Kamenoi Hotel Ako

The Hotel was very clean, and the ocean-view Room was wonderful.The Onsen also offered a full view of the sea, and the water quality was excellent.The meals were also outstanding.Many of the staff were international, and I appreciated their courteous service.Breakfast was luxurious!I truly enjoyed a wonderful stay. Thank you very much.

Located a little over an hour from home, and knowing it used to be a former Kanpo no Yado, we visited as a weekend drive trip with our family without expecting too much (forgive me). Our main reason was the all-you-can-eat crab plan. However, we were surprised to find it had been transformed into a lovely seaside Resort Hotel exactly like the photos on IKYU.The view from our Room was wonderful, and we immediately enjoyed coffee on the balcony while looking out at the sea. The samue loungewear was also comfortable, and we headed to the bath carrying a cute wicker basket.The large public bath was great—the view from the open-air bath was refreshing, and there were thoughtful features such as Ako salt sauna and cascading water baths. We also enjoyed the Onsen at night even when we couldn’t see the ocean. Table tennis and darts were fun too!Most satisfying of all were breakfast and dinner. We simply added an all-you-can-eat crab option to a standard course, but everything in the course—potato dumplings, grilled sole, grilled shabu-shabu-style dishes—was delicious. Even though I’ve had similar items before, this felt like an upgrade on “delicious.” Of course the crab was great as well, but especially the sashimi—I live in the Seto Inland Sea area too, yet it’s rare to find sashimi this good.There are many Accommodations that cost more than twice as much per night, so under JPY 20,000 per person for this quality is excellent value.If I had to mention drawbacks: it’s not easy to reach by public transportation; checkout is early; there’s no bottled water in the Room; amenities are limited; I’d like alcoholic options in the lounge drink service even if paid; and there are no towels in the large public bath. Still, I felt it offered such great value that these points didn’t matter overall.A week later my son is still saying how amazing Kamenoi’s sashimi was and asking to go again! It became a wonderful family memory. Next time we’d like to stay in a different type of Room.