Haifu

“Very Child friendly and also quite lots of staffs can speak fluent English!”

Secret island Shima peninsula near Ise shrine. All room r facing to the ocean and also hot spring bath tab in each room's balcony! Also they have huge Spa type hot spring ,too! Gorgeous seafood with great view. You have to take boat to go this island.

“Charming and pleasing Ryokan”

A very comfortable Japanese style Ryokan, with excellent food and two picturesque outdoor Onsen pools, besides a hot spring mini-tub in your balcony facing the sea. Be careful to watch the entrance signs to the public bathrooms; they switch the gents and ladies sides: at evening and in the morning.… more

A very comfortable Japanese style Ryokan, with excellent food and two picturesque outdoor Onsen pools, besides a hot spring mini-tub in your balcony facing the sea. Be careful to watch the entrance signs to the public bathrooms; they switch the gents and ladies sides: at evening and in the morning. As a sophistication, you can choose the fish to be served as sashimi in the dinner. The staff is very attentive and gentle; during the dinner, when they realized that it was my grandson's birthday, quickly offered a bottle of champagne and a sparkling soft drink as a compliment. An interesting choice for those visiting the Ise-Shima area.

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“Very Nice Japanese Hotel”

Haifu was great. We were very happy to stay there. Very peaceful place and also child friendly. We had a 3-year-old with us. Service was always very friendly, they made us feel very welcome and happy. It is about a 15 minute drive from Ugata station to the boat launch, then a 5 minute boat ride to… more

Haifu was great. We were very happy to stay there. Very peaceful place and also child friendly. We had a 3-year-old with us. Service was always very friendly, they made us feel very welcome and happy. It is about a 15 minute drive from Ugata station to the boat launch, then a 5 minute boat ride to the hotel. The hotel has a bus from the station but if you come by taxi then you just need to call ahead and the boat will come for you. Leaving the island was also flexible, we told them what time we wanted to leave (off the bus schedule) and they arranged the boat and had a taxi waiting for us. The taxi was 3500 JPY to get to the station. The dinner was excellent, such good food. The breakfast was also really nice (had the Japanese style). The food service is quite flexible such as for allergy for other requests. I do not like shrimp, crab, and lobster so this was changed for something else in my dinners and breakfasts. I suggest to ask in advance. Room was OK, but it smelled a bit like smoking inside. We were told that there are no designated non-smoking rooms, so I assume all rooms have a bit of a smoked smell. Room was clean though and the balcony bath was very nice with a seaside view. The main onsen was also nice. Watakano island is quite small. There is a small beach about 10 minutes’ walk from the hotel with some facilities and rental stuff. I would suggest to the hotel to make non-smoking rooms. It will improve the quality for the stay for many of your guests.

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“Quaint Gem of a Ryokan”

Visited the Haifu Onsen Ryokan from Osaka. Travel was around 2.5 hours from the airport to the Shima coast and a short 5 minute boat ride to the Ryokan. I was the first to arrive (as part of a larger group) and the staff was quick to recognise that I couldn't speak a word of Japanese. Thankfully… more

Visited the Haifu Onsen Ryokan from Osaka. Travel was around 2.5 hours from the airport to the Shima coast and a short 5 minute boat ride to the Ryokan. I was the first to arrive (as part of a larger group) and the staff was quick to recognise that I couldn't speak a word of Japanese. Thankfully, one of the concierge spoke English and he gave me a run down of the hotel, the rooms, breakfast and most importantly, the location of the hotel onsen. The rooms were typical Ryokan style with outdoor showers and an outdoor spring water bath tub (kind of a mini-onsen in your balcony). My room faced the sea and it was great sitting out in the Onsen bath on the balcony in the cold-ish early-winter and enjoying the views of the sea. The beds were (surprisingly) western style beds rather than futons laid on the floor. Beds were comfortable but I would have preferred them 'Japanese style'. I tried the public baths and it was a strange experience again to have to observe the traditional Japanese customs of cleaning and washing before walking into the Onsen. There were 3 'baths' - an indoor pool and 2 outdoor pools - with the outdoor pools fashioned out of rock/stones. Breakfast portions were big and comprised both western and Japanese breakfast (i.e., western style breads, eggs, sausages followed by rice, fish, soup and pickles etc). Food was delicious but after the first day, I had to politely decline some of the dishes. To be honest, I could not finish that much food! We had 2 dinners at the restaurant as well - overall the food were fresh and well prepared - the only complaint is that they had a rather limited selection of sake available at the hotel. I would certainly recommend this hotel to tourists visiting the Shima region.

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