Hida Tomoe Hotel

“A lovely experience!”

We had booked this hotel for the night as part of our 5 week tour around Japan. We noticed that they had a half board package which was ideal and saved us looking around for places to eat in the evening. We had avoided the ryokan hotels as hubby and I both suffer bad backs and although everyone s… more

We had booked this hotel for the night as part of our 5 week tour around Japan. We noticed that they had a half board package which was ideal and saved us looking around for places to eat in the evening. We had avoided the ryokan hotels as hubby and I both suffer bad backs and although everyone said you should do them we did not fancy sleeping on the floor or eating a meal sat on the floor. The welcome we received when we got there was really lovely, the lady spoke a little English and she showed us where to park our car which is across the road from the hotel. The room is simple furnishing but clean and has everything you could want and they had western rooms as well as traditional Japanese. We opted for the western room with Twin beds to get as big a room as possible, it was pretty spacious in Japanese standards. It was only when we noticed the Yukata robes in the wardrobe that we suddenly realised that the dining was traditional. I rang down to reception and the girl came up to our room to explain. She confirmed that we could wear the yukatas for dinner or our own clothes if we preferred and I asked if they had tables and chairs for the meal. She said that they had already supplied chairs for us both with 30 cm legs so we sighed in relief. We went down for our meal and were shown to our own private room, with the little chairs and a beautifully laid out meal which included the Hida 5 star beef. The “lady of the house” came into the room to help us as we had no idea what to do. She used a little translation device to explain things, and she could speak certain words in English. She really put us to shame as she was definetly older than us and yet very agile and on her knees all the time. She was so very lovely and extremely kind. All in all such a lovely experience for us both. The breakfast was the same and our first ever Japanese breakfast although we did draw the line at the raw egg. So if you are like us I would 100% consider this place. The beds were on the firm side but a lot more comfortable than some places we had stayed in. I would definetly get the meal package when booking but maybe ask them for the chairs at that stage to make sure you have them if you do not want to sit on the floor. Definitely wear the yukatas for dinner and the slippers provided or your own shoes, you take them off before you enter the room anyway. Ask questions if you are not sure, use your google translate (thank goodness for that). When we left the next morning the old lady gave us 2 small boxes which she had made out of origami paper with origami items inside, a little bird and a tooth pick holder as a thankyou for staying, so very thoughtful. It was a lovely experience and I can highly recommend. Plus the fact that Hida is a lovely place to walk around in the morning before the tourists arrive.

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