Machiyado Ichiryu
unscored · Ikyu 4.7 / 5no first-hand write-up in the thread
An adults-only town inn of eleven rooms a few minutes' walk from Takayama's morning market and old streets, opened in November 2024 in place of the 53-year-old Ryokan Seiryu, whose 25 rooms were rebuilt as 11, six of them suites, each with a semi-open-air bath. Around them are three private baths on the Hida Takayama spring, an all-day lounge with Hida sake and an irori hearth, and Hida beef dinners served in a warehouse annex across the lane. The Ikyu crowd gives it 4.70 over 55 reviews, with hospitality (4.84) far ahead of meals and bathing (4.58 each).
Scores
Food
The inn calls itself a Hida beef specialist, and dinner is top A5 cuts served course by course in private rooms in a converted warehouse across the lane. An all-day lounge pours local Hida sake and draft beer, with snacks that change by the hour. Ikyu guests put meals at 4.58, the inn's softest mark, because a real minority reports over-marbled or tough beef or a thin breakfast, while many others call the pacing faultless.
Bath
There is no large public bath. The Hida Takayama spring (a mild alkaline simple onsen) reaches guests through three ground-floor private baths, two of them free whenever vacant and the premium Miyagawa reservable by the hour for ¥4,400. Every room also has a semi-open-air bath, but it runs plain hot water, and guests say so repeatedly at this price. Ikyu guests put bathing at 4.58, and the other gripe is that the tubs are deep and have no step.
Service
Hospitality is what guests write about first, and Ikyu guests put it at 4.84, the inn's strongest mark by a clear margin. They describe valet parking with a hand-drawn map of the lot, staff waiting outside with umbrellas for the walk to dinner, unprompted lifts to the station, handwritten notes in the room and a contactless butler box at the door. The staff are mostly young, and guests take that as warmth. Nobody has complained of inexperience.
Room
Eleven rooms only, six of them suites, were rebuilt from the old Ryokan Seiryu's 25, and each has its own semi-open-air bath. They run 40–50 m² and up in a Japanese-Western style, with Hida-crafted furniture, tatami corners, semi-double twins, ReFa shower heads and amenities throughout, and free minibar and lounge drinks. Ikyu guests put the rooms at 4.73. The higher floors get the mountain view, and the lower ones look onto neighbouring roofs.
Place
Ichiryu is the rare ryokan that cooks a full dinner and still lets you walk out the door and be sightseeing: the Miyagawa morning market is three minutes away, the preserved sake-brewery streets of the old town five, Takayama Jinya six, and the station and the Kanazawa bus seven. The lounge (Hida furniture, an irori hearth, a terrace) is where the inn keeps its town-inn character. It is adults only, and elementary age and under are not accepted.
Getting there
- Kanazawa — 2h25, 0 transfers. Reverse of: Nohi/Hokutetsu highway bus Takayama Nohi Bus Center→Kanazawa Stn west exit via Shirakawa-gō (~2h15, direct, reserve — the bus centre is at Takayama Stn, a 7-min walk from the inn). No rail link exists; the bus is the fast way.
- Tokyo — 4h55, 1 transfer. Reverse of: JR Ltd Exp 'Hida' Takayama→Nagoya (~2h30), change ~15 min to a Tōkaidō 'Nozomi'→Tokyo (~1h42) + hotel/station ends. (Via Toyama is nominally quicker — 'Hida' ~1h30 + Hokuriku Shinkansen ~2h06 — but only ~4 Toyama through-trains run per day.)
- Kyoto — 3h50, 1 transfer. Reverse of: JR Ltd Exp 'Hida' Takayama→Nagoya (~2h30; 10/day — hourly only ~11:30–16:30, with 2h gaps outside), ~15-min transfer to a Tōkaidō Shinkansen 'Nozomi'→Kyoto (34 min). Alt with NO change: Hida 36 departs Takayama 15:33 direct to Kyoto, arr 19:17. ⚠ The Takayama line is snow-exposed — JR Central posts 大雪 advisories most Januaries; keep same-day slack. (All-reserved Dec 25–Jan 5; mixed seating otherwise.) Equal-time alternative that dodges that exposure: the Nohi highway bus Takayama→Nagoya + the same Nozomi — Maps returns this chain, not the Hida, as its three fastest (3h25–3h33 station-to-station), so take whichever the weather favours.
- Osaka — 3h55, 2 transfers. Reverse of: JR Ltd Exp 'Hida' Takayama→Nagoya (~2h25; 10/day, hourly only ~11:30–16:30, 2h gaps outside), ~20-min cross-platform transfer to a Tōkaidō Shinkansen 'Nozomi' Nagoya→Shin-Osaka (~50 min, frequent), then the Midōsuji subway Shin-Osaka→Umeda/Namba (~5–10 min) + the walk to the hotel. Two changes, at Nagoya and Shin-Osaka. ⚠ the Takayama Line is snow-exposed — JR Central posts 大雪 advisories most Januaries, and Dec 25–Jan 5 is all-reserved; keep same-day slack. Equal-time alternative that dodges the exposure: the Nohi highway bus Takayama→Nagoya + the same Nozomi. Sources: japan-guide Takayama access; JR Central Tōkaidō/Takayama Line timetables.
- Nagoya — 2h45, 0 transfers. Reverse of: JR Ltd Exp 'Hida' Takayama→Nagoya, ~2h25 direct, 10 a day (hourly only ~11:30–16:30, 2h gaps outside), ¥5,610 unreserved / ¥6,140 reserved, + the 7-min walk from the inn/old town. ⚠ Snow-exposed — JR Central posts 大雪 advisories most Januaries, all-reserved Dec 25–Jan 5. Equal-time alternative when the line is under an advisory: the Nohi highway bus Takayama Nōhi BC→Meitetsu BC Nagoya, ~2h45, reserved.