This was a delightful surprise. It is a 40-min bus or taxi ride up from Takamaya and is well worth the trip out and back. We stayed longer here than most other hotels.
We will remember this one for its charm, the kindness and cooking skills of the owner and family, and the nearby ryokans that provide the best lunches, Cafe mokkamokka, and Ryoken Tonoyashi (sp ?)- the Sansui people will tell you which one. This dinner spot provided the most delicious simple and AMPLE dinners for much less than we spent elsewhere on our 3-week trip. Definitely, we'll come back.
The walks into and around the mountains were breathtaking. We made sure to do a pre-lunch and pre-dinner walk up and down a short span of the main road.
As a ryoken, the usual pajamas provided by hotels the Sansui provided were a full kimono and jacket suitable for men and women. We wore these to the one dinner we had at Sansui - private dining room, and it was a hoot. The food was amazing, and highly traditional consisting of about a dozen small plates and 4-5 larger plates. Great value for excellent and abundant servings.
The mountains at the start of spring are beautiful. We picked a good time.
This is a retro 60s ryoken. So know that as such it has everything, including a throwback to ski resorts of that era, but misses slightly on wifi only in the lobby. Still, we met other friendly travelers all cranking into wifi and telling stories.