Reviews of Natural Onsen Hostel Hidamari no Yu 1 stars

I think this hostel is geared towards japanese people more so than westerners and I would urge tourists to book elsewhere better if possible. I only booked this stay because it was the only one available in Takayama at the time of booking. The only thing I liked here was that the bathrooms were clean but there is no handsoap! which I find baffling. Overall, it seemed like the building was previously some sort of office / business building which they renovated it to a hostel, it definitely felt outdated. Even with the complaints, it really is not that bad of a stay (granted if you only stay for 1 to maybe 3 nights) and it wasn't so bad to the point where I felt like I had to book elsewhere. Liveable

Firstly, the communal shower area are only OPEN showers (seperated by gender of course) and I found the shower area to not be the most pleasant in terms of cleanliness. You do have to take off your shoes and walk around without shoes on and you store your shoes in small lockers which then you give the key to the staff and they hand you a wristwear key for the shower lockers and in order to get your shoes to go outsi, you have to hand the wristwear key for the shoelocker key. There is a curfew of 10:30pm (doors closed after that and doors are closed until 7:30am if I remember correctly) and showers close at 11pm. Location isn't great either, while there is the bus right outside the establishment which gets you to the main areas of Takayama, I believe it does not run often- one in the early morning then 11am and then the next and last i think was either 2:30pm or 5pm. Walking to the station is around 20mins (the hostel is on the outskirts of the town centre). My bed was comfortable enough to sleep in, however, you aren't given a proper duvet but some pink polyester like cover which I didn't use as it had a stain, I also put a shirt over my pillow as I overall didn't trust the cleanliness and maintenance here (seems like they want to cut costs and didn't have that many staff). There are no personal sockets, only 2 sockets per corner of the room so about 8 sockets total for a room of what 24 ish beds. Plus the sockets are next to someone else's bed so awkward to use. Another big thing is that the beds do not have any curtains or privacy whatsoever so I would not recommend for female travellers (unsure if they have a female only dorm) not that there were any odd people while I stayed, mainly old / older japanese men but is advisory. There are no luggage storage areas so had to just put my luggage next to my bed. While the smell in the dorm room was fine, the entrance area was unpleasant- smelled old, musty and unkept.

Tattooed guest wasn't allowed to have a shower.

The property is very clean and spacious. Staff is very nice and accommodating to foreigners

The Onsen was really nice

Room was noisy, staff didn't have away to translate to English.

old japanese men sleeping on the floor of the hostel lobby next to their 20 beer cans, dorm rooms freely accessible for anyone, so I did not feel safe as a solo female traveller. also, there is a curfew, meaning you have to be back at the hostel before 10:30pm

It is in the middle of nowhere so the restaurant that they have in the onsen is acceptable. The onsen has several different pools with different temperatures and a sauna.

The place is a spa/onsen mostly for japanese. When you arrive, you have to put your shoes in the locker and you have to give the key to the receptionist so everytime that you are leaving the place you have to ask for your shoes. You have to pay for everything (shower-onsen, towels,...). It is far from the center and the transfer is not that often. The first transfer from the onsen is at 10 in the morning. I had an early train so I had to walk 20 minutes with the luggage to take one train to the station.

Have Onsen and sauna facilities, very spacious facilities, a local produces ie fruit and vegetable to sell at reasonable price.

Onsen should be free to the staying guest will be great:), they should put their contact no or email address in the booking.com and allow to fill in male and female booking. Should provide more frequent free subtle bus service

If you need a place to just sleep while nothing else in your budget is available it will do. As all other reviews are saying this place is a bit to get used to for western standards 😂 be prepared to walk into town for 40 min if you don't want to wait for the first shuttle at 10 am be prepared for noise as the walls between sleeping rooms are super thin as well as the mattresses. yes this place has an oddness to it. but I found it interesting to experience, the character it has of being a local community place where people come to rest, eat, bath, sleep and socialise has a bit of the real Japan. the shuttle was great if you didn't feel like walking back 40 min after exploring Takayama. Even though the staff doesn't speak English they are reliable if it comes to drop off and pick up with the regular shuttle van. make sure you read the booking.com facility and guidelines as the shuttle times and where to wait for the shuttle are listed there.

