Shogetsu
A · 8.8 / 10anchor a leg
A 21-room hilltop ryokan overlooking the Gero Onsen valley, a tall, nondescript building outside but inside all rock gardens, artsy lounges, a spectacular creative-kaiseki kitchen, amazing Gero spring water and valley views from room, lounge and communal bath alike. KI-NRT puts it in his personal top ten and far and away first in Gero. The charm is all inside, and the private-onsen rooms sell out early.
Scores
Food 5 / 5
KI-NRT calls the kaiseki "creative Japanese at its finest" and some of the best he has ever had, and it is the inn he names first for Gifu. Fried new-harvest potatoes with uni and caviar, Hida beef tongue stew with eagle fern tempura and baby sweetfish deep-fried with herbs were all exceptional, and breakfast was not an afterthought. Michaeljinnyc, fresh from a disappointing two nights at Takimotokan Yuki no Sato, says Shogetsu blew them away.
Bath 4.5 / 5
The water is Gero Onsen's own hot spring, renowned for its quality, and KI-NRT calls it amazing: Shogetsu definitely did not disappoint. His corner suite had an open-air onsen bath on the balcony with the valley below, and the Daiyokujo communal bath has the same sweeping view, which he calls incredible.
Service
Nobody in the thread has written about the service here.
Room
KI-NRT stayed in a corner suite with an open-air onsen bath on the balcony, and he calls the views of the valley from the room incredible. Nobody in the thread has described the rooms beyond that outlook.
Place 4 / 5
Shogetsu is a tall, nondescript building on a hilltop with no garden, but inside are artsy lounges, Zen rock gardens with streams and sweeping views over the Gero valley from lounge, rooms and communal baths. KI-NRT admits it is not quite as atmospheric as Wanosato. Gero town was a delight for Michaeljinnyc to explore. For autumn colour mid to late November should be awesome here and at Gero Onsen Gassho Mura, the thatched-roof folk village.
Getting there
- Kanazawa — 3h, 1 transfer. Reverse of: 'Hida' Gero→Toyama (~2h20), change to the Hokuriku Shinkansen Toyama→Kanazawa (~23 min). Beats the Takayama + Nohi-bus chain (~3h25). ⚠ ~5 Toyama through-services/day.
- Tokyo — 3h40, 1 transfer. Reverse of: 'Hida' Gero→Nagoya (~1h37), change to a Tōkaidō 'Nozomi'→Tokyo (~1h40), plus the ~5-min drive at the Gero end. Shogetsu's own access page gives this chain.
- Kyoto — 3h05, 1 transfer. Reverse of: 'Hida' Gero→Nagoya (~1h35), change ~15 min to a Tōkaidō 'Nozomi'/'Hikari'→Kyoto (~35 min) + the Shōgetsu shuttle and hotel ends (2026-07 audit: same 10-Hida/day correction as takayama>kyoto — hourly only ~11:30–16:30, 2h gaps outside, all-reserved Dec 25–Jan 5, January 大雪 advisories; the old 2.5 was bare rides on an 'hourly' frequency that isn't). One no-change direct: Hida 36 calls at Gero ~16:10 → Kyoto 19:17.
Sources
FlyerTalk review #1 · FlyerTalk review by Michaeljinnyc #325 · FlyerTalk review #327 · FlyerTalk review #624 · TripAdvisor 5★ (March 2021) · #302 · #646 (thread mentions)