When traveling to the countryside we love staying at onsen ryokan. These are inns with hot springs. Many will include dinner and breakfast with the stay.

In Mie south of Ise Shrine we stayed at Ijika Daiichi Hotel Kagura. It was a lovely property on the top of a hill so we had gorgeous 360 views of mountains and the Pacific Ocean. We booked a corner room that included an extra large private bath that overlooked the sunset.

The onsen was lovely, both the indoor and the rotenburo outdoor baths. Dinner includes some local dishes including oysters, Ise lobster, Mie wagyū beef, hijiki sea vegetables, and aosa sea vegetables. The sea bream heads were grilled for breakfast and the lobster makes for a rich miso soup.

There was also a fun morning ritual of feeding birds with offcuts of sashimi. Quite a few families gathered on the deck to toss pieces of raw fish into the sky to be caught by hungry birds.

Ijika Daiichi Hotel Kagura

https://www.kagura-izika.com/en/

Some tips when booking ryokan:

*It is unusual to have beds. Most will be futon on the tatami mat. But, some properties are upgrading rooms to include beds.

*Inquire if there is a shuttle bus to the closest station. This property had one. The ride was about 25 minutes from Toba Station. Reservations must be made for the shuttle.

*Meals range from private dining, either in your room or in a public dining room to a buffet. We had a private room for dinner and then a buffet for breakfast. 

*In the past it was hard to get coffee at some ryokan. It’s changing, but I usually travel with coffee – just in case.

*There is a wide variety of budgets for onsen ryokan. This was an older property but the onsen was recently refurbished. 

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