Biwakoryokusuitei

Ogoto itself is not a big onsen area and does not have an onsen street area. Ryokusuitei is a relatively big hotel, so you have enough things to do in the hotel. Our room is on the high floor, spacious and with a private onsen overlooking Biwa lake. There is also a separate bath and toilet in the r...oom. Public onsen is on the ground floor, with an open air part, overlooking the Biwa lake as well. The lobby offers free drinks and snacks in the afternoon. And when the weather is good, seating outside in the garden is a nice enjoyment. Outside of the public onsen there is an area for foot and hand onsen as well. Dinner is offered in the ground floor restaurant but in a private setting, and is excellent with a variety of ingredients. The restaurant is overlooking a garden with excellent plantation. There is also a resting/library area near the onsen. Breakfast is also surprising offering help-yourself grilling different kinds of fish. You do not always find breakfast providing such kind of dishes. The hotel also provides additional kinds of pillow if you need them. The TV inside the room offers Netflix availability but you have to log into your own account in order to watch it.

Visited March 2023

Well presented Kaiseki dinner, good service, nicely decorated dinning area. Most importantly the food was excellent.

Visited November 2018

This ryokan, though not set in a traditional Japanese style building, has excellent service and great rooms. We were in room 601 which I recommend. The room has a shower looking out over the hotel grounds and a hot tub located on the balcony in the open air. The staff are very attentive, courteous ...and it seems many of them speak English. You can call ahead and request a mini bus pick you up from the train station which is a mere five minutes drive away. Upon arrival you’ll be asked to sit in the lobby where they’ll bring you a cup of tea and then someone else will come over and ask you what time you’d like to have dinner. We were given a choice of either 6 PM or 7 PM this way they know exactly what time you’ll arrive at the dining room. At 7 PM when you’re expected to be in or on your way to the dining room someone will come and lay out the futons for you. Upon arrival in the dining room at 7 PM the first course was already laid out for us. The remaining five courses were a combination of traditional Japanese dishes. The hotel itself is quite spacious and as expected has separate hot Springs for men and women though I didn’t go myself my partner went to the women’s one which she said was very good. At the time she went which was a Monday afternoon around 5 PM there was no one else there. Both Hot Springs are open 24 hours and there’s also a heated foot bath on the way to the hot springs from the main building. Unlike most hotels the Wi-Fi had a strong signal and, of course, it was free and unlimited as is typical in Japan. Breakfast is buffet style with a great selection of various Japanese and more western food. You can grill your own fresh fish at your table for breakfast however I opted for their more western style breakfast including pastries and fruit salad. Surprisingly they even had pizza on offer for breakfast. We paid about ¥40,000 all in. Considering it was for two people in to mail it self could easily have gone for ¥10,000 the central Kyoto restaurant that makes it about ¥10,000 per person per night for a huge room with a hot tub Which is a great deal. The hotel is close to Augusta on since station which is just 20 minutes away from Kyoto station by train so if you want to get away from the crowds at Kyoto and have a somewhat traditional Japanese experience than I do recommend visiting which is a great deal. The hotel is close to Ogata-onsen Station which is just 20 minutes away from Kyoto Station by train so if you want to get away from the crowds of Kyoto to relax and have a somewhat traditional Japanese experience than I highly recommend visiting.

Visited October 2018

We were lost in that little town and looking for an onsen to relax. Some restaurant owner suggest us the Biwako Ryokusuitei. We were extremely surprise of the quality of the place! The highest onsen is at the 11th floor and you have a magnificent view of the lake, there is no other building in front... so. It's an open air onsen. They have 3 onsen in different floor for each sex so you have so shower every time and walk to the other onsen.

Visited May 2018

Our room was extremely spacious with a private onsen with amazing lake view. We did not get the chance to dine at the hotel restaurant as it was fully booked. Therefore I strongly suggest traveller to make reservation with the hotel restaurant a few days before check-in. There’s not much restaurant ...option around the area. In the end, we had our dinner at the Spa Resort Ogoto Agaryanse which is only 5 minutes from the hotel. We were very pleased with the room and facilities. However, the check-out time is 10am which is too early. We had to get up at 6am, had our breakfast and rushed to check-out on time. We did request for check-out at 10:30am but hotel staff said they had to charge us extra if we check-out after 10am. The hotel should allow flexibility and not to be stringent. Afterall, we are customers who travelled a few thousand kilometers to be there to enjoy our stay. In fact, we happened to speak to our nextdoor neighbour who also had rushed to check out and wasn’t pleased about it. I hope the hotel will take customers feedback into consideration accordingly.

Visited March 2018