Samurai Hotel Naraiso

晚餐和早餐非常好

I had such a great time at this hotel! The location is great, and the staff were incredibly helpful and kind. Highly recommended!

PROS: - The staff: the staff is very helpful and will SERIOUSLY go out of their way to make your stay as best as possible. Special shout-out to the Irish couple on staff who baked a giant honeybee surprise cake for our honeymoon. So kind and truly unforgettable! Special thanks to the owner for offering us a cheaper room than what we had initially booked based on availability and for providing many thoughtful recommendations. - Welcoming dinner area: the dining room was a very welcoming space. The hotel somehow seems to attract nice guests and the dinner space is a good space for chilling and where we enjoyed some very nice conversations with other guests and staff. There is also a nice terrace where you can chill eg for coffee or tee after breakfast on a slow day. - Japanese breakfast: this was our first one ever but it felt very tasty on both days of our stay. Very enjoyable. - Mattresses: these were on the firmer side. We found them very comfortable. - Japanese style: the hotel is unmistakably Japanese style, though you won’t sleep or eat on tatami/futon, but the rest of it is there. - Free shuttle service: the staff will pick you up and drop you off in town in a rather luxurious van when and where you need it. Very nice service but make sure you request it!

CONS: - Value for money: as mentioned this place is SERIOUSLY overpriced. It is priced like a four star hotel in Tokyo but it delivers like a two star mountain inn. In particular, this was our most expensive booking in our month trip in Japan and the standard was below everything else we encountered elsewhere (in Tokyo, Kyoto, Norikura Kogen, etc) apart from what I mentioned in PROS. - Cleanliness: below our beds wasn’t clean! Usually never a problem but when you try to pull the two twin beds together you notice: a dirty sock from a previous customer, much dust and other things. Minor: a small spiderweb in the lamp and some dust on the bed headboards. - Spiders and cockroaches!!! We saw many spiders in the hotel. Most notably during each of my two showers I was greeted by a spider the size of the palm of my husband’s manly hand. Encountered one at dinner too. Also a weird cockroach in the toilet. Surely it can’t be helped due to the location in the woods out of town but mind this before booking if you dislike these little animals. - Dinner: overpriced and not very good. We got the veggie ramen option on both nights, which we paid 3k Yen for two each night. We think the ramen was the instantaneous ramen you’d buy at a convenience store plus some added soy sprouts. Problem is for the same price you’d get some SERIOUSLY good fully homemade ramen at any ramen shop. Very disappointing. Of course you can’t expect homemade ramen in a hotel like this but then MAKE IT CHEAPER. Unfortunately dinner options in Narai Juku are rather limited and it turned out that we had to get the hotel dinner on the second night as everything else was closed. Bonus points again for the staff who accommodated our dinner on zero notice. - Checkin: our checkin was NOT smooth. No pickup at station (we weren’t aware of this service) so 30min walk by night and through the woods with heavy bags. No one at reception when we arrived.

Nice room, good size, good bathrooms

Overpriced, not located in the main village area, cold and weird atmosphere. Couldn’t tell if it was truly authentic Japanese ryokan or weird rip off..