Seiryuso
unscored · Ikyu 4.7 / 5no first-hand write-up in the thread
Seiryuso is a classic garden sukiya inn at the bottom of Izu with a seafood kitchen and a one-of-a-kind spa (own-source onsen plus Japan's oldest Kelo sauna, a Thermarium and an onsen pool). Ikyu guests rate it 4.66 over 75 reviews, with recurring niggles about weak shower pressure and a dated, stairs-heavy building.
Scores
Food
Seafood leads the kitchen, with kinme-dai (golden-eye snapper), Ise lobster and abalone, and food is the top mark this inn gets on every platform. Guests call the meals delicious, and the new maisonette rooms come with free drinks through dinner. Ikyu guests put the food at 4.67.
Bath
The onsen is the inn's own source, free-flowing in the indoor and open-air baths and even in the garden pool (swimsuits on). The spa adds Japan's oldest Kelo Finnish sauna, with löyly and open-air rest beds, plus a Roman-style Thermarium. The room baths are rock-lined onsen usable at any hour. Weak shower pressure in the main bath is the recurring complaint.
Service
Service gets the warmest marks here. The staff are young, and Ikyu reviews repeatedly praise them as kind and good at explaining the ingredients as they serve the courses. Ikyu guests put service at 4.76, their highest mark for the inn.
Room
The inn is a classic sukiya building set in 6,600 square metres of garden, and the rooms show their age. Guests describe dated, Showa-retro tatami rooms and a building with many level changes and steps. On the plus side, the in-room open-air baths are huge, with a small private garden in front, and the maisonette rooms added in December 2025 are clean and new. Ikyu guests put the rooms at 4.64.
Place
Rendaiji Onsen at Shimoda is the far-south tip of Izu, and the inn sits in generous gardens, 6,600 square metres of them, with a calm, old-school atmosphere that flows through the whole place. From the room baths you look onto small private gardens. The one drawback is geography, since Shimoda is a long way down the peninsula and a backtrack to go anywhere else, so it works best as a southern out-and-back.
Getting there
- Tokyo — 3h15, 0 transfers. JR Ltd Exp 'Odoriko'/'Saphir Odoriko' Tokyo→Izukyū-Shimoda (~2h45, one seat), then Seiryuso's free shuttle (~10 min, reserve the prior day).
- Kyoto — 4h30, 1 transfer. Reverse of: Inn shuttle + Odoriko LEX Izukyū-Shimoda→Atami (~70 min), then 'Hikari' Atami→Kyoto (~2h; 'Nozomi' skips Atami). Far-south Izu — a backtrack to go anywhere.