Karatsu hotellia

Plussat: Beautiful place with lovely gardens and galleries. Attention to detail in everything. Breakfast was very good. The staff were so helpful and kind.

Plussat: It was a very elegant Japanese experience. Small boutique hotel with exquisite attention to detail in construction and joinery. Amazing 400yo black pine garden. The owner even invited us into his house for a glass of wine! A very memorable first Japanese experience. Loved wearing ‘kimonos’ everywhere. Would stay there again.

Miinukset: Loved everything!

Plussat: Beautifully designed historical building with lovely traditional touches. The kaiseki dinner was exquisite and delicious. The staff and owner were friendly and welcoming. We would love to go back.

Plussat: Met the owner and family and the personal service that made us feel welcome :)

Miinukset: Nothing but sad to leave..

Plussat: Excellent shabu shabu and beautiful garden and building. Definitely a ryokan I will recommend. I was already aware that the onsen is not a natural onsen as Karatsu is not in an onsen area. Staffs were great. There are geta our front for guest to use.

Miinukset: Have nothing to dislike.

Plussat: The property was gorgeous and the staff was very kind and accommodating to us. The city of Karatsu is quiet and idyllic, much like this cosy ryokan. Plus the breakfast was delicious!

Plussat: Had half-board and both were great. Shabushabu was the main menu of the dinner and the famous Saga-gyu was more than expected. Spacious room and considerate service were the best things that one can buy.

Miinukset: The dinner was served slowly and we had to wait for a little while between plates.

Plussat: Food was excellent. Service was excellent. If we could rate greater than 10, we would. It’s a beautiful and quiet location. The staff are lovely. We had a relaxing time there.

Miinukset: Nothing at all.

Plussat: sea view (apparently true for every room and this means a full view of the ocean!); very clean; very helpful and friendly staff (who also helped carry our luggage to the car and lent us umbrellas for our visit to the castle on the morning after our stay), very old, traditional and well established "ryokan" (has been visited by members of the Imperial household also), spacious room, very quiet, excellent food for both dinner and breakfast (you should spend the extra money on dinner!) - but be open minded and aware that not all food served here could be served like this in a western restaurant, the atmosphere of ancient Japan.

Miinukset: - the bathrooms are well maintained and very clean, but they are getting a bit old, - the "ofuro" is a normal bathtub and not an onsen (but there are plenty of other onsen-baths in Kyushu if that is what you are looking for), - this luxury comes at a price. However, if it was a cheap stay, would we be able to value it as much as we currently do?

Plussat: We absolutely loved the location and the staff.

Miinukset: But we were unpleasantly surprised by the 'life-sashimi' and Shirouo, live fishes in a bowl. If we would have known, we would have let the staff know

Plussat: The staff were very friendly and helpful. The room was spacious and had an amazing each and sea view. The food was extraordinary! Great place which is a bit out of the way but great if you want to go to pottery towns in Kyushu!

Plussat: We initially planned to stay at one of the ryokans which will be further away from Fukuoka but then we wished to go Osaka too so we ended up finding one that's nearer to fukuoka to save time. Mizuno Ryokan is located in Karatsu (about 1 1/2 hours to 2 hours by train). After getting off train station it takes around 10 minutes to walk there. But of course if you have luggage with you you might want to catch a taxi. (There's a taxi area just outside the train station) Location wise this is quite convenient. There are shops and restaurants in Karatsu area not far from the hotel if you just to hang around in the area. The 2 nights we stayed there have been superb. Staffs are all very professional. Some of them speak simple English and we don't have much problem communicating with one another. Breakfast and dinner are wonderful. Portions might seem small but since there are many courses throughout a meal and by the last you usually already full. They might not be using the most expensive ingredients but they truly are very fresh and they put a lot of heart when preparing the dishes. Room is spacious (we have the deluxe room I believe) and very very clean. Futons are very very comfy, I fell asleep in literally 30 secs everytime I laid down. We have ocean view room, there are not many people on the beach (once a while someone walked past by). Maybe it'll be more crowded during hot seasons. With that we can enjoy a nice relaxing view without worrying that people passing by can see us. They have 2 public indoor onsen baths (notice this is not bathroom). We do have our own private bathroom too inside our room (make sure you know which one you are choosing when selecting a room). If you wish to use them make sure you let them know first. From the room to the food to the staffs Mizuno Ryokan sure is one of the most amazing hotels I've every stayed in. Should I ever be visiting Karatsu again I definitely would come back to stay.

Plussat: The staff is going beyond the call of duty to ensure us a pleasant stay

Miinukset: We wish there were an onsen on site and the public bath room needs to be upgraded

Plussat: Waterfront position

Miinukset: Everything was great

Plussat: The private booth was our favourite since we have a children. Both the breakfast and dinner were extremely satisfying and filling. All of us had a great time at the restaurant, even with my little picky eater.

Miinukset: The facilities are a little bit old, the slide doors were a bit hard to pull at times. The corridor to the hot spring area had little lighting, and the stairs were very narrow, making it quite difficult to walk especially while wearing the slippers provided by the hotel. But generally it’s a very, very nice place to be and we would like to visit again.

Plussat: Comfortable, thoughtful Japanese hotel, the details show: notes, rental yukata, shortcut from room to the bath, etc. Very nice stay.

Miinukset: Communication is challenging for non-Japanese speakers. The staffs tried hard to understand.

Plussat: The facility is superb! Onsen, Restaurant, Public Bath, Bed and etc. The staff also very nice and professional.

Miinukset: The food is very authentic and traditional. The breakfast was great but the dinner is a little bit too expensive. I find it overwhelms and didnt enjoy it much. As a result, I feel the dinner is not a good value.

