Welcome to Honke Bankyu. This Traditional Ryokan is located at Yunishikawa Onsen in Nikko prefecture. Honke Bankyu was established in 1666 for visitors taking hot spring cures, and is run by a 25th generation descendant of the Heike Dynasty. This ryokan has two buildings: the Honkan (main building) and Junihitoekan (annex). It has 44 Japanese style guest rooms; 30 of them have their own private bathroom and toilet. Honke Bankyu has a traditional restaurant with several Irori (sunken hearth), where guests can enjoy freshly grilled kaiseki meals. Notice: Honke Bankyu is located outside the main sightseeing areas of Nikko.

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Ryokan Reviews:

• Fantastic Ryokan for Koyo

  Charlotte

  Month of Visit: October

  Country Of Reviewer: United Kingdom

  Atmosphere Rating - 5

  Food Rating - 5

  Staff Rating - 5

  Location Rating - 5

  Room Rating - 5

  Honke Bankyu is nestled away in the small town of Yunishigawaonsen, a good bus ride through some magnificent views from the actual train station of Yunishigawaonsen. A bus stop is located just outside the Ryokan, we arrived a couple of hours before check-in, our bags were taken and we were invited to have coffee in their beautiful lobby that overlooks the river, we decided to have a walk around their town, had lunch in a cute little cafe and just wandered around, there's a small forestry park near the Heike village museum that was absolutely wonderful. We returned to the Ryokan to check-in everything was explained to us and we booked the private outdoor Onsen for a fee, we were then shown to our room after being welcome with a stroke of their huge gong in the foyer, after a quick explanation of the location of the public bath locations and the breakfast hall we were led to our room, we were staying in the Honkan overlooking the river, and I must say that the room we stayed in was the largest room I think I've ever been in! The view was fantastic and we could see the bridge from the window too! The sweets left for tea were delightful goma wagashi and the yukata were provided in a man's and woman's size and both were perfect fits, the large men's appeared to be even better a fit than the XL we'd been provided at a previous Ryokan; my partner is pretty large and we were convinced we'd have to use his own yukata we brought in case of them being too small! I went and took advantage of the public baths and was in heaven! The water was not too hot and I could have bathed in there for hours! I didn't really go into the indoor bath, just the outdoor one, which was a lovely view of the river! For dinner you walk across the extremely wobbly bridge to the other building for dinner, we were led to our own private room and had the loveliest server! We was learning English so we spoke in English, spoke to him about the UK and asked him questions, he was a lovely chap and really helped our evening become even more enjoyable! He explained how we eat the food, as a lot is cooked on the fire, and we dug in! The appertif was delightful, there was grilled char, their special miso fowl dumpling, soba barley, grilled sesame mochi, the Tochigi beef was absolutely delicious, with buttery taste and melt in your mouth texture! The dessert was a fantastic caramel pudding too, top notch dinner! We returned to our room, the futons were amazingly soft! A couple of hours later we went and picked up the key for the private Onsen, it was extremely cold to get undressed which unfortunately made the water feel even hotter, but the view was fantastic and the cool air mixed with the hot water was lovely. Unfortunately it rained fairly hard in the night, turns out the rain hits the roof quite hard so that was quite an invasive sound for sleeping too, but can't be helped! Breakfast was a buffet which I had never experienced with a ryokan but I must say their buffet selection was fantastic! Checkout was nice and straightforward, I also took the opportunity to buy their special spice mix to take home as presents, all in all, a fantastic stay, well worth the money!