Kagaya Bettei Matsunomidori
B · 7.9 / 10right inn, right place
The 31-room luxury annex of the giant Kagaya, which KI-NRT calls the top ryokan in Wakura Onsen hands down, with museum-grade art in the public areas, gracious staff and fine Noto seafood. His December 2023 return did not live up to the fond memories of 2016, because the push-button in-room bath is a real flaw at this level, and he now places it a step below some of his other recent top luxury stays. For now the point is moot, because Matsunomidori is being demolished after the 2024 Noto quake and Kagaya is consolidating it into a new building of about 40 rooms due at the end of FY2027.
Scores
Food 4 / 5
Noto seafood is what the kitchen does best, and both meals are served in a private dining room. The sashimi, the amaebi sweet shrimp above all, was sublime on KI-NRT's 2023 stay, and so was the boiled kano-gani snow crab, though not every dish was exceptional and the breakfast portions ran small. In crab season you can choose a standard kaiseki instead of an all-crab menu, and he doubts the crab course would match Nishimuraya Honkan or Bouyourou.
Bath 3 / 5
The in-room bath is the biggest shortcoming. Onsen does not flow into it continuously; you push a button to fill it with hot-spring water, the temperature is not regulated, and once it goes lukewarm you drain it and start again, so get in the moment it is full. KI-NRT calls this a real hassle and unacceptable at a luxury onsen ryokan, and not all rooms have an onsen bath. The communal open-air bath gets around it.
Service 4 / 5
KI-NRT describes the service as incredible, competent, gentle and graceful, and the polish he found in 2016 still held on his December 2023 return. Everything in the minibar is free, and the lounge serves coffee, tea and manju all day at no charge. Only guests aged 13 and older are allowed, so it stays tranquil for couples. Make sure you book Matsunomidori and not the main Kagaya next door, which is the normal version run by the same owner.
Room 4 / 5
The top room, the 140m² Special Room with Open-Air Bath, has a living room, a tatami room and a separate bedroom, and apart from the tatami room it is carpeted and furnished Western-style, with beds instead of futons. Everything was in tip-top shape on KI-NRT's 2023 stay, but the room felt a tad dated to him, the shower tiles among the elements that have not aged well. The standard rooms have the checkerboard tatami Matsunomidori is known for.
Place 4.5 / 5
The public areas are massive and amount to an indoor museum of ceramics and Wajima-nuri lacquerware, the work of the craftsman Kado Isaburo above all. Outside is the renowned garden of manicured pines, fronted by Tokuryoan, a historic tea house built by the Maeda clan and moved here when the ryokan opened, with stupendous views across the sea to Noto Island; book the tea ceremony early. Wakura Onsen itself never became a walkable onsen town.
Sources
FlyerTalk review #208 · TripAdvisor 4★ (November 2023) · #54 · #113 (thread mentions)