Kuramure
B · 7.8 / 10right inn, right place
A 19-room modern retreat in Asarigawa Onsen, Otaru's only hot-spring village, five linked buildings along the Asarigawa river with a private onsen in every room. The one FlyerTalk account, an August 2025 stay before a 2026 renewal, calls the dinner, the breakfast and the river-view soaking tub excellent. Ikyu's crowd has been more mixed since then, with the bath their highest mark at 4.22 but food (3.55) and satisfaction (3.78) noticeably cooler and recurring complaints of dark rooms.
Scores
Food 4.5 / 5
jtrader, the one FlyerTalk member to have stayed (August 2025), thought the dinner excellent, built on excellent local ingredients, and the breakfast too, though not quite as elaborate as elsewhere. All alcoholic drinks are included, and there is a lovely bar with a good selection of Nikka whiskies, where he never saw anyone else. Since the 2026 renewal Ikyu guests put the meals near 3.55 and repeatedly find the cooking short of the price.
Bath 4.5 / 5
Every room has its own onsen, and jtrader's was indoors with a window that opens onto the river. There is a public onsen as well, which he found very nice and never shared with another person, and having both public and private baths was one reason he chose Kuramure over Zaborin. Since the 2026 renewal Ikyu guests put the bath at 4.22, their highest mark.
Service
Nobody in the thread has written about the service here. Ikyu guests since the 2026 renewal put it near 4.04, their second-highest mark after the bath.
Room 4 / 5
jtrader's room was a suite of three rooms plus its own bath and quite large, and the in-room onsen at a window that opens onto the river, and the architecture throughout is very modern, by Makoto Nakayama. The rooms are the softest of the Ikyu marks since the 2026 renewal, near 3.91, because the kura (storehouse) concept makes them dark.
Place 4 / 5
The property is very modern in its architecture and sits by a river outside Otaru, and jtrader never saw anyone else during his entire stay except a few arriving for dinner at the same time, a privacy he singled out. KI-NRT (who has not stayed) calls the immediate surroundings nicer than Ryotei Kuki's, though having been to Otaru three times he feels there is nothing else to see or do in the area. The Yoichi whisky distillery is not far away.
Getting there
- New Chitose — 1h15, 0 transfers. ~75 min by car (official access page); or ~65 min by JR Rapid Airport to Otaru-Chikko Stn, then the hotel's reserved shuttle or a taxi.
- Sapporo — 0h40, 0 transfers. ~40 min by car to Asarigawa Onsen; by transit, JR to Otaru Stn then a local bus toward Asarigawa Onsen (~30 min, infrequent).
Sources
FlyerTalk review by jtrader #802 · Ikyu 3.92 / 5 · #564 · #602 · #603 · #604 (thread mentions)