Nishiyama Onsen Keiunkan

can’t find any words how to describe our life last two days. everything and everyone were perfect. onsen! my skin after onsen was soft.. i’m so fascinated to visit this hotel, i’m so proud to stay here my deepest thanks to personal, chiefs and everyone ho made our stay mesmerizing go guys you’re the best of the best!

Great history ! Amazing breakfast and dinner service was immaculate!

Everything from the scenery, staff and food was incredible! The staff made us feel welcomed after such a long way writing iur names at the entry, room and even the table. Every dish was prepared with such care and was delicious. Worth the for travel! Such a beautiful view and traditional room, the baths were also a nice treat for the end of a long day :))

The world oldest Ryokan and hotel is definitely worth the title. We arrived at a much later timing, 3 hours after our check-in to be precise because of detour and traffic conditions. Location wise is definitely not the easiest to reach with other transports beside driving there. However we give 5 stars because we don't it that much of a hassle to us. In terms of service, it's extremely excellent. When we arrived, we will greeted by the staffs, luggage being handled and bring to our room for us. Even though we were late for our dinner (last timing 6.30pm), the staffs was still very accommodating and arrange it for us at 6.45pm while explaining to us the facilities, rules and regulation of the place and etc. While having the dinner and breakfast, the staffs will explain each of the various dishes before we begin eating and will leave the room after explanation in order to let us enjoy. The onsen was great and definitely a must try. Everything about this place is so perfect that we will definitely go back a second time with 2 days in a row to fully enjoy and relax.

Heritage + Nature’s Providence + Commitment to Excellence = Raison d’être for over 1300 years of Successful Hospitality! After two absolutely stunning days of rest, relaxation, recharge and nourishment at the Nishiyama Onsen Keiunkan @ Yamanashi Prefecture Japan, I realised how silly I was to even doubt whether it would have been money well spent to indulge more than USD500 per night on this truly amazing Onsen Inn which has stood the test of time for over 1300 years, and has been granted Guinness World Record Status for being the World’s Oldest Hotel in operation since AD 706! The Japanese insistence on quality, attention to details and the genuine care and concern we experienced were all reasons why I would gladly stay at this excellent property again given the opportunity. Nature endowed the owners of the property with a hot spring that had consistently been sprouting clear high quality water for over 1300 years. Leveraging on nature’s gifts, the management of the hotel has amplified the experience for its guests by ensuring that the staff at the hotel were trained to go out of their way to make the experience of evert guest memorable. One of the scenes which stuck in my mind was to see some of the hotel staff braving the rain to ensure that we were sheltered and our luggage were kept dry, to quickly settling us into our rooms and making sure that all our queries and concerns relating to the meal and onsen arrangements were addressed. Add to that the superior meals we were served for both days during dinner & breakfast, where they made sure that even the kids were served high quality produce (eg steamed king crab meat) carefully mixed with kid favourite such as mini hamburger steak patties exemplified their attention to details, caring not such for the adults but also the tiny tots in our party. And of course one simply cannot stop raving about the quality of the onsen: uniquely situated to provide superior views of the valley and a 24 hour access to the onsen, with access to 4 different public onsen spaces and 2 private onsen (on demand and subject to availability) we wonder if we would ever find another hot spring that would live up to the impeccable standards of Nishiyama Onsen Yamanashi! A special shout out to staff Haba San who was always warm, helpful, considerate and going out of the way to make us feel right at home, many thanks!

Nishiyama Onsen Keiunkan has a lot going for it, but a few things detracted from the overall experience - many of which are not the fault of the ryokan itself, but it's worth noting. We've stayed at tons of top onsen ryokans throughout Japan, but what intrigued us most about visiting Keiunkan had to do with its history - it's officially recognized as the oldest continually operating inn/hotel in the world. It was established in 705 A.D., and has been run by the same family which is in its 53rd generation. That alone had us excited. The fact that the Suite that we booked - the "special room Kitadake," with its top floor corner location and free-flowing open-air outdoor Onsen (natural hot springs) bath, had us giddy with excitement. The two primary downsides are its location (and surrounds) and lack of any historical vibe. First, it’s in the middle of nowhere. Usually, that would be fine, but there is nothing to see and do within 30 minutes (driving) of the ryokan. Minobusan (and Minobusan Kuon-ji Temple) are about a half-hour away, but not really a must-do. Aside from that… nothing. Also, along the way there, all we saw were trucks after big trucks (hardly any cars) carrying gravel/rocks. And all along the Hayakawa River, there were mounds of sand and massive boulders that either were excavated by the trucks or were dumped there. And then there were tons and tons of quarries. And lots of road construction, with construction staff managing traffic every 5 minutes or so (the roads were one lane each way, naturally.) It was dusty, and the river was not picturesque at all. We later learned from our room attendant that Japan is building a Magnetic Levitation Train with much of it planned to run underground, so there was a ton of work in the area in building the tunnel that would pass through Shizuoka and Yamanashi. This will continue until at least 2027, so this is something to be mindful about. Secondly, if you didn't know that Keiunkan was originally established in 705AD, you would not have any sense of Keiunkan being an old, historic property. This has to do with a massive typhooon which completely devastated the property (and the entire area) about 60 years ago, and all of the then-exhibited items from antiquity (scrolls, ceramics, paintings, etc.) were also lost. That said, this is not unusual in Japan, where typhoons, fires and earthquakes are the norm, and Keiunkan was probably rebuilt at least 8 times over the course of its history. Still, it's a shame that no trace of its historic past is evident to guests when staying at the ryokan. FYI, the current building was built a few miles away from the original location in 1997, and let's just say it is not exactly an architectural beauty. It's also a rather large property by ryokan standards, with 37 total rooms. This can be a plus, what with Keiunkan having quite a few public Onsen options on site - something that only a handful of much smaller luxury ryokans can offer on the same scale. As a ry