Spacious and sprawling, family-run and homey. Massive meals personally prepared and presented by the proprietress. Very attentive!

The room had a toilet and sink only. I didn’t pick up on that when reserving. Bathing or showering required going across the property to the onsen, which had gender-specific hours. Scheduling meals was a little tricky for tourists like us who weren’t exactly sure where we’d be at what time. Respect to our fantastic chef, no one’s fault, but this is where a buffet-style setup has its advantages.

staff were so helpful with everything including collecting us from train and taking us to snow monkeys. entirely authentic experience

spacious room Very good Japanese dinner. Staff very courteous

Parking lot is 200M away, and covered by snow. No lift to upper floors. They did not tell me that there was a smoking area inside the hotel though they saw me going outside to smoke

The staff were lovely and took me to & from the train as well as monkey park. There is an onsen on site which was nice to use and the breakfast was an amazing spread.

Rooms felt a little tired and needed a few small improvements

There are fancier, newer ryokan around but if you go to Yamoto with an open mind and take the heartfelt hospitality of this sweet family for what it is, you too will have an enjoyable stay. In many simple ways this was the highlight of my stay in Japan! I had a wonderful time with my family here, the onsen provided some special time for us with each of the kids, my daughter was so excited she sprang up the next morning so we could have some further ‘girl time’ in the second onsen (so gorgeous being outside in the early winter morning!) the kaiseki dinner in our yukata was so enjoyable and really delicious, each dish carefully presented by our gracious hostess who made a children’s version for our youngest and a special meal for my husband who doesn’t eat seafood. Cooking our own wagyu was fun! We had room 102 which included futon and two single beds, in our 15 days the futon was my most comfortable bed! The linens were spotlessly clean with plentiful quilts and pillows. We loved the yukata (my husband was disappointed not to find one as good quality in the shops as he really liked it as a robe). We were kindly collected from and returned to the station. Whilst we had got an early train from Tokyo the connection was still an hour and a half wait so we arrived rather later than we expected and went straight to the monkey park, this was very kind and also meant we had a longer time enjoying the onsen experience afterwards. I noticed there were many boots in the lobby guests could avail for the walk up to the Snow Monkeys. Breakfast was as equally plentiful as dinner and set us up well for a long day.

The ryokan is old and in need of updates but please look through this and let yourself enjoy the experience. We stayed mid February so I did put one of the floor pillows against a draft but with three heaters and the glow from the hot spring onsen we were super toasty.

Great breakfast and kind owners made this a special trip and experience-- the building is a bit dated (cosmetically) but all functions. Highly recommended.

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