🕓 2024/7/20
#Hotels
About Iwate
Iwate is known as a region that boasts beautiful nature and rich culture in Japan. Located in the Tohoku region and facing the Pacific Ocean, this prefecture attracts many tourists with its stunning scenery that changes with the four seasons. In particular, the World Heritage Site of Hiraizumi, Hachimantai, and Geibikei Gorge are popular tourist attractions.
It is also a region that retains a strong sense of history and tradition. There are abundant cultural attractions, including the Chagu Chagu Umakko horse festival that has continued since ancient times and the Sansa Odori dance festival in Morioka. Furthermore, Iwate is known as a “land of abundance,” with delicious food and numerous hot springs. Local specialties such as Maesawa beef and Morioka reimen (cold noodles) are extremely popular with visitors.
Below, we introduce three carefully selected luxury hotels that offer a special stay when visiting Iwate.
3 Carefully Selected Luxury Hotels in Iwate Prefecture
- Yamanokami Onsen Yukaen
- Hanamaki Onsen Kashoen
- Yusen Shidate
- ●The Appeal of Yusen Shidate
- ●Access Information for Yusen Shidate
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Yamanokami Onsen Yukaen
Source: Yamanokami Onsen Yukaen Official Website
●The Appeal of Yamanokami Onsen Yukaen
Yamanokami Onsen Yukaen is a hot spring ryokan located in Hanamaki City, Iwate Prefecture, nestled in the Hanamaki Minami Onsen Village. Its appeal lies in its architecture showcasing the skills of shrine carpenters, beautiful natural surroundings, and luxurious hot spring experiences.
■ Beauty of Shrine Carpenter Architecture
Yamanokami Onsen Yukaen is distinguished by its architecture crafted by shrine carpenters (miyadaiku). The coffered ceilings and sliding door craftsmanship throughout the building showcase masterful artistry down to the finest details, allowing guests to appreciate the beauty of traditional Japanese architecture. The coffered ceiling (gou-tenjou) is an architectural style that creates regular geometric patterns by combining vertical and horizontal lattice frames, and it is featured throughout the entire Yukaen. This attention to detail gives the entire building a distinctive sense of dignity.
■ Luxurious Hot Spring Experience
The hot spring water is a pH 9.3 alkaline simple hot spring, known as “Torotoro no Yu” (silky smooth water). The water quality is smooth with a moist texture, providing excellent skin-beautifying effects. This hot spring has various benefits including fatigue recovery, health promotion, and relief from neuralgia and joint pain, offering relaxation and healing to visitors. At Yukaen, guests can enjoy four types of free-flowing natural hot spring baths. Each bath has its own unique character, offering new discoveries with every visit. The “Komorebi no Yu” is renowned as a large open-air bath where guests can enjoy bathing while taking in the beautiful natural scenery.
■ Delicious Cuisine
At Yukaen, cuisine is prepared using an abundance of ingredients from Iwate’s mountains, countryside, and sea. The creative dishes that make the most of local ingredients can be enjoyed with all five senses, and guests can discover new flavors with each visit. The dining areas are designed to create a sense of unity with nature, creating a special atmosphere.
■ Excellent Facilities and Services
The hotel offers a variety of facilities beyond the hot springs. These include a relaxing massage parlor and esthetic salon, a souvenir shop stocked with local specialties, and an elegant banquet hall, among other diverse services. The spacious grounds also feature beautiful gardens where guests can enjoy scenery that changes with the four seasons.
●Access Information for Yamanokami Onsen Yukaen
- Official Website: https://www.yuukaen.jp/
- Access: Approximately 35 minutes by taxi from Hanamaki Station on the Tohoku Main Line
- Address: 53-1 Nakano, Shimoshizawa, Hanamaki City, Iwate Prefecture 025-0253
- Google Maps: https://maps.app.goo.gl/5wvMqZJ7Ci9EuVAQ7
Hanamaki Onsen Kashoen
Source: Hanamaki Onsen Kashoen Official Website
● The Appeal of Hanamaki Onsen Kashoen
Hanamaki Onsen Kashoen is a luxury hot spring inn located in Hanamaki City, Iwate Prefecture, offering a luxurious space surrounded by beautiful nature. This inn is particularly distinguished by three key features: high-quality hot springs, fine cuisine, and a serene environment.
■ Premium Hot Springs
Kashoen’s hot spring is known as “Torotoro no Yu” (silky smooth water). It is a highly concentrated alkaline hot spring with a pH of 9.0, renowned for its excellent skin-beautifying effects. The water is colorless and transparent with a smooth texture, and is said to be effective for neuralgia, muscle pain, and stress relief. Both indoor and outdoor baths are available, allowing guests to enjoy the hot springs at any time during their stay.
