupy the entire bathroom on my own, super nice experience. nice location in town too.

Beautiful establishment! Gives an old traditional Japanese vibe, still very familiar. Our room was huge, surrounded by Japanese style gardens. Even the kaiseki cusine was good.

It was our first time staying in a ryokan and it exceeded our expectations. Nothing to complain about at all.

Fun to get away from typical westernised hotels and try a ryokan with tatami mats. We were able to have a family bath in their rock bath onsen, which was a novelty. Hosts were super friendly and accomodating, and even offered to drive us to the train station. Wish my command of Japanese language was better so I could've chatted properly with the hosts.

The futon mattresses on the tatami mats were great for my daughter and I, but it probably wasn't cushy enough for my wife. Hikone is a pretty sleepy little town, so you kinda need a car and will need to be prepared to make your own fun. We ended up walking for ages. Plus make sure you've got Yen - Tobaya is cash only, and we missed out on the castle because they only accepted cash or PayPay.