Ibusuki Phoenix Hotel

We are a family of 3 Australians and stayed in one of the traditional ryokan rooms. We stayed 3 nights. This hotel was our most favourite during our 3 week stay in Japan. What made it so special was the beautiful and most helpful staff. I make special mention of 2 staff on the front counter - a wonderful girl from Nepal and another gentlemen who I didn't get to thank and say goodbye to who checked us. All staff looked after us and we say thank-you. The staff in the restaurant area were wonderful and patient too and willing to explain food items and help us. For all staff, I had been trying to learn Japanese and they were very patient with me, nothing was a problem and we had many laughs. English at the hotel is good and it was fun having combined English/ Japanese conversations. The Hotel is about 20 minute walk out of the village of Ibusuki - it is a reasonable hill to walk up and down to the hot sand bathes. There is a large supermarket filled with local items and a very very large hardware store there as well, which my husband loved and spent much time there. The people in the shops were friendly as they probably don't get to see many westerners. To make things easy, the hotel has a courtesy bus for free to the train station and the sand bathes twice in the morning. The hotel itself has a gift shop which is very comprehensive and full of local produce items with even a robot. The hotel has its own sand bathes and the hot bathing areas are a dream. I found all the guests at the hotel to be wonderfully friendly too. The hotel has a comprehensive garden as well with a train peeping out every hour. We had rooms overlooking the bay, reminiscent of "Hawaii of Japan". The food was absolutely amazing every night and so beautifully created. For us, the hotel offered everything we wanted to experience in Japan. We hope your staff and other guest enjoyed the many Caramello Koalas, Tim Tams and other little items we gave you to say thank-you and give you an insight into our world, as you did for us. Thank-you! happy to answer any questions.

The air conditioning in the rooms worked well, so it was comfortable despite the hotel being old. The large public bath was great, but the sand bath was also great, costing 1,200 yen. (I was surprised that the bath in the room had hot spring water.) Dinner was filling and perfect for adults. Hot dishes (like tempura) were cooked and served immediately. It was delicious. It was delicious. Breakfast was a buffet, which was also delicious. It was supposed to start at 7:00, but they started serving it at 6:50. There was a ping pong table, and it cost 300 yen for 30 minutes. They also lent us four rackets, which we all enjoyed. The table and rackets were new and clean. It might be easier to get around if you rent a car. It seemed like a taxi would come right away if you called one.

Anyone going to Ibusuki has to take a "sand bath". One of the reasons I chose this hotel was because it has its own indoor sand-bath facility and I was worried about cold and rainy winter weather in January at beach-side sand-bath facilities. Although I was disappointed to hear that the sand here was not naturally heated by natural hot-springs, you can certainly get a taste of a sand-bath experience. This hotel is also reasonably priced compared with other hotels in the area. The room was standard with a view of the ocean and offered me a beautiful sunrise at dawn. In addition, the dinner and breakfast included in the rate were quite good and I was satisfied with the hotel, food, and facilities, which I thought were good cost performance. This hotel is a little outside the town area, but in less than 10 minutes you can easily reach the naturally heated hot-spring sand bath at the public beach-side facility. Since the weather cooperated nicely for me, I decided to go take a sand bath at the beach in the morning. I had to catch a tour bus at 10AM. I took a taxi from the hotel at 8:30AM and went to the public sand bath, took my bath, and caught a bus to the station, all in enough time to take the tour. It was a rushed sand bath, but doable if you are pressed for time.