Arima Onsen Gekkoen Yugetsusanso

“A vacation for your vacation”

About halfway through my 2ish week Japan trip i wanted to spend a night an Onsen near Kobe. Just something to kind of break up the hustle of the trip. I ended choosing Arima Onsen Gekkoen Korokan. My god, i was not expecting this level of quality. I’ve never been one to stay at nice hotels or resor… more

About halfway through my 2ish week Japan trip i wanted to spend a night an Onsen near Kobe. Just something to kind of break up the hustle of the trip. I ended choosing Arima Onsen Gekkoen Korokan. My god, i was not expecting this level of quality. I’ve never been one to stay at nice hotels or resorts, so take what i say with a grain of salt but the effort from staff was very nice. They had bellhops down the hill that took my luggage up(will get into this in a bit), all staff up front was bowing and greeting, they take you to your room and give you correct fitting yukatas. I’ve never had an experience like this, so this was such a nice and pleasant touch. So the biggest thing i 1000% would have done in hindsight was forward my luggage to Osaka and have an overnight bag here. From Tokyo you take the Shinkansen all the way down and start taking local subways in Kobe to Arima-Onsen. However the train only goes so far and you’ll be at the bottom of a hill. So trying to take a 15 minute walk uphill with two pieces of luggage was not ideal. I later learned that there is a shuttle that can take you to the hotel but i was too dumb to look before hand. But the hotel itself is quality. It’s right on a little river, with two different baths and a hotspring. I went to all three and they were all very nice. All three (speaking from male side) had “locker rooms” where you put your belongings. They all had small lockers as well if you have a phone with you or something. The main hotels bath was the biggest and had a really nice view of the river outside. The hotspring was pretty low key and relaxing. Probably my favorite. The final bath at the other sister hotel was decent, not as nice as the first to me but no complaints. When you’re here, take a second to learn how to put on the yukata(there’s a guide in the room) and wear that to the baths. For guys just wear underwear underneath, and girls can wear more i believe underneath. If you’re scared of being naked in front on strangers, don’t do a public Onsen. They’re all fully nude but i never felt weird about it. If you don’t want to be in front of strangers, they do have a few private Onsens you can rent. I did see signs at the baths that said no tattoos in public baths, so you might be able to get away with small covered ones but definitely take your chances or rent private. As for the room it’s nothing to write home about. I got a standard western because i was mostly here for the baths. Seems like there is a lot of house keeping and room services available. There are a couple restaurants, a spa, a karaoke bar, and a shop here too that i didn’t get to all try but might be nice for a two night stay. The town of Kobe nearby seems to be a big Japanese tourist spot because i only saw a few foreigners here at all. Didn’t see many restaurants, a lot of cafes and dessert shops tho. Overall was very happy with my stay, I’d recommend.

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“Charming Hotel”

Utterly charming hotel. The hotel is very convenient for the small town, just a few minutes walk away. They provide a shuttle bus to and from the bus or train station. The hotel is also very close to the cable car to the mountain top and many hiking trail heads. Fantastic gem. The hotel has sever… more

Utterly charming hotel. The hotel is very convenient for the small town, just a few minutes walk away. They provide a shuttle bus to and from the bus or train station. The hotel is also very close to the cable car to the mountain top and many hiking trail heads. Fantastic gem. The hotel has several shared onsens and private ones too. I had a marvellous massage at the spa. The staff were very helpful and thoughtful. I was accommodated for at dinner as a vegetarian—I had let the hotel know in advance and they were prepared! The dinner buffet had a huge spread on offer. We stayed in a tatami mat room which was like stepping back in time. The hotel provides a yukata for you wear in the hotel and hot water in a thermos of tea.

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“Charming Onsen”

Stayed here 2 nights and had a very relaxing and laid-back visit. Took the bus from Sannomiya in Kobe to Arima Onsen for about an hour (about 700 yen). Used Google Maps to find the place (what will register is Arima Onsen Korokan - it’s the same compound). It’s about a 10 minute easy uphill walk t… more

Stayed here 2 nights and had a very relaxing and laid-back visit. Took the bus from Sannomiya in Kobe to Arima Onsen for about an hour (about 700 yen). Used Google Maps to find the place (what will register is Arima Onsen Korokan - it’s the same compound). It’s about a 10 minute easy uphill walk to the hotel from the bus stop, though you can get a free pick up from the hotel if you have a phone. The room is charming. It’s quite spacious for a ryokan, and comes with a sitting area with a window with a view of the mountains. The beddings are very comfortable and yakutas, wooden slippers, socks are provided for the duration of stay. There is a bridge that connects the big building to the back area building. Our room was in the back area. Here, there is an outdoor onsen for women, plus an indoor onsen. In the main building, there is an indoor and outdoor onsen, but the design is grey tile instead of rustic stone and wood. Each one has both a silver and gold water onsen. I preferred using the small onsen room in the back building because it was less crowded. In the main building, the lounge area in front of the onsen area on the second floor has electric massage chairs and beds that can be used for free (in other onsens we tried, it’s at least 100 per 10-20 min use). The massage beds were very relaxing and I really enjoyed using it. There are many bath, skincare and hair care products in the women’s onsen (hair growth serum, face moisturizers, BB cream, liquid soap, shampoo, conditioner). There is a digital scale, water cooler and towels. I didn’t need to use my own toiletries the whole stay. Our room included buffet breakfast and dinner. An area for improvement is they need to replenish the buffet items. We took the last time slots for all our meals and most of the times, many items were no longer available or there were no plates left so people would use the trays instead. Wifi signal is also not too strong, but maybe because of the mountainous location of Arima Onsen. There’s not much to do in town so if you want to getaway and relax, this is a great option to consider. At checkout, we were given a free ride to the bus station to go to the outlet stores before going back to Osaka.

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