吉祥やまなか Kissho Yamanaka

I have stayed in more than 10 onsen hotels in Japan and I would say that this one is just so so. Service wise I don’t feel any warmth or welcoming staff. It’s just like a normal 3 star hotel check in experience. We arrived 1 minute late and were told that no afternoon tea could be offered - would be good if they remind us in advance of the offer so that we will make our way there. Then all private onsen was fully booked at 4pm for the next 18 hours. In fact they only got three which is quite few as compared to other onsen we have stayed. As for the public bath it was REALLY REALLy small. We have three persons at the outdoor onsen which was already so packed. The kiseki was not particularly impressive and so so given the price we paid (USD200 per person). Breakfast was even worse. All in all only a mediocre hotel. With the price we are paying one can find better choice at Takayama or other closer area for sure.

Some context here. I was staying for 3 days here and had really high expectations about this ryokan. Good parts: Food quality is good. Not spectacular, but on a fair level. I'd say the biggest downside is the western breakfast menu. I'd say should be avoided. Japanese breakfast offers free self refills of juice, salad bar, morning sake while western one has you sitting in front of teppan without those options. Rooms are clean and well kept. No complaints there. Hot spring area is ok. But compared to their sister hotel is poor imho. The external male bath is pretty much an internal one simply without window. Their original.location has beautiful external baths though! The biggest downside and disappointment was the service. Cold. Distant. Without any explanations or help when asked. Also very visible during service. (And we do speak Japanese so it's not language barrier issue). Because of that I would not recommend this ryokan.

I called the hotel to inform them that we would arrive later than expected, and I was already anticipating missing dinner time. However, the hotel was very thoughtful—they guided us directly to dinner upon our arrival. The staff stayed on to serve us beyond the regular dinner hours. And we checked in after dinner. Although the hotel is old, it is very well-maintained, and the hot spring was very relaxing. There were many thoughtful touches, such as choosing your own yukata, picking your own coffee cup, and enjoying free pudding during specific hours, which made the experience even more enjoyable. We are very thankful for everything. We got a good rest and had a wonderful, comfortable time.

Visited in December during early winter, the weather is starting to get cold but there's no snow yet. We were picked up by the hotel bus from the station, which is super convenient. The check in process was quite simple as well. Love the drink served to us which is umekobucha. The lobby has a lot of nice and fancy decorations and is great for photos. There's also a foot bath with a river view near the lounge area. We got to enjoy freshly made pancakes during tea time, which is quite enjoyable. After that, there were free flow drinks and alcohol at the lounge for the guests. We selected a full course crab dinner which is super luxurious and we spent almost three hours to enjoy all the dishes served. All the dishes were nicely presented, the staff is very kind to teach us the easy way to peel our crabs and how to enjoy them. Each of the cooking method is very good, but I do enjoy the whole crab the best. Breakfast was super scrumptious as well with a range of side dishes to be eaten with fluffy white rice. The grilled nodoguro and tamagoyaki is amazing, and I do like the free flow salad bar as well. In the day time before check out, we enjoyed more drinks and snacks at the lounge with beautiful teacups. This is definitely a fancy and luxurious night stay at a japanese style ryokan to relax and unwind, forgot about busy life and scheduled for a while and be close to nature, enjoy good food and hot spring with nice views.

This definitely is the star of our trips. We booked hana room and the entire experience was relaxing and truly enjoyable. The service was exceptional—staff were attentive, friendly, and always ready to assist. The onsen facilities were well-maintained, providing a peaceful and rejuvenating atmosphere. The food was another highlight of our stay. The meal was thoughtfully prepared with high-quality ingredients, offering both delicious flavors and beautiful presentation. A huge thank you to the team for making our stay so enjoyable! Everything exceeded our expectations, if I could give more than 5 stars, I definitely would! Highly recommended and can’t wait to return!

Kissho Yamanaka is a lovely Onsen tucked away in the lush green mountains above a bubbling stream. In the evening you can hear frogs croaking which makes you feel truly calm and it rained almost the whole time we were there which made the hotel feel even more cozy and relaxing. It’s incredibly peaceful and has three private open air baths you can book for 50 minutes once per day of your stay. There are also public baths but we have many tattoos which is not allowed in the public bath area (this is very common in Japan), but you are free to use the private baths even with tattoos which is in part why we selected this hotel. We tried the stone and cedar baths which were both a perfect hot temperature and had a fridge with ice pops to enjoy after a piping hot bath. The hotel staff is incredibly attentive and thoughtful, taking the time to thoroughly explain everything at check in and sharing some maps of the nearby town. The hotel offers many amenities like pajamas and in room toiletries as well as a futon turndown during dinner. There’s also a pancake service, pudding service, happy hour, evening performances, and local snacks offered. Between that and an incredibly hearty and delicious half board (breakfast and dinner) you can’t possibly go hungry during your stay. They also give you coupons to use for free snacks if you venture into town (which you should to explore a beautiful shopping street and local Kaga style housewares!) We ate at the teppanyaki restaurant and it was delicious but the breakfast was the same both days, though they did make an effort to change up dinner a little for us on our second night. There is also an adorable select-your-own yukata “shop” in the hotel where you can select a yukata to wear around the hotel and town with many styles and colors to choose from. We upgraded day of arrival from a room with a small tub to a room with an open air bath and it was completely worth the cost of the upgrade, we also got free in room drinks with the upgrade which the staff generously and proactively switched out the beer for highballs after I mentioned that neither of us drink beer. My only real complaints if I must be fussy is the water in our rooms open air bath wasn’t as hot as I would’ve liked, but I like my bath water hotter than most people. The other is that the WiFi in our room was very slow and unreliable, but is a nice chance to disconnect so I don’t much mind. They have a free shuttle to take you from the Kaga Onsen JR station (15 minutes or so from the hotel) which is about 3 hours from Tokyo and 2 hours from Osaka so very convenient to get to. I genuinely can’t wait to come back for another stay at this wonderful and accommodating onsen!

The hotel has own car park and room is clear and nice. I love the onsen there. The lobby offers free drinks with a lot of options. Happy hour is 4-6 pm, should be free of charge. Next to the hotel you can have a walk in the hiking trail, you can finish it in 20 minutes. After that, you can circle around the onsen street and the shops there. Last, the local staff is friendly and able to speak English. Professional and experienced.

An absolute gem in Kaga-Onsen! Highly recommend this place ! Stayed at this ryokan hotel 2 weeks ago and couldn’t be happier! It is very convenient as we took the Shinkansen directly to Kaga-Onsen station and there is free shuttle bus waiting to go the hotel. The rooms were extremely spacious, clean and modern along with fantastic views of the mountains. Despite us not speaking fluent Japanese, the staff there were extremely friendly, patient and were willing to explain things to us slowly and in detail. No problem whatsoever even if you do not speak Japanese as they usually have English speaking staff at the counter. Even if the staff is not there, the google translate app works wonders here! The ryokan includes breakfast and dinner and it is definitely the highlight of our stay! The breakfast and dinner were Michelin-star-like with full 7 course menu from appetisers to desserts. Even if you are not visiting the neighbouring areas, the hotel keeps you fully entertained with free pancakes in the afternoon, free drinks in the evening and geisha performance at night! The hot spring is another highlight with both indoor and outdoors options, sauna and even 3 private hot springs to choose from in which you can book at the front desk should you prefer them. There is even an entire floor dedicated to massage and spa services. My only regret is not staying at this hotel for a longer period of time! Will definitely visit this ryokan hotel again !