Kinugawa Onsen Hana no Yado Matsuya

The Breakfast and Dinner was fantastic! We certainly got our fill at both meals.

I thought everything was fine. We had some problems when we cancelled the third night of stay with paying a cancellation fee but that was understandable. Fine with me.

The breakfast and dinner is really good. It is located beside a small river and the view is spectacular. Will make a return trip in near future

Our room was facing the river and it was fantastic. Staff were helpful and nice.

Onsen: The baths were beautiful, especially the outdoors one. We went in mid-November and it wasn't crowded at all. I even had the entire outdoor bath to myself one morning. Onsen etiquette and instructions were also clear for non-Japanese speaking guests, and you could event book a private bath if you wanted. Meals: My partner and I really enjoyed the our breakfasts and kaiseki dinners here. We stayed for 2 nights and 2 days, and the dishes served each time were all different. For non-Japanese speaking guests, the staff tries their best to explain what each dish is. Food is honestly fantastic, and portions seem to be huge. There is always so much left that the staff helps packs it for us to take-away each time :)

Rooms: The temperature for the hot water in the bathroom was quite inconsistent and took quite some time to warm up. This is compared to the hot water showers in the Onsen areas, which were fantastic. I do think the toilet needs to have slightly better ventilation as well or perhaps an air freshener installed, as it can smell a little like sewage after a several uses. The good thing is the toilet was not very close to the sleeping areas, so things were still good. Location: This onsen isn't in the most accessible area, but this is hardly the hotel's fault. If you only have one night and one day in Nikko and are planning to see everything from Oku-Nikko (Chuzenji) to Toshugu Shrine area to the Kinugawa Onsen area, do not stay here because you will not not be able to do all that and still enjoy what this quaint onsen hotel has to offer. The hotel is located at Kingugawa-koen station, and there is only 1 train (sometimes 2) running to and from it each hour. For reference, it took us 1 hour just to get to Tobu Nikko after boarding the train at the hotel's station. So if you have a packed itinerary and do not enjoy long scenic train rides, you might find the time spent on travelling from one destination to the next grating. By all accounts, this hotel is located in a quiet and peaceful neighborhood. You wake up to the sounds of a stunning river running below your room, and sights of forested cliffs greeting you in the morning. You can see egrets and birds landing in the hotel's back garden. Everything except the hotel closes at roughly 5pm, I'm pretty sure there are no convenience stores nearby in at least a 1km radius, and there are no souvenir shops aside from inside the hotel itself. And that is precisely what lends to it's unique charm. This hotel is primarily a place for guests to enjoy the bath waters, to rejuvenate their bodies and minds, and to appreciate the best of what nature has to offer.

Breakfast and dinner were amazing. The staff was great, very helpful. The Onsen was beautiful, especially the outside one.

The facility is a bit worn and dated.

LOCATION, STAFF, FOOD, INTERIORS

Rooms were nice and the onsen was great with nice views over the river

The area as a whole was quite derelict full of empty run down hotels. The hotel itself was good though. Definitely catering to domestic tourism. Not many foreigners there but the staff were nice just communication was difficult.

The outdoor part of the onsen was one of the most amazing we've ever experienced. Outdoor in nature with the river below and a wall of green forest opposite. Not too busy. Hot but not too hot. Large but not too large. Clean. My wife's description of the women's area made it sound better than the men's. It's a pity they don't rotate them like they do in many other places. We also loved the many artistic tributes spread throughout the hotel. You can sense the history and family connections. It feels like an institution that has gone through some hard times. It, and the general area, reminds me of the movie Hotel Budapest, Japanese style. Delightfully quirky.

Most visitors to Ryokan's only stay one night. Maybe two. We stayed three. We think the kitchen struggled to think of new ideas on the third day for dinner and breakfast. E.g., for breakfast on the third day we were only offered a simple western style breakfast when we would have preferred even a repeat of the 1st day washoku breakfast. But the food overall was excellent!