Arimasansoh Goshobessho
C · 6.7 / 10situational
A ten-room luxury property with French-inspired dining in Arima Onsen, its grounds thick with trees and ponds and its villas built to blend into that calming landscape, and the best KI-NRT has found in a town whose ryokans have otherwise never cut the mustard for him. The genuine hot-spring water suffers from a slow, self-fill in-room tub, and the top villa runs a little dark, but service is refined and after two nights he said the quality of it all will not make you feel cheated in any way.
Scores
Food 3.5 / 5
Dinner is French-inspired with Japanese ingredients (bouillabaisse with fried lobster, Japanese turnip and yuzu; a spring roll of lotus root mochi and cheese), ending with rice, miso soup and pickles as a kaiseki does. KI-NRT found the food very good but just short of exceptional, and he preferred the food at Nakanobo Zuien, also in Arima. Breakfast is more Western (French toast, grilled fish) and satisfying though not memorable.
Bath 2.5 / 5
The water is the real Arima water, brackish brown and smelling of sulfur, unlike the clear water of most onsen. But the in-room bath in the Villa is not free-flowing: you fill the huge tub from a tap that trickles, 30 to 60 minutes per bath, which KI-NRT found tedious. The communal baths are indoors with no view. The Villa bathroom also has a sauna, and a new treehouse villa has an open-air kinsen (gold) bath on its deck.
Service 4 / 5
Service is refined and a little formal, and KI-NRT could tell the staff had all been comprehensively trained in Japanese hospitality. Given the clientele that stays here, he thought discreet and unobtrusive was probably appropriate.
Room 3.5 / 5
KI-NRT's Villa Suite, the top room type, is listed at 100 square metres and felt bigger, with an enormous living room, a large bedroom, a small balcony over the ravine, high vaulted ceilings and a bathroom as big as many hotel rooms with dual vanities and the onsen tub. The dark wood and dark brown furnishings were on the dark side for his taste, and the lighting only just kept the room from feeling gloomy.
Place 4 / 5
The property is at the end of the strip of hotels in Arima Onsen, quaint but a walk from the main tourist areas, and its buildings and villas blend in nicely with grounds full of trees, ponds and pretty vegetation. Stepping into the grounds will instantly reduce your blood pressure, it is that soothing a place. Arima is a stone's throw from Osaka and Kobe, and most of its other ryokans are massive pre-bubble hotels or small, run-down places.
Getting there
- Osaka — 1h05, 0 transfers. Osaka Stn/Umeda to Arima Onsen ~60 min direct highway bus, then ~5 min to inn.
- Kobe — 0h35, 1 transfer. Shin-Kobe/Sannomiya to Arima ~30 min by bus or Kobe Electric Rly, then ~5 min.
Sources
FlyerTalk review #1 · TripAdvisor 4★ (December 2020) · #334 · #590 · #726 (thread mentions)