Yado Shiontei
A · 8 / 10anchor a leg
A 10-room crab ryokan that opened in 2021 in Kaike Onsen, with modern hardware built to a very high quality, all-suite rooms on the area's saltwater spring and service Fc912 called pretty perfect, but the crab itself ranked below Nishimuraya and Bouyourou for the two parties who tried it, at roughly double Nishimuraya's per-person rate. The building and the rare water justify a stay; if the Matsuba-gani course is what matters most, both reviewers point you elsewhere.
Scores
Food 4 / 5
Dinner is a Matsuba-gani (snow crab) course served in one of five private dining rooms: sashimi, charcoal-grilled crab, shabu-shabu and the Koura Zake, where the crab head is grilled in its shell and cooked with sake poured inside, which KI-NRT found amazing. The kitchen brought the best out of the crab and the non-crab dishes were delightful, but he could not get Nishimuraya Honkan out of his mind, and Fc912 preferred the crab at Bouyourou.
Bath 4 / 5
The water is Kaike Onsen's rare saltwater hot spring, found in the early 1900s by a fisherman who saw bubbles rising 200 metres offshore, and the area is considered a pioneer of thalassotherapy. Every room has its own onsen bath, there is no communal bath, and the single private rental bath was no bigger than the bath in KI-NRT's room and no more impressive. Fc912 was glad of it, because the baths in his room Kuon felt a bit cramped.
Service 4.5 / 5
Fc912 found the service pretty perfect, and surprisingly flexible for a ryokan in a region that sees few Western guests. KI-NRT's own review says nothing about the service either way.
Room 4.5 / 5
All ten rooms are true suites with in-room onsen, in a modern Japanese build of very high quality (impeccable, Fc912 said). The two Kihinshitsu (special rooms), Reirou and Kuon, are 150 square metres with indoor and outdoor baths and no shared walls. KI-NRT preferred Reirou, because Kuon is slightly less contemporary and has an Edwardian-style couch, and Reirou is at the end of the corridor, so he never heard a footstep.
Place 3.5 / 5
The inn is on a main street in central Yonago among bland buildings, and from outside nothing says luxury. Inside it is an oasis of tranquility, with ikebana, small dry rock gardens, a little tea room where two corridors meet and a gallery of works by living National Treasures, though the grounds are not expansive. Matsue Castle, Izumo Taisha and the Adachi Museum garden are nearby, and Fc912 found the region peaceful with few tourists.
Getting there
- Okayama — ~2h15, 1 transfer (estimated). Okayama to Yonago ~2h on Yakumo LEX, then ~15 min car to Kaike Onsen.
- Yonago/Miho Airport — ~0h30, 0 transfers (estimated). ~30 min by car from Yonago/Miho Airport to Kaike Onsen.
Sources
FlyerTalk review #479 · FlyerTalk review by Fc912 #484 · TripAdvisor 5★ (December 2024) · #682 (thread mentions)