Romantic Hotels in Toyooka

I recently stayed in Mikuniya Ryokan for my first experience in a ryokan, and I must say I was impressed by the traditional atmosphere and the careful service offered by the establishment. The staff were dressed in kimono and greeted with a friendly smile. The tatami and Futons offered a comfortable and unique sleep experience, and the ryokan also offers Japanese thermal baths, which was one of my favorite moments during my stay. The bathroom was very relaxing, with a beautiful view of the surrounding landscape.

We stayed at this ryokan with onsen for one night in August. The journey from Kyoto takes around 2.5 hours with Japan Rail - some connections go without changing. It's about 700-800 m from Kinosakionsen train station. When you leave the train station, you can either walk across the street and a few steps to the left and lock your large suitcase in the locker (but not too big please, our standard hard-shell suitcase was one a few millimeters too deep) or have your suitcase delivered to your room door a few steps further to the left for just 200 yen. Upon arrival at the ryokan there was a very friendly welcome from an owner who spoke good English. He explained everything in detail and took countless greeting photos of us with our cell phones. Afterwards we were accompanied to our room by a young lady and tea was poured at the reception. The accommodation has 11 rooms. The anteroom of the ryokan, where you have to leave your luggage and slippers, is very small, actually too small to be able to unpack halfway. The room itself is sufficiently large. As is usual in ryokan and Japan, there is little storage space. Everything very clean and well-kept. There is a toilet and sink in the room, but there is no shower, that's what the onsen is for. A total of two onsen - one outside and one inside like in a cave. Both really beautifully done. In the evenings the onsen were “private” - you wait until one is free, then go in, lock it and have it to yourself. The room price also includes entry tickets to the city's seven public onsen. We only briefly used a public onsen “around the corner”, the ones in the neighborhood appealed more to us. After dark we took a longer walk through the very beautiful place. The area is centrally located - but of course still quiet. A Family Mart is just 100 m away. We had booked with breakfast, which is consumed in the room. You choose a time slot - for us, 8.30 was the latest option. Be careful, get up in time, there was a knock at our house at 8:15 a.m. and the young lady first put our futons away - so don't worry about turning them to the side again when the alarm clock rings at 8:00 a.m. The Japanese breakfast is unusual for a Central European, but why not get to know other breakfast habits? The young lady who brought and prepared breakfast was busy with everything for at least 10 minutes. Check out by 10 a.m. at the latest. The owner was kind enough to drive us to the train station by car. I have rarely experienced so much hospitality in a neighborhood. Would I book it again? Almost 200 euros per night for 2 people including breakfast is anything but cheap, but the experience is certainly worth it. A clear recommendation from me if you want to experience something other than a hotel room.