Hotel Wing International Himeji

excellent location: few minutes of walking from/to himeji train station and also few minutes walking from/ to himeji castle and himeji koen (the traditional garden). our room was a bit small, but still practical. the breakfast is very good.

Location is everything, and this hotel near Himeji Castle certainly has that going for it. A late checkout time (12) meant we could do an early visit to the castle and leave our car parked there in the morning, and believe me, parking anywhere near the castle is fraught. The breakfast was pretty good as well, and I'd have to recommend the almond butter toast, a specialty of Himeji. The terrace has a view on a view of the castle, but you can get a better one at street level a few blocks away, as a building blocks the lower parts of the castle. It would be, however, a good place to sit and have a beer on a summer evening. All that having been said, there was a few things. The hotel is old enough that the plumbing, I think, needs to be replaced. We stayed in several rooms as a family - the bathrooms had a funny smell in all of them. One of the rooms was a smoking room, because they no longer had any non-smoking ones available. There is only one elevator, and only emergency stairs. Most hotels of this size I have seen have two. Which was at times a bother as our rooms were on separate floors. Parking is not easy - there is a small lot next to the hotel, and several others that the hotel will allow you discount parking at (700 yen) in the nearby area. But being a tourist spot meant that these lots were inevitably full. We got lucky, but I felt sorry for the driver of the car I saw circling the block several times. The room card keys all look the same, no room number on them. They are NOT disposable, you must return them, so do not write the room number on lest you have to pay a fee. If you are travelling without a car, I'd certainly recommend this place - it's hard to beat the price for the location.

The room is small, but it's too big for the price. The company is cutting costs drastically, including the absence of phones in rooms. Bicycle parking is available.