HOTEL SHIRAHAMAKAN

The private open-air bath was very good with a wide open feeling It's a beautiful beach in front of me, so I was able to play in the ocean, take a bath in a hotel, and have a very nice, slow time.

We stayed in rooms 111 and 112, which were located on the first floor in the back of the original building. I believe they are the only ones with private outdoor onsen tubs. I could see that this place was once highly esteemed and built originally by skilled carpenters, because all of the sliding doors operate smoothly and close perfectly, which is quite impressive. The quality and amount of onsen water was great and we could enjoy our private onsens anytime. Each room is equipped with 2 tubs, one luke warm and the other hot. It was great that we could fine tune the temperature of each tub. Location is also perfect, lots of great restaurants, bars and stores within a few minutes walk, right in front of Shirarahama beach, which looks like a mini version of Waikiki. The rooms are spacious in Japanese standard, with 2 rooms 3 beds, with a separate sitting room where you can enjoy some tea. As others have noted, the rooms were moldy, musty, and grimy, but very clean. If you want an experience of visiting a historical Japanese institution which was once highly esteemed but gotten dilapidated, this is the place for you.

Just to be honest from the outset- me and my husband did not spend the night and sleep here. We were so concerned by the cleanliness of the hotel that we asked for a refund (we were supposed to stay for 2 nights). We originally quickly put our bags in our hotel room, went to the beach, then returned to the hotel. It wasn't until we returned from the beach that we actually property looked at the state of the room. The room itself was big. However, the doors to the outside were left open, so when we arrived there were lots of spiders and mosquitos around. There was also a dead fly in the ceiling light and what looked like spider nests all around the ceiling of the room. There was also countless, random stains all around the room. While this is a small detail, it is also worth mentioning that the hotel also stated it had WiFi available in all rooms when we booked through Expedia. However, it was only available in reception After complaining about this room, we were shown another room by the hotel staff. However, this room still had bugs in it and was equally dirty. We were offered a third room, but by this point, just wanted to leave. We have backpacked around Japan for 3 weeks now and have been in a combination of hotels and ryokens, as well as Western and Japanese style rooms. We have pretty low standards when it comes to rooms and have never asked for a refund on any hotel until we came here. We booked the hotel through Expedia, but the hotel wanted to give us cash refund. We felt unsure about this, but just wanted to leave there as soon as possible. I was originally not going to leave a review. However, the positive reviews of this hotel are what led us to choose it- and we personally feel as though they are not accurate or a true reflection of what we experienced at the hotel.