Thermen Hotels in Nakashibetsu

Stayed 2 nights. The ryokan experience starts with being met in the car park, bags whisked away, shoes off at the entrance and slippers provided. Then an orientation with a very nice Vietnamese lady, one of the few members of staff who spoke English. We were given a detailed explanation of how to use the two different onsen, and lots of other info that you really need, because this is an experience like no other. The rooms are beautiful ( ours looked onto the stream), the (long and many) corridors are decorated with beautiful art and ikebana, and there are lots of drinks dispensers everywhere - the corn soup is delicious. The food was some of the finest we had anywhere during our 4 weeks travelling in Japan (including a couple of Michelin- starred restaurants), presented exquisitely, and wonderfully flavoured - a true feast over several courses and a couple of hours. Breakfast buffet equally memorable. We only went here to see the Blakiston's Fish owl, so the whole experience was a wonderful surprise - if you've seen the Studio Gibli film ”Spirited Away” you will get a sense of what it was like. And we were the only westerners here, which was great, and only added to the sense of being on a different world. On that note, if you're an uptight westerner who doesn't like getting naked in front of strangers, you might struggle here - there are no showers or washing facilities in the rooms ( apart from a basin), only those in the onsen themselves. I don't think we would have chosen to go if we had understood this beforehand, but I'm SO glad we did go.