Jan-Kristòf L.
Google
This is my fourth trip to Japan with my husband. On our third trip, we met some folks from Yamagata. Since we are staying here for a month, they invited us to visit their town. Gokan-no-yu Tsuruya came with high recommendations and it did not disappoint. Our room was very spacious with a gorgeous view of the mountain. There was a lovely aroma every time we walked back into our room. It was very therapeutic.
The staff is absolutely lovely. Even when we went out and ran late, we saw some looking out the window like a grandparent waiting for you to come home. Between our limited Japanese and their limited English, it did not feel like there was a language barrier at all. One of the servers actually wanted to keep speaking English with us to get better and he was great!
There are four types of private onsen and we were able to try each one for free per night. The public one is available 24/7 if those were not available. We loved two of them as they had the best views. One was small and the last one was way too hot. However, we had no complaints and just went to the public one after we found the one that was too hot for us.
Breakfast and dinner filled us completely! Every time we thought we were done, the staff brought something else out. Everything was delicious. We felt full and not bloated.
The hotel is also conveniently located right across the street from the bus station, which is 45 minutes from Yamagata Station to several JR lines, the Shinkansen and buses.
I cannot recommend this ryokan enough. Thank you to the entire staff for making this an absolutely, amazing experience. We feel rested and rejuvenated. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you!