Plussat: Location on beach was amazing although far from town. Watched the surfers in the morning and evening. Self-service bar is a nice perk. Staff very friendly and helpful. Ikebana floral arrangements were lovely and tasteful.

Miinukset: Bath views were amazing looking out on the bay, but the shower area was a little dated and could use some love. Cigarette smoke from some rooms permeated hallways. Breakfast was very uninspiring in taste and appearance. Dinner reco of nearby sushi place was great value for the food, but somewhat ruined by smoking in the restaurant. It’s too bad there aren’t more options nearby.

Plussat: Staff are nice and can speak pretty good English. The place was a bit far from the subway station and the city, it took us 10 mins walk from the station, but, we feel interesting as the hotel was surrounded by local Japanese and some traditional Japanese buildings. The beach is just in front of the hotel, super relax even just looking at the horizon.

Miinukset: The door lock of the room was old and will have to open with the key but it's negligible comparing with all the things I like :).

Plussat: There is on every balcony your own private onsen / bathtub for two. This was just exceptionally great and allows shy people to have a bath with a view on the sea without going to the general onsen. I strongly recommend this hotel just for that!

Miinukset: I'd would have liked to have coffee in the morning with the Japanese breakfast.

Plussat: Nice beds

Miinukset: Staff wasn’t overly friendly and quite a walk from the station. Not as nice as the descriptions make it out to be.

Plussat: Staff and service available

Miinukset: The bathrooms... very old

Plussat: We were in a traditional Japanese room with a lovely sitting room with view of the sea. The sound of the waves lulling us to sleep. There is a wonderful outdoor hot spring bath on the third floor with a spectacular view of the bay. The breakfast which was included in the price, was absolutely amazing. There was delightful service at breakfast - the two women there were so caring and thoughtful and could not have been kinder to us - showing us how the traditional breakfast should be eaten. It was a lovely experience. The hotel looks like it has seen better days but the sea views and the lovely kind staff make up for the decoration failings. The village of Hamaski has some small restaurants and a big Seven 11. We felt we really experienced something of rural / village life in Japan. We were there off season so it was very quiet. We walked the 5 k through the 400 year old Pine forest to Karatsu and visited the castle there with spectacular views of the bay . We took the local train back to Hamaski.

Miinukset: The building could do with an upgrade

Plussat: very comfortable hotel, intelligent design

Miinukset: seaview and the room size

Plussat: Love the view, the food, the service, the location

Miinukset: The shower/onsen is in the open - a bit cold!

Plussat: It was beautiful and the staff was lovely.

Miinukset: Very very expensive for what you got. The area surrounding is a bit of a dud. Would not go back to the area but the facility itself was nice.

Plussat: Stay for 2 nights and feel cozy, location is good just walk-in to the beach and easy to find the way from the JR station. Dinner and breadfast are really delicious and we enjoyed a lot. There’s a bathtub outside the room, a little bit cold in May but should be perfect in summer.

Plussat: It is by the sea, beautiful view from the room. We love the hot spring and food.

Miinukset: It happened during the breakfast the waitress explain to us in Japanese how to enjoy the breakfast (which we do not understand Japanese), as soon as she left we found no rice on the table, so we thought we shall help ourself from the self service table, when we back to our table we found an English instruction saying waitress will serve us on the rice, at the same time waitress appeared and with a blaming way saying why are you taking rice, I have serve you all the rice then took away the bowl of rice We have taken from the self service corner. This wasn’t pleasant at all. it is quite rude.

Plussat: Excellent diner served in the room. Plenty of good local food specialities with octopus and delicious

Miinukset: Can pay by credit card. I di not recall any information on booking about this

Plussat: Room&food.

Miinukset: Nothing.

Plussat: a very traditional/old-style Japanese house with hot spring bath (they are small but good enough). Very nice dinner and breakfast with full of the old Japanese tastes. lovely and helpful old ladies are running this old hotel

Miinukset: some facilities are old (but for me, who love history, this is not a kind of "dislike" at all)

Plussat: Staff were really friendly and room was spacious and hot spring was nice.

Miinukset: not really

Plussat: Hot spring very nice

Miinukset: Nothing

Plussat: Food was excellent. Both breakfast and dinner.

Plussat: Dinner and breakfast are very delicious!

Plussat: The room is big and traditionally decorated.

Miinukset: The onsens are a bit too small. No heating at toilet and the bathroom.

Plussat: Beautiful new lobby and super friendly staff make this an excellent economic choice in Karatsu

Miinukset: Room is a little tired. But big so that helps.

Plussat: Quite large room but a bit old facility. Still good for stay with fair price . Good breakfast.

Miinukset: A bit old facility in room

Plussat: Nice and clean =) As we came by foot they fetched us up at the train-station and they found us a dinner-table even without reservation, big thanks to a lovely English speaking employee - arigatogozaimasu. We loved to have a walk in the pine groove just next to the hotel and to visit the Karatsu Castel.

Miinukset: Their breakfast restaurant up at the 7th floor was a bit tired, but the food was good and rich in choice. Their ping-pong table was too small and pushed under their central stairway and too close to the babies space. A huge disappointment that the closest beach was that dirty, filled with plastic and scrap =(

Plussat: Location was excellent

Miinukset: The room was quite small and smelled of smoke

Plussat: Bed was firm. Best if you travel light. No coffee in room. Location good. Walking distance to sights.

Miinukset: Bed.could be more comfortable.

Plussat: Well situated, quiet area. Small hotel but offering all commodities even an onsen bath. Room very lighting and confortable and staff very helpful.