Tag Archives: Hotsprings

Izu Peninsula Hot Springs Resort: Hotel Isaba in Heda!

Service: A bit stiff but friendly and attentive
Facilities: A bit old-fashioned but clean. Excellent hotspring bathroom
Prices: Expensive
Strong points: Excellent private hotspring bathroom and open-air hotspring bath with great view on the sea. Excellent breakfast
Overall: 72/100

The best time to check in a hotel in Heda is at sunset when you can admire the sinking sun over the horizon from your windows!

It is the more striking when you squid fishing boat cutting the sea under a sinking flaming orb!

Hotel Isaba is one of the most popular hotspring resort hotels in Heda, Izu Peninsula, thanks to its location overlooking the great sea expanses.
One can choose a room Japanese-style or Western-style.

The hotel is a bit kitsch and definitely from another age but comfortable with all amenities.

The better rooms have a nice, if small, kind of terrace opened onto a great sea landscape.

Cozy place to enjoy a drink or a book in summer!

The private hotspring bath, small by Western standards is big and deep enough for two adults!

Like the terrace it opens onto a sea landscape particularly striking at dusk and dawn!

The dinner served inside your room over a table large enough for 4 adults is a big affair!

Complimentary home-made blueberry aperitif.

Live abalone you grill by yourself after listening to the maid’s instructions!

It’s dancing over the fire!

Chyawanmushi/Japanese hot salted pudding and Japanese pickles.

Mishima Pork shabu shabu.

Varied appetizers.

Sashimi plate from Suruga Bay!

Italian-style lobster.

Simmered “Medai” seabream and taro.

“Menuke” fish Sautee.

Plenty of rice and miso soup!

And dessert!

The specialty of the house: Suruga Bay sea-salt sorbet!

Wake up early enough in the morning to enjoy a great ocean view!

And catch the sight of the returning squid fishing boats!

And then first pay a visit to the large hotspring bath on top of the hotel!

Don’t forget to scrub yourself before taking a dip!

Large bay windows will allow you to enjoy a great view again at the same time.

But your hotspring experience will not be complete with another body-relaxing dip in the “rotenburo/open-air bath” outside the main bathroom whatever the season or weather!

A great souvenir picture!

Breakfast is simply enormous and should last you half a day!

And very healthy too with local ingredients!

Seaweed soup.

Horse mackerel from Suruga Bay.

All kinds of tidbits to accompany the rice, and a little dessert.

Tamagoyaki, Sweet and sour tofu, pickles and crab miso soup.

And plenty of rice, the traditional way!

HOTEL ISABA
400-3402, Shizuoka Ken, Numazu Shi, Heda, Bihama Kaigan, 3878-20
Tel.: 0558-94-3048
Fax: 558-94^4270
HOMEPAGE (Japanese)

RECOMMENDED RELATED WEBSITES

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Must-see tasting websites:

-Sake: Tokyo Through The Drinking Glass, Tokyo Foodcast, Urban Sake, Sake World
-Wine: Palate To Pen, Warren Bobrow, Cellar Tours, Ancient Fire Wines Blog
-Beer: Good Beer & Country Boys, Another Pint, Please!
-Japanese Pottery to enjoy your favourite drinks: Yellin Yakimono Gallery

Shizuoka Hotsprings: Guest House Kazeyoobi


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Izu Peninsula in Eastern Shizuoka Prefecture is the most famous and oldest hotsprings area in Japan. Start either from Atami or Mishima JR Shinkasen Stations and visit this great region by train, bus or car!
If you begin your journey from Atami, take the train to Ito City and change onto the local private line and get off at Izu Koogen Station. From there you can either walk (45 minutes) or take a taxi if you are in a hurry!
Guest House Kazeyoubi in fact is a private pension with real hotsprings private bath and open-air bath fed with water coming from the nearby Ooumuro Yama, a long-extinct volcano.

The Guest House is a bit out the ordinary as it is conceived and decorated as a Spanish House with Spanish food as its main course for dinner! Plenty to please and satisfy expats! The owner actually told us that foreigners are far from being the exception, but keep in mind that they offer Japanese cuisine options as you will see later!

