Sumiyoshiya

PROS: 1. Great location! Ryokan is about 1.5 km from Kanazawa station, 200 m from Omicho market, and about 2 km from Kenroku-en garden and Kanazawa castle. 2. Spacious comfortable room with a private toilet and wash area, with a booklet telling guests how to properly behave in a ryokan or in an onsen and even makes a brief introduction about the kaiseki meal. 3. The owner was very hospitable and warm 4. Delicious seafood kaiseki dinner and breakfast. 5. The ryokan's history! It is more than 300 years old and the oldest ryokan in Kanazawa that has been run by the same family. * Note: we were quite too shy to try the onsen since unlike in other places in which you could use the bath exclusively for your group, this ryokan has common baths segregated by gender, although as far as I know they have a few rooms with private baths.

Traditional ryokan in the heart of Kanazawa! Minutes away from the market and the castle. The staff is super friendly and the rooms are very comfortable and spacious

If you’re looking for a traditional Ryokan in a fabulous position this is for you. It is close to modern shopping centres, a huge market and eatery area, the old Samurai district and the famous Geisha district. We had a large room with private bath and toilet. At first glance we were a bit shocked. Seem old and a bit tatty with not a lot of ambience. However the owner Mie Sumi brought the whole place to life. What a wonderful lady who could not do enough for us. She speaks good English and is never far away when help is needed. Soon we felt like we were part of her family living in this historic place. We were fortunate enough to have a traditional Japanese dinner for just the 2 of us. Amazing! Breakfast was simple fresh and just right. We did our laundry without any fuss. She organised transport and also had our luggage shipped to Takayama while we had huge day of visiting UNESCO traditional villages and travelling late to our next destination. This was a great effortless experience.

From the moment we arrived we felt welcome at Sumiyoshiya. Not only is the Ryokan lovely to look at, but the owner and staff are incredibly friendly and the rooms first rate. We had a room in the second floor facing the street, but from 10pm to 7 or 8am it was so quiet you’d barely know it was there. The room was large, light and airy with a separate ante-room and lobby. The futons were comfy and the quilts very cosy. We opted for the Japanese breakfasts, which were delicious. Sadly we didn’t arrange in time to be able to have dinner in-house, but it smelt good and, if the breakfasts were anything to go by, would have been great to try. Sumiyoshiya is perfectly located for exploring Kanazawa - it’s close to Omicho Ichiba market, the castle an Kenroko-en garden, while there are nearby bus stops for the Kanazawa loop bus (the hop-on hop-off service which takes you between sights if you don’t fancy lots of walking). The owner told us of a couple of nearby places to buy passes for this. If travelling by car you can stop right outside to drop bags and the ryokan even has a couple of private parking places around the corner (but there are really close paid parking lots if these are full).