Bella Vista Spa & Marina Onomichi

“Almost perfect in every way”

What an amazing hotel!!! This is something seriously special with one of the most amazing locations for sunset I’ve seen in Japan. The rooms are large and fully equipped with everything you need and they have a choice of restaurants (Japanese or Western), both of which serve excellent food. The spa… more

What an amazing hotel!!! This is something seriously special with one of the most amazing locations for sunset I’ve seen in Japan. The rooms are large and fully equipped with everything you need and they have a choice of restaurants (Japanese or Western), both of which serve excellent food. The spa area is sublime, especially the semi-outdoor onsen. I could have just stayed there looking out on the view the entire holiday! One tip though - book yourself onto the complimentary transfer from Onomichi station as it’s a 40 minute journey there and includes a short ferry crossing - the transfer just takes the stress out of finding the hotel. Amazing place and can’t wait to go back there.

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“Fantastic Spa Resort”

This is the second time we visited Bella Vista! A great get-away with an excellent service, some great gourmet restaurants and a cozy pool area! Don’t forget a trip to the small island off the coast! We will definitely be back!

“We will be back again✌️”

We stayed at Bella Vista Spa & Marina Onomichi from 4/6 April 2018. It was beyond our expectations and we enjoyed every single moment. Service was impeccable👍 Good was excellent 👏 and staff were very friendly 🤗 Strongly recommend to stay minimum 2 nights so u can have a good experience rather than … more

We stayed at Bella Vista Spa & Marina Onomichi from 4/6 April 2018. It was beyond our expectations and we enjoyed every single moment. Service was impeccable👍 Good was excellent 👏 and staff were very friendly 🤗 Strongly recommend to stay minimum 2 nights so u can have a good experience rather than rush to checkout the next morning.

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“Not for everyone”

Bella Vista Spa & Marina Onomichi is a small luxury resort hotel with just 44 total rooms. This area is known for ship building; the original property served as a serviced guest house for people involved in the industry beginning in 1973. The present property was established in 2007, offering rooms… more

Bella Vista Spa & Marina Onomichi is a small luxury resort hotel with just 44 total rooms. This area is known for ship building; the original property served as a serviced guest house for people involved in the industry beginning in 1973. The present property was established in 2007, offering rooms with ocean views and a spa. The property grounds is quite vast - it's perched on a hill overlooking the stunning Seto Inland Sea and the Bella Vista Marina at the water's edge. There are walkways throughout that offer nice vantage points by which to appreciate the scenic beauty of this area of Japan. The outdoor terrace stretches directly from the main indoor common area and has uninhibited views of the Seto Inland Sea. In the middle of the terrace is a stretch of water that appears to flow directly into the ocean (even though the Ocean is quite a ways away) - the water is less than 10cm deep and isn't meant for swimming; it's strictly for show, and it's probably the most Instragrammable aspect of the resort. And, especially in the Summer time, you'll have the ability to enjoy the infinity pool as well as partake in numerous activities (both onsite and outside the property), such as a beach BBQ and island hopping. There's also a ribbon chapel on the property grounds that has won numerous design awards, and I'd imagine that it would serve as a wonderful venue for weddings. In the resort itself, there's a nice spa facility as well as three different restaurants serving Sushi, Kaiseki and Basque-inspired cuisine (using local ingredients and recipes.) We stayed in the Panorama Terrace Suite, which was quite large 100m² and the third from the top category room at Bella Vista. The best room is the Bella Vista Maisonette Spa Suite, but we passed on it because we generally avoid Maisonette-style layouts, while The Bella Vista is similar to the Panorama Terrace Suite, except that it has it has an open air bath with a view of the Ocean; The Bella Vista was already booked when we tried to reserve it. While our room was spacious, nicely appointed and clean, it was showing its age somewhat. It could probably benefit from a refurbishment within the next few years, especially given the room rates that they charge here. There is a dearth of power outlets as well, which is further evidence that it was built more than a decade ago. The room has a stand-alone bath tub, but it's not Onsen (natural hot springs.) In fact, there's no longer Onsen anywhere on site - supposedly, Onsen stopped flowing about 7 years ago, and that was that. It's a shame, given that there is "Spa" in the property's name, but a Japanese Spa resort without Onsen is a bit of a misnomer if you ask me. Not their fault, but them's the facts. Dining wise, Bella Vista offers 3 options - Sushi, Kaiseki and Basque-inspired cuisine. All three of the restaurants serve dishes using the very best of local ingredients from both land and sea. We had dinner at Erretegia, the Basque-Japanese restaurant, and it was delightful. Not every dish was super memorable, but there were some standouts among the bunch. The Wood fire-grilled Japanese Butter Fish ("Managatsuo" in Japanese) was sublime; it was grilled to perfection, and the sauce made from White Japanese Scallions and White Miso Soybean Paste was among the best fish Western-style seafood dishes we've had in a long time. And while the Paella was not the type you'll ever find in Spain, it was quite simple (not much in the Paella), very subtle in a Japanese way, and was delicious. The rice was a type of organic glutonous barley rice from Okayama Prefecture that had an amazing texture, and it was seasoned with broth from Pheasant. To top it off, there was Grated Japanese Mountain Yam ("Tororo") that was gooey and served as a great texture contrast, while the Homemade Black Garlic Aioli Sauce can be added to the Paella for those that would like more flavor. Not the typical Paella, right? In a way, it was more of a cross between Paella and Risotto, but the chefs did a wonderful job with this offering. For breakfast, Bella Vista has both Japanese and Western selections, but they're in separate restaurants so you won't be able to try both during the same morning. We went with Japanese, and while it was decent, it was not quite as inspired as the food we enjoyed for dinner. Most of the food was buffet style, while items like grilled Fish (you can choose from 3 types), steamed rice and miso soup are brought to your table. The biggest issue we had with Bella Vista was its location - it's far from just about any major tourist site worth visiting. Even though there is "Onomichi" to its name, it's about a 40 minute drive away from the main tourist area. In fact, it's closer to Tomonoura (another quaint and historic seaside resort town), but even then, it'll take you almost 30 minutes to get there. As a resort that's meant for guests to enjoy the property and its immediate vicinity, I'm not sure there's enough here to offer most guests, especially during the non-Summer months. And the lack of Onsen really detracts from the ability for guests to maximize their quite enjoyment at the property - free flowing Onsen in each guest room would have dramatically upped the desirability quotient at this place. In summary, I don't feel that Bella Vista is sufficiently world class to warrant a stay here just for the sake of it.

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