■ Diverse Guest Rooms and Private Spaces
Kashoen offers a diverse selection of guest rooms including Japanese-style, Western-style, and Japanese-Western hybrid rooms. With varying sizes and designs, including Japanese rooms with living areas and rooms with private open-air baths, guests can enjoy luxurious moments in spacious surroundings.
The “Royal Suite VIP Room” features a 10-tatami Japanese room, a 4-tatami room, a living-dining area, and a Western-style twin bedroom, complete with a private hinoki (Japanese cypress) bath, providing an opulent stay. Surrounded by a serene Nanbu red pine forest, this inn is also known for its connections to the Imperial family, promising a memorable stay in a space that combines tranquility and beauty.
■ Seasonal Gourmet Cuisine
Kashoen’s dining features Japanese cuisine prepared with fresh local seafood and mountain delicacies. The creative dishes that add new approaches to traditional cooking are renowned for allowing guests to savor seasonal flavors. In particular, the ingredient-focused cuisine makes the most of seasonal produce, offering new taste experiences with each visit.
■ Tranquil Natural Setting
The inn is situated in a serene environment surrounded by Nanbu red pine trees, the prefectural tree. This setting is ideal for forgetting the hustle and bustle of everyday life and spending relaxing moments. The grounds feature gardens where guests can enjoy scenery that changes with the four seasons, from fresh greenery in spring, deep green in summer, autumn foliage, to beautiful snow scenes in winter.
In winter especially, the quiet snow-covered landscape unfolds, and guests can enjoy this beautiful scenery while soaking in the hot springs. From Kashoen’s veranda and courtyard, one can feel the changing of the four seasons and savor the leisurely flow of time.
●Access Information for Hanamaki Onsen Kashoen
- Official Website: https://www.hanamakionsen.co.jp/kashoen
- Access: Approximately 20 minutes by car from JR Shin-Hanamaki Station
- Address: 1-125-2 Yumoto, Hanamaki City, Iwate Prefecture 025-0304
- Google Maps: https://maps.app.goo.gl/AfzMCjqqk6uonK1b8
Yusen Shidate
Source: Yusen Shidate Official Website
●The Appeal of Yusen Shidate
Yusen Shidate is a luxury hot spring inn located in Hanamaki City, Iwate Prefecture, known as a hidden retreat for adults. Its appeal lies in the private open-air baths in every room, exquisite cuisine, and attentive service.
■ All Rooms with Private Open-Air Baths
All 26 guest rooms at Yusen Shidate feature private open-air baths with natural free-flowing hot spring water. From the room’s open-air bath, guests can enjoy views of the clear mountain stream while spending private time surrounded by the beauty of the four seasons. The open-air bath called “Take no Yu” is a simple hot spring that is gentle on the skin.
■ Diverse Hot Spring Experiences
Yusen Shidate offers diverse hot spring experiences. The facility features a spacious communal bath called “Kiku no Yu,” which includes a garden open-air bath, a hiba (Thujopsis) open-air bath, a bath carved from granite, and an indoor bath, providing guests with a variety of bathing options. All of these baths use 100% natural free-flowing spring water, allowing guests to enjoy the hot springs in their pure, natural state.
■ Gourmet Dining Experience
Yusen Shidate serves cuisine made with an abundance of local ingredients. In particular, the private dining room “Kaze to Orgol” offers creative kaiseki cuisine that highlights the finest seasonal ingredients. The dishes use the most delicious ingredients of each season, presented as “Shunyu Chiso” (seasonal feast) that adds a playful touch to Japanese aesthetic sensibilities. The dinner menu features luxurious options such as Maesawa beef sirloin steak and Kesennuma shark fin soup, offering new taste experiences with each visit. Additionally, dishes featuring fresh local seafood and mountain delicacies, such as grilled abalone, are also served, providing a feast for all five senses.
■ Riverside Foot Bath and Garden
Yusen Shidate features a riverside foot bath within its garden, offering visitors a quiet and relaxing experience. Using the same “Kiku no Yu” water as the main bath, the foot bath experience while gazing at the beautiful garden is a truly special and unique experience.
●Access Information for Yusen Shidate
- Official Website: https://shidate.jp/
- Access: 15 minutes by taxi from Hanamaki Station on the Tohoku Main Line (free shuttle bus available)
- Address: 11-2 Yuguchi Shidotaira, Hanamaki City, Iwate Prefecture 025-0244
- Google Maps: https://maps.app.goo.gl/7m98n5V1eNWREpKY6