Hotel Hana Isawa

My spouse, our dog, and I stayed at the detached Hanarei. It was an even more wonderful Room than we expected, with a charming indoor bath and a very spacious private open-air bath. Fresh Onsen water flowed generously nonstop, and we enjoyed it three times. My dry skin felt better, which made me happy. Dinner was a thoughtfully prepared kaiseki meal; both the meat and fish were delicious, and we were very satisfied. Our dog also seemed happy walking around the spacious, clean Room. The afternoon all-you-can-drink cocktail service was fun too, and we’d love to visit again.

The bath is very relaxing. The open-air bath is a comfortable size, and the greenery makes it pleasant as well. Breakfast was delicious—tuna and squid sashimi, grated yam, freshly cooked fried eggs, rice porridge, and “Ra-ho”—and I looked forward to it on the second morning too. Since I was traveling alone and staying two nights, I chose a Room without a bath to keep costs down, but if the price isn’t that much cheaper, I think I should have booked a standard Room instead. Because there is an Onsen, not having a bath wasn’t an issue, but the toilet bothered me. It seems a toilet unit was added into one corner of what looks like an enclosed veranda area by the window in the Japanese-style room. Since it’s so close to the room itself, it felt a bit uncomfortable. The TV also felt very small—about the size of a computer monitor. If it were dramatically cheaper than regular rooms, I might consider it again.