Hagi Takayama Kanko Hotel was actually the first ryokan we booked mainly because they have few family onsen aka reserve-able onsen. Besides the good reviews on TripAdvisor, they also have shuttle services to/from Takayama station. That’s why we thought this would be a great ryokan style accommodation experience. For the first night at Takayama, we originally planned for a hotel stay, but as it turned out we ended up at Ryokan Tanabe, which was superb!
Anyway, back to Hagi Takayama Kanko Hotel – it is much bigger in size compared to Ryokan Tanabe. There are five reserve-able private onsen, one of them is outdoor; and three gender separated public ones (both also have outdoors). That itself was already a big attractive point to us; then they also have manga corner with massage chairs, table tennis room, and even ladies spa. Another big drawing point is its location, being in highland provides a great view of the city at night time which was lovely.
We called the hotel a day earlier about the shuttle pick up and was told they would come around 3 pm. The shuttle van came on time on the day and the ride took around 8 minutes from Takayama station to the hotel. As we approached the hotel, there were several reception staffs stood outside, bowed and welcome us! It felt a bit too much, but perhaps that’s just how it is there? Check in process was swift and smooth, the reception staff offered us available slots for private onsen and the shuttle back to station for the next day. Then a lady ushered us to our room, and showing us where the public onsen and restaurants are. It is basically made up of two buildings, the restaurant for dinner along with public onsen and four private ones are in the back building. The breakfast hall and the other public onsen are on the front building where the reception and main lobby are.
We got room number 1202. It is even bigger than one we had in Ryokan Tanabe, consists of two sections with a sliding door that can be closed off. Highlight of our room would be the view, it faces the backyard that gives a pretty view at night times. The bathroom also has a bathtub with a window facing to that same view – but we did not even use this bath tub at all having learnt about onsen. The overall feeling of the room was a little old but everything worked just fine, so it was not a big deal.
We went to try the private onsen at our reserved time, loved the view from the window facing the streets of Takayama. Then, the kaiseki dinner followed – I felt we had way more food here than at Tanabe Ryokan and whilst they were all delicious, I just could not finish everything. The highlight of our dinner was of course that Hida beef, fish and tempura. The dessert jelly was also lovely to finish off the meal with just enough sweetness.
After the kaiseki dinner, we walked around to peek at the top floor onsen which was really nice. We also had relaxing time at the massage chairs. Eventually we went to the public onsen, oh my God the outdoor onsen was so beautiful. The water temperature was just perfect, the onsen was made from rocks, super relaxing bath! We even made the effort to wake up early and come back again the next morning before breakfast.
By the time we went back to our room, the futon mattress have already been laid out. It felt a little warm in room after a while, so we left the window slightly opened at night. It worked really well and we definitely had great sleep!
They serve breakfast in a different hall to where we had dinner last night. We had the Japanese set breakfast again, but there were also buffet selections should you want extra something. Oh, and we finally tried natto aka fermented soy beans! It doesn’t taste much if you can get past that sticky texture and strong smell ๐ There are also selections of cereals, bread, coffee, and juices as well.
We had booked the 08.00 shuttle bus back to Takayama Station and it left exactly on time. Check out process again was swift with friendly face. Overall, we had a very pleasant stay here especially the onsen experience. Food wise, I’d probably prefer the ones we had at Ryokan Tanabe. In saying that. there really was nothing wrong or not delicious about the food we had here by all means. And for the onsen, Takayama Kanko Hotel is definitely the winner. Plus due to its size and location, it gives a feeling of ryokan as you see on many Japanese dramas: with massage chairs, table tennis and fire works.
Sayonara, Takayama – we most definitely had great time here and will be back again!
Takayama Kanko Hotel
506-0852 Gifu Takayama Hachiman-cho 280 Japan
Telephone:ย +81 577-32-4100
Email:ย admin@takayama-kh.co.jp