That the shuttle only starts at 10 am into town Quality of mattress and the thin walls between the sleeping rooms that there wasn't anything to secure your bigger luggage

You have to pay to take a shower Very far from the city and bus station Too noisy. A group of school students made a lot of noise in the dorms and the onsen. Staff don't speak English Lights were on until late and it was hard to sleep. You actually sleep on a mat on the ground with other 40+ people Buses depart too late to make the most of the day. Had to walk 40 min from and to bus station with my luggage Not recommended

The Japanese onsen was a totally different experience. All naked. I guess it would be good to be briefed beforehand but nobody speaks english.

Too strict. Reminded me of school days. I stayed two nights and they changed my bed location despite I told them I wanted to remain in the same spot. Language barriers. They don't speak English.

It is a hostel so it does have a place to sleep. Also the employees let us in after we missed a bus and showed up 15 min after it closed (it closes at 11pm). We saw an employee leaving and they let us check in. They also have shuttles in and out of town if you catch them at the right time. It also seemed to be clean enough.

I cannot express enough how terrible this experience was. Easily the worst hostel I’ve ever had the misfortune of staying at. Where to start? 1. It’s extremely inconvenient. We came for the fall festival so we didn’t get back to the hostel until night time. If you miss the shuttles (which end before 10), the buses only run every hour and even then there’s still a 20 minute walk which was very dark as we got there at night. I wouldn’t want to do it alone. 2. Zero communication. I tried contacting the hostel about when we could check in and if we could check in earlier or later than posted and I got no answer. 3. Weird policies. They keep your shoes hostage. You put your shoes in a locker and then give them the key for some reason and they give you a key to a bath locker. The shower and baths cost money by the way. 4. Even though we had made a reservation, they somehow ran out of room in the women’s dorm space so they put us in the men’s room. They put up barrier screens which was nice but I wouldn’t have felt safe with that if I had been traveling alone so thankfully I was with 2 other women. 5. Uncomfortable. The futons are maybe an inch and a half thick and you get one blanket with a very uncomfortable hard pillow. It got cold at night and the blanket wasnt enough. 6. Unmentionable activities. We were woken in the night by the very obvious sounds of a man gratifying himself for about an hour in the middle of the night. We stayed here bc other places cost $300-$400 per night for 3 people during the fall festival. We absolutely should have booked elsewhere. I would easily pay that much to not have the experience I just had.

Onsen and Restaraunt were nice.

Dorms were run down, "futons" were very thin and uncomfortable sheets on a hard floor, it is far away from everything, facilities are quite old.

There was an outdoor onsen

Use of showers (!) or onsen was not included, not even small bath towels. The outdoor onsen stops at 9, althought the onsen is open until 23:30... The private room was a booth vis-á-vis the reception desk and on the way to the toilets. The futons were very thin and the cushions were hard. you could feel the vibrations of people walking by outside. Moreover, the whole building is locked over night until 07:30, when the reception reopens. Your shoes are taken hostage until then^^

Staff was super friendly. They offer a free shuttle

The location is very far from takayama. Walking is basically impossibile. At least there's a free shuttle. They try to charge you for both shower and onsen, which is weird as they are the same thing. When I asked they charged me only the shower, which was less costly, 300 yen. I guess they make a lot of money double charging the same thing. There are 2 types of dormitories. Either bunk beds, or a tatami with a ridiculus amount of sleeping mats. Be ready to sleep 1 meter away from random strangers. Everything is quite dirty and smelly. The onsen wayer is disgusting. The worse thing is the wake up, with a super noisy annoucement about the schedule of the shuttle. They could just inform you at the checkin rather than walking up everyone at 7. Avoid if possible. This place is worse than an hostel l.

affordable, staff was lovely 😊 very helpful and friendly

Had to pay for showers and a towel, showers are just right in the onsen so no privacy, I wouldn’t complain if i didn’t have to pay to take a communal shower, towel also cost 300 yen?? the room looks like they just took an old office room and put a bunch of beds in it. I came back at 23:15 and the place was already locked, luckily a staff member leaving let me in. No privacy, when you leave the room you’re just in the reception with a bunch of people going to use the onsen. Also you have to lock up your shoes and give them the key after? Yes it’s cheap but with the add on stuff and bus fare it’s honestly more worth your money to stay in a hostel or hotel in the actual town. Couldn’t even use the onsen because i have tattoos lol

Clean, staff super nice, this is a small town so do not expect they would speak English but they try really hard to explain themselves using the translator and super nice and helping in everything they can

The beds don't have a night light and the location is a little far, the bus stop is a 20 min walking, but this is not something they can change, its just so other people are ready to leave early since you'll have to walk to the station

The onsen are amazing.

The beds had no sheet.