Thursday 4 March 2010

Awanoyu Ryokan

We arrived at 2pm which is too early to check-in in Japanese hotels so we just wandered around the lobby and public area and then dug out the netbook to see if we have internet. Yessiree Bob. Free broadband Wi-Fi in the lobby area. And to top things off our room is close enough to the lobby that I get a strong enough signal to do... well... this.
I had just enough time to snap our first picture of the open air onsen (spa) that was scarily visible from the lobby, and the car park for that matter, considering you have to nude up to use it. Meh.
At 3pm we were shown to our traditional tatami mat room. It has a small low table in the middle of the room. When you go to dinner the maids leave their cupboards and scurry in and move the table and lay out your futons. The reverse process happens during breakfast in the morning. While we were given the run down on the place we were served green tea and delicious preserved apricots. After that, for us, it was beer o'clock. Well not quite. First we tried on the yukata, like a kimono, and then it was time to nude up for the onsen before beer o'clock and then dinner.
Those waters are so soothing, so warm, so therapeutic, so stinky of rotten egg gas. It was awesome.











Posted by at
Labels: , ,

4 comments:

  1. Anonymous28 May 2010 at 23:19

    Hi there,
    My name is Wlodek - Polish guy. w.pawlowski@4ground.pl
    V. nice place.
    Considering to be there Oct./Nov. for two days during my round trip in the Jpy Alps region.
    What abt views from the rooms and prices for the stay. Parking place awailable ? Kindly advise. Thx in advance, Wlodek

    ReplyDelete
  2. shane4 June 2010 at 01:11

    Hello Wlodek
    We paid about 40000 Yen per night for a double room (2 people). Yes there is parking.
    All the pictures I took at Awanoyu Ryokan (Shirahone Onsen) which include views from the room can be found
    here

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous21 September 2010 at 23:23

    Hello im looking at staying here but have no idea where to book Awanoyu Ryokan online. Im also from Australia, do you mind telling me where you booked it from? Ive seen the official website but its all the Jap and Google Translate is crap! For the price of 40000 Yen per night did that include breakfast and some x amount course meal at night?

    If you could let me know how to book this place that would be great!

    Btw nice kitty pic :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. shane22 September 2010 at 00:19

    Hi
    Awanoyu contact details, email and phone, are on this webpage:
    http://www.awanoyu-ryokan.com/awanoyu/english.html
    We ended up trying to phone. After a very stilted conversation we thought we had booked but we ended up emailing to confirm. I used very basic English as follows:

    > I want to confirm a reservation please.
    >
    > my name
    > 2 people - 1 male, 1 female
    > 1 room. Ensuite - bath and toilet.
    > Breakfast and dinner.
    > 2 Nights
    > date in yyyy-mm-dd format
    > yyyy-mm-dd
    >
    > We will arrive by car at 17:00
    >
    > Is this Okay?
    > Please send me email to confirm.
    > Thank you.

    Then I copied it into google translate and pasted the Japanese translation below the English text in the email.
    The replied in English. Very basic but understandable.
    When we arrived we found a couple of the staff do speak a little English and they were wonderful hosts.

    We paid about 20000 per person per night so that is about 40000 for a double. It did include multi course breakfast and dinner. The food was fabulous. The whole place was awesome and the onsen, hot spa, was fantastic.

    Good luck.

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)