Jet43364771338
1 April 2024
Nishimuraya Honkan is a very expensive ryokan at Kinosaki onsen town, especially during Matsuba crab season, but it is worth it for the superb environment, service and food. I arrived on an early train from Osaka around 1 pm, was escorted to the coffee lounge to complete check in procedures and told I could return at 2 pm and be shown to my room and provided with my onsen pass to visit all 7 public onsen baths of Kinosaki onsen. It is well worth it to arrive early before check in time for the ryokans and to take a later train out on your departure day. Early arrival will allow you to hike or take the ropeway up to Onsenji temple and follow the tradition of praying to the onsen guardian for a blessing before taking to the waters of Kinosaki onsen. Late departure will allow you to make full use of the onsen pass that is included in the price of most ryokans as the pass is valid from 3 pm to 3 pm of the next day. Generally busy times at the public baths are 3 pm to dinner time, then after dinner to closing at 11 pm and then early morning on opening until normal check out time for ryokans of 11 am, so late morning and early afternoon are usually quiet times at the public baths, handy for those who are trying to complete the onsen circuit of all 7 public baths in Kinosaki onsen during their one day stay. I was assigned a garden view room on the ground floor and had a fabulous view of the courtyard garden. It is well designed so that I never see other rooms eventhough many are arranged around the courtyard garden. Everything in Nishimuraya Honkan is beautiful, well maintained and serenely tasteful. My room was quite large with a large combined sleeping and sitting tatami mat area with a low table for the in room dinner service, which is then pushed to the side when staff set out the futon bedding after dinner. There is also a separate sitting area by the window that has more Western style chairs that are more comfortable to sit on than the traditional flat to the ground Japanese chairs. There is a bathroom by the entry foyer with a sink and a separate bathroom with a tub and hand shower. The toilet though is off in another part of the room by the sitting area by the window. I found the room very comfortable and slept very well on the futon bedding. Nishimuraya has two public boths that are alternated between men and women with the larger bath reserved for men during the afternoon and evening and the smaller bath reserved for men in the morning, and vice versa for women. Each bath has a larger indoor pool and a smaller outdoor pool. It was rarely occupied by more than one other person when I visited the baths during my two night stay as the 7 public baths are the much bigger attraction, being generally larger, more diverse in setting and much nicer in many cases. Most visitors seem to focus on the public baths and completing the pilgrimage to all 7 and stamping their special souvenir map with the unique stamps of each of the 7
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