Onishiya Suishoen

it's quite far from all the restaurants and all the onsen but they got facilities to send you guys to visit all places around kinosaki. this shuttle car service start at 4pm. They provide the yukata as well with the traditional japanese sandal (getta) to wear to walk around to the city. quite far from the train station but luckily the tourist information service there provides free shuttle bus to this place. Even quite far from other places, but we love to stay here. If you guys like walking like us, you guys will pass by the tunnel as shortcut from the hotel to city. the breakfast experience is so cool for the food and setting. they provides us private room to enjoy the breakfast.

When I mapped out our November-December 2023 trip to Japan last June, I chose west of Kansai region and the northwest along the Sea of Japan where Kansai Wide Area 5-day Pass and Sanyo/San’in Area 7-day Pass would cover. When I came across Kinosaki on the map, I thought this would be the first place to begin our journey of “off the beaten path” (this was my 10th trip to Japan, my desire to travel off the beaten path was obvious.) Since Kinosaki is an onsen town, it makes sense to choose a traditional ryokan with on-site onsen. I found Onishiya Suishoen’s official website very helpful. The photos are genuinely impressive. It has all I was looking for: daily 10-course Kaiseki dinner with premium choices of Matsuba crabs, Tajima beef and local delicacies, along with traditional Japanese breakfast, can be served in-room or in a private dining room; indoor/outdoor onsen; a quiet guest room for two, with private garden views; free shuttle from the JR Kinosaki station; an entertainment lounge; a public sitting lounge with views of scenic Japanese garden; away from the busy tourist center. A free day-stamped pass to use in town’s seven historical public onsens, valid per day from 14:00 to 15:00 the following day; a daily shuttle offers to and from main area of Kinosaki town, from 16:00 to 22:00. These are extra bonus offers to the guests. The guest car parking is available. We arrived at the Kinosaki JR Station on a rainy day. After exiting the station I found the sign of hotels free shuttle across the street just as I was informed at the time of booking. A local coordinator was waiting outside the station and started taking names of the arriving guests. I gave her our hotel’s name and after about 10-15 min waiting we boarded a van and headed to the local hotels. Interestedly, most of the guests in the van are foreigners like we, all got off the last stop. Upon checked in we were told to leave our luggage at the front lobby area. We then followed the hostess to the public lounge waiting for an assigned staff to accompany us to the room and to get familiar with what they have to offer during the stays. When I booked this ryokan I asked for a quiet room and surely our room is at the end of the first floor hallway. During our two-night stay we had a personal hostess named Chiba. She catered our needs for the entire stay, served two meals a days, prepared beddings and replenished in-room services for us. On the second night she noticed we were trying to stack several cushions over the leg-less chairs to improve the posture comforts. She asked if we would prefer regular chairs and a raised table. When we said yes, she quickly popped up the table legs and brought us two chairs. We were so pleased with her attention to details. She did her best in English, explained our daily meal options and introduced each serving plate and sources of the ingredients. She was a very good hostess for us. On the first night we had seafood Kaiseki dinner with premium selec