Ochiairo

Incredible stay with a perfect blend of history with modern conveniences. My husband and I absolutely adored this place. This is my eighth trip to the Japan and his fifth and we’ve been lucky to stay in many ryokan. The service at this place was absolutely impeccable, even by Japanese standards. The grounds were lovely beautiful with a suspension bridge and garden surrounding the ryokan. Although there have been multiple expansions to this place, it never felt crowded and I think we only saw a few other guests while we were here, but that may have been due to the time of year. From the time you arrive, there is a warm and welcoming lounge with a wood-burning fireplace that they keep going when anyone is in there. At one point, my husband and I showed up early in the morning and somebody was starting the fire not even a minute later. A cool feature of this place is that they have complementary beer, wine and ice cream in the lounge which guests can access at anytime. We’ve never seen this before and any other ryokan even though sometimes they will stock your fridge with a few free beverages. They have a tour in Japanese that will take you to the different historical highlights of the buildings and surroundings and kindly gave us a print out in English going over the same spots which were noted on a map so we could go look at them ourselves. I really appreciated this. There is a gorgeous private on that you can reserve and they make it very easy to do that as they ask you what time you’d like to reserve when you check in. Even though we had a private on in our room, ( Ukifune) we took advantage and tried it out after running out there in our spa wear. This was a new thing as we have only ever utilized yukatas in these instances. It was a lovely, huge Stone bath and I’m glad we did it. The Ukifune suite was huge and the western futon beds were very comfortable. It was January so we definitely left the heat on in every room while we were there and it could get slightly chilly if you didn’t do that. We loved being cozy in our yukatas after dinner and bath watching Grand Sumo tournament. The kaiseki dinner was served in a private dining room and sometimes these can be a little bit more challenging for me my husband and I ate more at this one. I think then we ever have at any other ryokan dinner. It was very good. They did accommodate our request for no squid or octopus. Note that I generally request Western breakfast for my husband and I don’t believe that they have this available here but I’m not sure. Maybe I just forgot to order it for him this time. lol We never got bored and there is a fun game room downstairs with ping-pong, foosball, and even air hockey. I absolutely love this place and it’s one of my favorite ryokan that I visited. I highly recommend this gorgeous place.

We had the most wonderful time at Ochiairo! I came here for a birthday trip with my husband and best friend and we stayed in the spacious Aofuji room overlooking the river. The spatial arrangement offered more than enough space and privacy for 3 people and probably 2 couples or a family and kids. The white noise lulled us to sleep every night and it was simply magical. The international staff was so helpful to us. While we don’t speak Japanese, they did their best to understand and attend to us and it all worked out. They went above and beyond making my birthday feel very special. It was the small details that really mattered - ensuring that we had bikes and activities arranged the night before, coming to our room to teach me how to wear my yukata when I asked them to help, and even cleaning out and lovingly packaging some souvenir bento containers we arrived with when they saw them in our mini fridge! Everything about this place is just so beautiful. A few notes: - THE BATHS! When I tell you that I screamed when I saw the cave and private onsen in particular - just trust that they cannot be missed. - We are all tattooed - one of us significantly so. They have small tattoo covers but ask that you do cover them in the main bath areas (I only know this because I asked and they were incredibly polite about the advice) - We brought tattoo cover but in case you don’t want to bother, please take advantage of the absolutely stunning outdoor private baths - The food is great and eat dinner in sitting rooms upstairs (not served in your room) - You get unlimited drinks (alcoholic and otherwise) and snacks which was another pleasant surprise because they are so tasty! - The koi fish in the front swim up to you and follow you around with such enthusiasm. It’s as if they’re little pond puppies. The staff allowed us to feed them so if interested, please ask. - Don’t miss the swing next to the suspension bridge! - While I loved our room - please note that there is an abandoned hotel directly across the river from it. Kind of ruined the “I am communing with nature” vibes but it was fine in the long run. I could go on, but just trust that this place is just exceptional!