Arima Onsen

Enjoyed a wonderful stay in room 404- which included a nice outdoor private "silver" spring bath, separate tatami room, Western bed, and spacious bathroom. Taketoritei was such an excellent and restful stay in Kobe from start to finish! We enjoyed the outdoor private bath alongside scheduling all 4 of the outdoor private onsen rooms (which can be scheduled in 45min appointments). Staff spoke a good amount of English and were accommodating to several of our requests. Highly recommend the Japanese breakfast and kaiseki dinner options as well- both were excellent! Pro tip: there were several websites which listed rooms for this hotel, but we found the best selection and price using Expedia Japan. Highly highly recommend this onsen if you are looking to spend time at Arima onsen !

Friends and I had an amazing time here. Room was very clean and stunning. We got one that had western beds but also a Japanese style room as well. The private room bath was well worth it. I would've loved in there if I could've. The staff was so kind, patient, and helpful. Absolutely adored our stay here and hope to be back!

We booked room 411 which is on its own floor with a private "golden spring" onsen. After five days of nonstop walking in Kyoto, this place is really worth it. Private dinner is served on the third floor and it's a 2.5 hour parade of small dishes made with fish, Kobe beef, and locally harvested vegetables. The room is huge and tastefully decorated in a Japanese minimalist style. The best part of it is obviously the outdoor onsen as the hotel onsens can be hard to book during peak seasons. We also bought a number of souvenirs from the hotel gift shop like Arima Onsen bath salts (that do mimic the effects of the golden and silver spring water) and Arima Onsen KitKat. Overall a really great place to spend a day or two in between Osaka and Kyoto.

My husband and I recently stayed here for the traditional Japanese Ryokan experience and Hot Springs. Being that I'm a shy American and I was there with my husband we opted for one that has a private hot spring you could reserve vs the public house so we could experience them together, and they let you reserve free of charge. There were 4 hot springs to reserve plus two public springs, one for each gender. The 4 privates were either small for couples to three people and two larger ones for 4-6 people. We reserved the two smaller ones to save the larger two for families. At check-in you can reserve your first hot springs time (45 minute time slots) and keep reserving as you turn in the key as much as you'd like (we went 3 times). After the hot springs on the 3rd floor there is a lounge room that has 3 automatic massage chairs, laptops and iced-tea. There are also books and magazines but they are all in Japanese. If you book the half-board you get traditional Kaiseki dinner (10 courses) and breakfast included - you can choose Japanese breakfast or Western breakfast. The food was great and the whole experience was fantastic. We booked a Japanese style room with the futon to sleep on and they provided house shoes and well as either a one piece or two piece Yukata to wear around the property. We took a single night trip there from Osaka and then went from there to Kyoto. It was very easy to get there through the JR highway bus from Osaka Station and then from Arima Onsen to Kyoto Station. Just remember the JR highway bus limits suitcase size for luggage, we paid to have our large suitcases transferred from Osaka hotel to Kyoto hotel for approximately $10 per suitcase. If you pay for phone service in Japan I recommend calling them to get to the hotel as walking can be quite a journey. They do also take you to town or back to the bus stop with their shuttle for free.

For my husband's first time in Japan, I wanted to introduce a ryokan experience to him. From Sannomiya Station in Kobe, we rode a bus to Arima Onsen. Once we arrived, we went to the tourist information center for them to call a shuttle to Taketoritei Maruyama. Everyone was very helpful and friendly as they carried our luggage and later placed it into our room. For check-in, they verified that we were having dinner and breakfast, as well as the time we wanted to eat. We were also able to choose a time to have our private onsen, and which of the four we wanted to soak in. We excitedly hurried off to our private onsen, and enjoyed our 45 minutes of just relaxing and soaking in both baths while gazing into the beautiful nature landscape. We found that the gold onsen was much hotter than the silver bath. Also, there are times when you might find unexpected "guests" (aka bugs) inside or near the water. We had a caterpillar and beetle visitor (not a big deal since there's nets and buckets close by). After soaking in the onsen, we went to have our dinner. The restaurant is divided into several private rooms, and had a small sign welcoming us. The meal was FABULOUS! The menu was printed in English and listed all the dishes that were to be served. The presentation was beautiful and it tasted really yummy. My husband and I ooh-ed and ahh-ed at every dish. I was sick from the night before, so I didn't have much appetite, but I managed to try everything (my husband gladly ate what I couldn't finish). When we returned to our rooms, we found that they laid out our futons (beds) while we were dining. I decided to check out the public onsen after dinner and also greatly enjoyed that experience. I was really lucky since there was only one other woman there. Of course, we had a very comfortable sleep (the futon was thick enough for the floor to not be uncomfortably hard), and breakfast was greatly enjoyed. Overall, we had a wonderful time at this ryokan. The scenery outside and the onsen greatly relaxed our spirits. Everyone was very helpful and friendly, and always had a smile for us.