Ryokan Gyokutei

What a magical experience! The staff really take care of you and the grounds are like a magical fairy land. We came with our kids aged 8 and 10 and they loved experiencing the culture of the place and exploring the courtyard garden. Here is what to expect: The staff will take your bags into the room. You take your shoes off at the door and they provide slippers for you to wear if you go outside again. We had a separate room for the luggage, a bedroom with western style beds (rather firm mattress), another room that doubled as a dinner table during the day and had floor futons for the children at night, and a living room/porch area. There was also a private bathroom with private hot spa (onsen) and shower. When you arrive, they serve tea and a snack. They provide robes including a beautiful one for my little daughter to use that she loved. Dinner is served at either 6 or 6:30, as you request. You are at either an eastern or western style table in your room, and they bring in courses one at a time. Overall it takes about 90 minutes. The kids are mostly served the same things as the adults but get slightly fewer dishes. The food was amazing. Drinks cost extra and they have sake, wine, beer, plum wine, juice, soda. The plum wine was wonderful. After dinner they transform the dining room into a bedroom and then leave for the night. You can use the private onsen in your room and also the larger shared one, which is split for men and women (rotating schedule for which room is which) and has a lovely view. There are rules to read about how to use it properly: rinse off first, don’t use soap in the onsen water, sit outside the water when washing. This was really calm and relaxing and no one else was using it either time when I went in the shared one. Breakfast is at either 8 or 830, your choice. It is served in your room in 1 course and includes fish, soup, egg, porridge, rice, and in our case yogurt too. The food was delicious. We really enjoyed relaxing and viewing the landscape, and the kids loved exploring the grounds. Note that because of the services provided, a staff member will be in your room preparing or washing from about 30 min before meals to about 30 minutes after. So during these times you don’t have much privacy, but it’s a lovely time to sit in the porch area and relax. If you have a feather allergy, the duvets and pillows have feathers for the western style beds, and while you can switch to the futon-style non-feather duvet, the non-feather pillow option is not very comfortable. The rooms are a bit dated and it can smell a little musty because it is a damp area given the hot springs. But overall the experience was amazing and it was one of the highlights of the trip for us and the kids. Attached pic shows the floor futons during the process of making them, before the sheets went on.