Hotele z: breakfast w Gunma Prefecture, Japan

We had a wonderful stay at Kamenoi Hotel. The hot spring (onsen) was excellent, and the quality of the water was amazing. It was one of the highlights of our stay. Both the dinner and breakfast buffets offered a wide variety of dishes, giving us the chance to try many different kinds of Japanese food, and everything was delicious. The hotel has a convenient shortcut to Yubatake, making it very easy to walk there. The staff were friendly and welcoming. We also appreciated being able to leave our luggage both before check-in and after check-out, which made our trip much more convenient. Free parking was included, which was very helpful as we were travelling by car. We would definitely stay here again and highly recommend this hotel. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Stayed for 2 nights in early Dec 2024. Booked the mountain view twin room with cypress bath which comes with both dinner and breakfast. The ryokan styled hotel is located diagonally opposite from the shibukawa bus stop and about 5 mins walk (turn right from the hotel) to the Ikaho stone steps around the mid section of the steps. The hotel is old ryokan style but well maintained and does not see much wear and tear. The lobby which is on the 3rd floor (ground level) is big. No shoes allowed in the hotel, guests have to deposit their shoes at the entrance. Staff were all friendly and polite though not all can speak well in English. They do go much more to make you feel at home. Yutaka is provided at the lobby. My room which is located on the 4th floor corner is considered big. Old styled ryokan kind of design but with western bed. Though the room is laid with tatami on the floor but can still hear people walking if they area heavy or run. Corridor noise does filter in as well but muffled. Unblocked view of the mountain as the hotel sits on an elevated hill. I would recommend to stay with mountain view. The cypress bath can fit 2 person but takes a while to fill, I rather go to the public onsen. Besides the usual amenities, they even provide face wash, face moisturiser, etc in the room. Safe box is provided in the room as well. Wifi seems weak. No place in the bathroom however to hang your clothes or towel. There is an indoor onsen on the first floor and an outdoor one on the 8th floor. The onsen are gender separated. They rotate the male and female onsen on the first floor though both has the same look and facilities. The onsen on the 8th floor has a nice view of the city but no shower facilities. There is a massage chair on the first floor as well. Breakfast and dinner are served on the 2nd floor. I would not say that this is the best, but definitely delicious and sufficient. Check in at 3 pm and check out at 10am which I find a bit too early. Hope they can consider to extend. Overall I would recommend this place to stay if you are coming to ikaho.

Great place. Spacious room. Comfortable futons with a view of the hill. You can hear the mountain river, which is a plus for me. The public onsen is a leisurely 10-minute walk away, making it very convenient to get to anywhere: from the bus station, the ski resort, and Yubataki. There's an art gallery across the street; be sure to check it out. The onsen in the guesthouse is also very nice and clean. The hostess is very sweet and welcoming, ready to help with advice and understand your situation.

Overall, the hotel looks clean, but the room was dusty in places. The location is excellent, literally 2 minutes from the city center. The staff are extremely helpful, really great people. Unfortunately, they hardly speak any English. In our opinion, the price of breakfast and dinner doesn't match the quality.

First off, the room was really spacious, and the hot spring was excellent. The breakfast had a great variety, and the service was warm and attentive. The hotel's location is fantastic, just a few steps from Yubatake, and there are many restaurants downstairs. The hotel facilities are comprehensive, and transportation is convenient.

Kusatsu itself is a magnificent place. The hotel is located right in the center. The room type was traditional with futons, and we had a mountain view, which was stunning in the morning. The hotel is well-maintained. We absolutely loved the onsen at the hotel – it was incredibly enjoyable! It was clean, beautiful, and comfortable. I particularly want to highlight the breakfasts and dinners; the selection was absolutely superb. Highly recommended!

Excellent service. I will give 10 out of 5 if I could. There was a staff who rushed out to us and asked if we were going to stay at the Ryokan. Very helpful for lost travelers overwhelmed by the cold weather. Greeted us warmly when we arrived. Explained the important information to us as best as they could in English, which is perfectly fine. Room was big. Decorated meticulously in the traditional Japanese style. Yukata and Obi provided added on to the immersive experience. Dinner was exquisite. Dishes gave us a taste of what traditional Japanese cuisine was like. The food was sincere (didn’t feel like frozen / canned / ready made food), served and plated meticulously. There were 2 onsens, indoor and outdoor. They were clean and spacious enough. Water (I believe) is from the hot spring nearby and was immensely therapeutic. Ryokan was near the heart of the town and everything was within walking distance. Kindly shuttled us to the bus terminal when we checked out (we didn’t have to wait for fixed timings) and carried our (heavy) luggage. All in all, we enjoyed the one night stay very much and they set a high bar for Japanese hospitality.

This is my second time here, and it's close to Minakami Station, so it's perfect for a spontaneous solo trip to see the snow. The building is very spacious, but it's well-cleaned and a very clean inn. There are many foreign staff members, but they are well-trained and more friendly and polite than the average Japanese. The dinner and breakfast buffets are delicious, and the hot springs are very good, both in the private baths and the large public baths. I was worried that there would be a lot of foreign group tourists and that it would be noisy, but I got the impression that they were all well-mannered foreign tourists. I would like to come to this inn every year when it snows.

The hotel was very clean, and the staff were incredibly polite. It was definitely worth the money I paid. I also got to try both types of private open-air baths, and the in-room open-air bath was spacious enough. All the meals were delicious and thoroughly satisfying. My only minor disappointment was that the next course was brought out very quickly, one after another, before I had even finished the previous one. This might have been because we had the 8 PM dinner slot. I'd recommend booking your dinner time early if you can. I wasn't able to choose and only had the 8 PM slot available. Also, I was advised that the earlier breakfast slots were recommended and that other times might not allow me to fully enjoy the meal, but that wasn't the case at all. Everything was fine.

This onsen ryokan in Kusatsu has a public bath and rooms with private hot springs. The add-on wagyu beef set was also of good quality. You can also walk to the nearby sister ryokan to use their public bath.