Chikurin-in Gumpoen

Old ryokan and very special in time of cherryblossom. Difficult access. Prepare to walk after 10 minutes bus ride.

This was my 6th visit to the Ryokan. And somehow my older review does not appear anymore. Time for an update. When I accompany family members and friends for their first visit to Japan I always choose this place. Admittedly back in 2008 the service was a bit more refined, there was more staff, it have been hard times for the hospitality world, and the great pine tree at the small onsen also died. But the total experience is still wonderful. I ask for the retoro rooms : in the old building. May be a bit noisy if you have bad luck as the walls are paper thin. No private bathroom as was standard in the old days. But beautiful painted sliding doors, view of the garden and the (endless) mountains behind. During peak cherry tree blossom season this year (2023) there was additional staff that was fluent in English. They made every effort to adjust for one the party members who had trouble with food he was not used to. And then there is the village … Take your time. If your budget allows is stay for at least two nights, better even three. Make sure you explore thoroughly : even the valley next to the main temple : go down all the stairs, enjoy th

Awfully expensive, considering the hotel (downfall), the room and furniture (shabby) and the bathroom (cheaply refurbished and not very clean). The dinner was not a treat (very, very fat pork). The breakfast was good. The service was poor, mostly because non-English-speaking waitresses tried to avoid contact with non-Japanese-speaking clients.

Pretty dated ryokan. Location was pretty good just 5 mins up the hill from the bus stop at nakasenbon (450 yen). Service was kinda meh for a ryokan perhaps cause they were understaffed. Food was pretty good and filling, but it was strange that i couldnt order beer to add on with my food. For a tourist attraction, the garden wasn't too impressive.

This was originally a temple that was turned into a Japanese-style inn. I couldn't find anything concrete about how old the temple is, but it seems like it was built many centuries ago. You are not going to get brand-new facilities or anything even similar. That's not the point of staying here. Walking around this place, you can really soak in the history and the atmosphere of "old Japan". There's a garden on the temple grounds with a small pond. During cherry blossom season, this place must be amazing. The rooms come with all your basic necessities. Breakfast and dinner were served in large open rooms. I guess since we stayed during non-peak times, each family got their own room for meals. Dinner was a multi-course meal with the usual delicacies like sashimi, tempura, chawanmushi, seasonal vegetables, pickled items, rice, and a bit of Yamato beef you grilled yourself. Breakfast included stapes like grilled salmon, rice, miso soup, hijiki, and salad. There are multiple public bath areas - these are NOT onsen (hotspring) waters. These baths are very welcome after a day of hiking up Yoshinoyama (Mt Yoshino). I don't know if this was standard in every room, but we also had a small, private open-air bath just outside our room. Having a beer while soaking in hot water and enjoying the evening view was sublime. The hotel is located near the top of Yoshinoyama. From the hotel, it's a fairly challenging hike uphill to some observation points and temples. Other than this, there are a few souvenir shops and small eateries located nearby. Lastly, and for me, most importantly, the staff treated us with the utmost of courtesy. We were picked us from Yoshino Station in a free shuttle bus. In my humble opinion, this level of care and hospitality should be synonymous with Japanese-style inns. So to end, you are paying a lot to stay here. If you'd feel more comfortable at more modern accommodations, I wouldn't recommend this place. However, if you'd like something a bit more unique - staying in a very old temple that has seen a lot of history, I think you would enjoy this as much as I did.

Do you want to pay $400-500 for a 2 star hotel experience? You've come to the right place. To call this place "run down" is a compliment. Everything, absolutely everything is at least 30 years old. It's also not very clean. The garden is pretty nice though and building looks special from the outside. The "hot bath" is an oversized bath tub, has nothing to do with an Onsen or similar great Japanese bathing experiences. There is another bath that is actually alright and has a beautiful view but with limited access (mornings only for men). They also tried to charge us an extra $150 a night for our 5 year old kid for another matress on the floor, which we refused. We live in Japan, love Japanese culture and understand some things will be different. The service is also terrible: we were 4 people and consistently had only 2 towels, pillows etc. And the food is pretty bad. We weren't offered or asked for drinks or anything. The staff was nice enough though to not fully charge us after we decided to stay three instead of four nights.

We chose this ryokan as it was the last available room during Sakura. But I must admit, it was a pleasant surprise. Of course, staying in a ryokan is expensive, but the location and the experience was worth it for me and my family.||The exterior of the building is nice and garden was romantic to enjoy a peaceful moment. ||The building is composed of two sections: an older traditionally looking one and the below section is a more modern one, with it is true less appealing flair.||The welcoming of the staff was sincere despite the little Japanese, but it does not matter and it is part of a journey to try to communicate. Everything is quite well organized with onsen time, dinner time, but again we took it as an amusement and a matter of respect.||Spending some relaxing time in the onsen was then quite enjoyable and the following dinner was one of our most memorable moment: good food and a personalized service. The discovery of traditional cuisine was offered to us.||When returning in our room, the tatamis were covered with futon and comfortable bedding. All was clean and with full attention. ||The breakfast the next morning was also served in a traditional way, again a surprise and an experience.

Well situated to explore the Yoshinoyama - the bus running between the mountain top (Okusenbon) stops just a few steps to the right of the hotel gate;||Very helpful staff with standard services;||The benefit to enjoy the garden for free at times when there's no ticket required visitor;||Pickup at Yoshino station can be arranged in advance. ||||Two public bath areas. One of them is very average but the other one has a nice open air area where you can make yourself too close to the nature and naked. ||There is no towel provided on site the public bath. As I used the towel in the room, it became wet and not very convient to bring it back to the room.