Yumotokan

The staff at the hotel were extremely kind. Even though our flight was delayed and we arrived around 10 p.m,they still greeted us with warm, smiling faces. The private onsen in the room was very convenient, and the shared public bath was also extremely clean with beautiful views. The kaiseki dinner was absolutely delicious—I’ve never had Japanese cuisine this good before. The hotel shop offered a wide variety of products, which allowed me to bring back souvenirs to share with friends. If I have the chance, I would definitely come back to enjoy the onsen and the hotel’s facilities again.

This one was one to remember! Had a great room with private onson, and dinner and breakfast served in our private dining room. The food and service was excellent. Staff is super friendly and service minded. Beds are very comfortable and having our own private bath was great. It was by all means not a cheap room, but the whole package definitely justified the price. Highly recommended!

The rooms and service was exceptional. There are complimentary drinks int he fridge, as we don't drink alcohol, we asked if they could provide something else. They provided us with some green tea. To our surprise, During dinner, recognizing that we don't drink alcohol, they immediately replaced the sake with guava juice! What great service and paying attention to detail. The room was very comfortable and clean.

The best hotel i was so far. Mix of modernity and ryokan service. Our personal guide made the stay awesome (thank you, Imanishi-san!). Excellent open air onsen and the chinese massage took me to dreamland. You will never eat like this again, the young chef prepares meals with heart. They even sent us a shuttle after a visit to the Biwako Terrace! Generally speaking, the staff and reception were very helpful and did everything as we wished. Will definitely come again!

First ryokan onsen experience. Only a few offer solo traveller. Pricey but well worth the experience. From start of service from pickup to check in, public onsen, delicious dinner, check out and send off to the train station, everything was done in a fine Japanese hospitality manner. Thank you and I’ll be back again.

We spent two night here and had a wonderful time. Breakfast and dinner were included in our stay and the food each night was amazing. Since we stayed for 2 nights they gave us a slightly different variety of foods for the second dinner. Everything tasted delicious and there were so much that we left completely stuffed each night. I felt so bad leaving the rest of the eel rice on the second night, but we just couldn’t finish everything. The breakfast buffets were quite varied and it was fun to try the different curries they offered each morning.||Of course the hot spring baths were very nice and relaxing. The outdoor hot springs were very scenic and calming and we enjoyed the private hot spring, Kinoka, as well. Of course the water was very hot, but going very early in the morning or late at night once it cooled off a bit outside made the experience very pleasant. ||The hotel had a shuttle that was convenient to use for going on day trips. They had a cell phone at the JR Ogoto Onsen station that we used to call the hotel to send a shuttle, which only took 5 minutes. The morning shuttle also took us to the Hieizan Sakamoto Cable Railway which was a fun ride up to the Enryaku-ji complex on the mountain. I would highly recommend this as a side trip, the view of Lake Biwa is breathtaking.||Overall, we had a wonderfully relaxing time at Yumotokan and would love to return to try out some of the hot spring baths that we missed on this trip.

Highly recommended hotel. Staff were very friendly and did their best to make us feel welcome. The room was spacious and the open air onsen was gorgeous. Meals were well presented and very filling. I would definitely return if given the opportunity.

My partner and I stayed at Yumotokan for 2 nights in May 2025. This review is in the context of us paying over JPY150,000 (AUD1600) for the 2 nights for the room, breakfast and dinner.||||When we arrived there was no concierge offering to take our bags to the room. We had to sort that ourselves. Not the easiest task over thick carpet.||||We arrived at the room, nice but nothing special. The bed was essentially pushed against the wall, so if you had mobility issues, getting in and out of bed would be a challenge.||||The onsen was nice however was very hot and you couldn’t adjust the temperature.||||We attended the banquet type dinner in a private room that night, which was lovely. It was however a challenge to know what we were eating until we were provided an English version of the menu. That helped to some degree, however provided no insight into how to eat each of the dishes (ie:, what order to eat them, sauces to use, etc). To add to the difficulty the person serving us essentially spoke no English.||||Following the dinner I became very ill and had food poisoning like symptoms, which I can only conclude was from the dinner as I had only eaten some bread for breakfast that day and had felt fine the entire day.||||My partner went and ate breakfast around 8.30am and subsequently went and told management of my state and that I wouldn’t be having breakfast the next morning and we wouldn’t be having dinner that night. They informed her that dinner has already been prepared and could not be cancelled. They kept referring to their terms and conditions. They stated that they would only provide a credit for one breakfast for JPY3000 !||||The most disappointing aspect is how the situation was handled, focused on denial and hiding behind terms and conditions. Not what I would expect from a hotel promising and charging so much.||||I suggest there will be better experiences for that price.

Excellent and affordable Ryokan. We had a private bath in the room, which was super impressive. Also, there are multiple public spaces in the building with great amenities. I tried a public onsen, which was open with an outdoors feeling, and it was great. They teach proper etiquette before going to the public one. They gave us a ton of free drinks and snacks in the room. They also give you a yukata to wear for dinner and breakfast buffet or to walk around the property. The food was incredible. It felt like fine dining, and the buffet in the morning had amazing options, too.

There are a handful of ryokans in or around Kyoto. We chose this ryokan for our Japan trip after seeing the pictures of their onsen baths on their website. We were equally impressed when seeing them in person. They have 3 floors of baths: - 1 floor with a fully indoor bath with different colored pools for different health purposes. - 1 floor with an indoor/outdoor bath. The female outdoor bath is on the 2nd storey with partially covered view of the city - 1 floor with a fully outdoor baths with stunning views of the lake & mountains or a city view. They switch the gender of this floor's bath every day so you can get to experience both baths. This is my favorite floor. Meals: I highly recommend adding a meal plan to your stay. You get a kaiseki dinner and breakfast served in a private dining room. The highlight of the meal is their ohmi beef. Room: Clean tatami rooms. They set your futon beds when you have your dinner. There is English speaking staff on the front desk. They also offer pickup and dropoff bus service to/from JR ogotoonsen station.

S E R V I C E Service here is top notch. - They pick you up from the station. - They carry your bags. - They open your door. - They explain every single little thing. - Roof top bath house view was amazing. - 5th bath house was gorgeous. - We were usually the only ones in the baths. - Plenty of showers. - Combs, towels, shoes, yukata are all provided. - Food is amazing. - Waitress is super intuitive. - Everything was super clean. - Best of all you don't even have to tip after being treated like royalty!

We stayed at this ryokan hotel to experience the "Hot springs" in Kyoto. All first time tourists will usually stay at a ryokan (inn) and enjoy the evening feast, karaoke, and hot spring baths. You'll usually get to sleep on tatami style beds as well. :) What an experience, it was very fun! All the hot springs in this hotel were clean and spacious. I was often the only one out of 2-3 other ladies that were there. I love the top floor the best, as the rooftop has a view of Biwa Lake. Fabulous panorama displays of Biwa Lake and surrounding areas. :) The food inside the room (preserved small shrimps) was the best I've had when it comes to tiny salted shrimp. Wish I knew where to buy that! I kept trying to find it at all the local Japanese shops afterwards, but found nothing comparable. I wonder if they made it specifically at the hotel, in their restaurant? It was a fun experience to stay at a ryokan and experience an onsen. It takes getting used to (at least for the onsen), and an open mind!!! :)