Watarase Onsen Hotel Sasayuri

Such a great stay! Highlight of our trip!

It was 3rd day when my wife and I are hiking KUMANO KODO. After 6 and half hour hiking and 20 minutes bus, we arrived at Watarase Onsen Hotel Sasayuri around 5pm. At checking counter, we found that I booked wrong day - one day late….. However service person rearranged room and dinner for us within less than half hour. Their traditional Japanese service and food are amazing and forgettable. I will be for sure coming back when I revisit this area.

Nice hotel with good baths. Friendly staff and cool/different rooms.

非常棒的體驗！比較傳統式的日式温泉酒店，一切都安排得非常好。地理位置也非常好，公交站就在邊，非常近。

This is one of the onsen hotels of the same group in Watarase onsen - used to be one of three, now it’s one of two since they closed the third one. Sasayuri is the nicer one and it’s a classic onsen hotel with large rooms and the usual public bath amenities. You have to call the hotel in advance to book the free shuttle pick up (15 min away) from Hongu Taisha mae bus stop which is convenient for those walking the Kumano Kodo and/touring the Hongu Taisha. Excellent service from reception staff to restaurant staff to driver. We organised luggage shuttle delivery (another company called Torii) and the hotel reception were great in making sure our bag was rightly labelled. They also helped us with getting small change for our bus fare. Food was good - not outstanding if I’m being picky as compared to other onsen hotels; but plentiful and delicious. The only area of improvement for dinner serving staff to serve up the dishes in a better order - eg let us finish the sashimi first before serving the hot dishes. The hotel has a public indoor bath. For outdoor onsen baths you can use the ones in the neighbouring (same chain) hotel which is a short 5 min walk via a connecting suspension footbridge. Rooms are very spacious, slightly dated but that’s the vibe of most onsen hotels in Japan anyway. Free coffee in the lobby. WiFi was good. Overall great location to stay for those doing the Kumano Kodo hike. I would give this a 3.5 out of 5, but TripAdvisor doesn’t allow half points.

Tried to check out and could not as they did not have staff to take payment. Had to leave to make it to bus in order to catch my train and flight. Has to go to extraordinary lengths to pay them after. Also extremely overpriced for this hotel, would never come back.