10°
delia0908: To sum it up, I'm extremely satisfied. The hotel offers a shuttle service to the Shinkansen station, which you need to arrange in advance, otherwise, you'll have to transfer to a local train yourself. The hotel is located in a small town and looks quite modern from the outside, not like the century-old building I imagined. The facilities are well-maintained, and it doesn't have that damp smell common in many onsen hotels. Upon check-in, the front desk provides a map of the hotel, showing your room location, the onsen areas (with gender and time schedules), dining spots, and so on. After checking in, someone will lead you to pick out your yukata (which you wear throughout the hotel, making onsen visits convenient). It's best to try on samples here as the sizes run large; if you pick your usual clothing size, it might drag on the floor. Then, you'll be escorted to your room by elevator. Perhaps because it was off-peak season, the hotel spontaneously upgraded us to a larger room with two big balconies. The three of us slept comfortably on a tatami mat area that could easily accommodate six. There's an indoor onsen on the basement level, separated by gender but open all the time. On the first floor and basement, there's also an outdoor onsen with timed gender separation. It's open until 11 PM and from 5 AM. When soaking, you simply place your clothes in a basket; there's a small pool area that seems to have lockers. You can't bring your phone anyway, so I didn't bring anything except my room key, the small and large towels provided in the room, and a waterproof bag. You can also bring your own skincare products if you wish. You can also pay extra for a private onsen for about an hour, but considering that in Japan, people usually soak nude, we didn't dare to try. In the morning, you hand a slip to the front desk to indicate any room amenities you'd like to change (like yukata, towels, etc.) and your dinner time. The breakfast buffet is very generous; I particularly liked the onsen eggs. For dinner, you can choose between two sittings, 6 PM or 7 PM; we opted for the latter. Dinner includes a small glass of alcohol, and you can order more drinks (not expensive) as well as steamed abalone and grilled oysters (a matter of taste, really). Everything tasted good, and the dishes were served slowly, one by one. I was so full I forgot to take pictures, so I'll just attach the translated menu for the steamed bean bun. In the evening, we visited the small, free museum (which explained the history of dam construction). The next day, we took the forest train (a little over two hours round trip, with beautiful scenery; there are lockers at the station for luggage storage). Unfortunately, I didn't realize there was a stop in the middle where you could get off for an onsen soak and then catch the train back; I'll have to try that next time. The hotel corridors display photos of famous people who have stayed there, such as the Emperor, US Presidents, and Kawabata Yasunari, along with some incomprehensible artwork to appreciate. The staff were all very friendly. The hotel doesn't have Chinese services, so I assume there aren't many Chinese tourists. Japanese communication would be smoother. You need to hand in your room key to the front desk when going out. Do note that check-out is before 10 AM. Since we had to catch the forest train, we missed the hotel's drop-off service and took a local train to transfer to the Shinkansen ourselves. The hotel is less than 1 km from the local train station. All in all, traveling during the off-peak season was both economical and provided a great experience. I'd give it 100 points this time.
53 Unazukionsen
From KRW 268,591