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As I said, the whole interior decoration has been conceived along Spanish lines!

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But the Japanese bath on the balcony is definitely Japanese-style with real hotsprings water!
The rooms do have European-style shower, bathrooms, so no worries there, either!
There is also a “rotenburo”/open-air semi-public bath. As the guest house has only 6 rooms, you will always find some time during the day or night vacant all for yourself (ves)!

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The dining room for dinner and breakfast has also been decorated in Spanish style. You can even eat on the verandah when the weather is good enough!
Dinners are served early from 18:00 but breakfasts start from 08:00 (nothing Spanish about that, LOL!)

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Now, expats will happy to learn that meals are Gargantuan by Japanese standards! Above Amuse include Iberico Smoked Ham!

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Now if you want to drink wine (Spanish. There are all kinds of drinks available, though!), ask for “nomihoudai”/”drink as much as you want” system, it’s a bargain!

We had ordered the sashimi plate on the Internet as an optional dish to an already great meal!:
-From top clockwise (see above picture):
Aji no sashimi/Saurel Sashimi
Amaebi/Sweet Shrimps
Aji no tataki/Saurel cut in small pieces
Katsuo/Bonito with freshly grated ginger
Inada/Young Japanese amberjack (buri)
Maguro/Tuna
-Centre:
Ika somen/Cuttle-fish served in long thin strips
Notice all the shiso leaves!

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The very Spanish garlic soup!

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The (small) lobster (enormous) paella for two!

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The fresh vegetable dip to help us wait for the next courses!

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The Iberico Pork Steak for me,

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and a great Japanese Beef steak for the Missus!

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Do not ask how we managed to finish the dessert (actually, I helped the Missus!)!

In fact eating dinner so early was a good idea, because
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I had to help the Missus finish it!

Guest House Kazeyoobi, a place I would definitely recommend to anyone, especially considering the great smiling and attentive welcome!

Guest House Kazeyoubi
〒413-0235 Ito City, Oomuro Kougen, 7-210 
TEL 0557-51-2935
HOMEPAGE (Japanese)

Shizuoka Hotsprings: Atagawa Dai-Ichi Hotel

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Report and pictures courtesy of Patrick Harrington

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Atagawa Dai Ichi Hotel
413-0302, Kamo Gun, Higashi Izu Machi, Naramoto, 1267-2, Izu Atagawa Hotsprings
Tel.: 0557-23-2200
Prices: 10,500~16,800 per person per night, breakfast and dinner included.

You might think that a visit to Atagawa in East Izu City would be solely for the delights of a hot spring soak. But the Atagawa Daichi Hotel is no one-trick pony. Indeed it has its indoor and outdoor spas, complete with scenic views of the sea below. But we had read from customers’ comments that the food in this mid-priced hotel was surprisingly good.
And it was.

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Everything was served together. Two bowls were heated by wax candles, and as these simmered away we tucked into the multitude of dishes on offer.
In one bowl were some skewered gingko nuts with azuki beans. In another were some chunks of radish and carrot in a soy marinade. My favourite was a very small dish containing some fresh seaweed with grated yuzu.
And the chawamushi was full of beans, chicken, and some tasty green leaves.
To be honest, even though there was an enormous array of dishes this kind of meal can be had in any number of decent hotel restaurants in Shizuoka and other prefectures.
Indeed the centrepiece, the sashimi platter, contained only three kinds of sushi: tuna, squid and mackerel. However the sashimi was just about perfect, firm but tender, smooth yet tasty. And this was true throughout the meal, everything was so fresh and carefully cooked.
Then we tried the hot plates that were now ready. in one was juicy pork with cabbage, in the other kinmedai fish, a local speciality, which was so tender, with thin noodles, Chinese cabbage, large mushrooms and assorted vegetables. A complimentary glass of local strawberry wine was also provided.
With unlimited rice there was no room for dessert which was just as well, since there wasn’t any, except a ponkan!

After the meal, which was served in our room, we sat by the window and watched the Christmas firework display, which reminded me of my taste buds.