travelinwifey

As mentioned on my previous itinerary thread, now I'm trying to find a place on the beach purtly to veg out and have romantic time with my spouse. I purchased a Fodor's Japan guide and searched beaches, this is basically the only hotel I could find in mainland Japan that is oceanfront.

I know of the "Prince" chains as there are a few in Hawaii and we stayed at one before. I am wondering if the language barrier will be too much for us. Also, if anyone knows of the area is it in walking distance to other food venues? We're okay with taking a taxi or taxi/rail for outside excursion trips.

Thanks for any comments.

KimJapan

There is a reason why there are very few oceanfront hotels...the beaches are not that nice. During the summer months of July and August, any beach that is remotely good for swimming is packed with people. Any quiet beach is not suitable for anything except a massive cleanup effort. Much of the coastline has been "improved" with concrete surf breaks, barriers and sea walls. You will be very lucky indeed to find a quiet and clean beach with an oceanfront hotel outside of Okinawa.

Prince chain of hotels in general is not very well regarded. I've not seen the Shimoda one in person, but its Japanese website photos are not flattering. They do, however, have very inexpensive packages for July, ¥17,000-¥18,000/room/night net with breakfast. You can see the rooms and rack rates here. http://www.princehotels.co.jp/shimoda/room.html

To be perfectly honest, your time and money would be better spent at a mountain/countryside onsen resort/hotel. There are many places that would be perfect for a couple getaway. If you wanted seaside, with view but not beach, I know one place near Kanazawa that is very good...getting there would be your issue, if it fit into your itinerary. If stunning and romantic would do, you have thousands to choose from.

I just really think this Prince hotel and beach would be very disappointing. It's not like Hawaii.

mjs

I used to do quite a bit of scuba on the Izu peninsula and would pretty much agree with Kimjapan. A Onsen on the Izu might be nice but I would not be looking for a beach vacation in Japan.

travelinwifey

Thanks KimJapan and mjs

Bugger, and bugger again! We most likely will not have time to fit in an ocean vacation this year, that's why I was hoping for some beach time in Japan. It's really turned out to be a challenge. I agree, the rooms look 2* to me on the inside. But the picture of the ocean was nice

I'm trying to get the hotels taken care of this week as the next two months will be very busy for us.

Maybe I should try to find a place in the wilderness. Trees and wildlife is something we have very little of on Las Vegas so maybe this could instead be an opportunity to stay in the woods somewhere.

KimJapan, can you share with me the resort you think is really nice in Kanazawa and would it be closer to Tokyo or Kyoto to get there?

Ps, KimJapan I think you live in Japan? Is there any American tv at all? Just the news is all we need.

KimJapan

There are a few places I can recommend, though none are right in Kanazawa. Unfortunately, English language websites are not the norm, so here are Japanese sites. Just click around, and if you have questions I can help you.

http://www.ugenta.co.jp/index2.html about an hour outside of Kyoto.
http://www.miyako21.co.jp/guest.html in Gero Onsen.
http://www.wanosato.com/season/summer.html outside of Takayama. I really think this place is stunning.
https://www.e-onsen.co.jp/roomtype.html in Gero Onsen.
http://www.ohanami-kyubei.jp/room_bath.html in Yamanaka Onsen, about an hour south of Kanazawaw.
http://www.tadaya.net/ in Wakura Onsen, about an hour north of Kanazawa. Also stunning.

www.ryokancollection.com list some places as well, a couple of the ones I have listed here, as well as some more.

TV...depends on where you stay. With only Japanese channels, you will get periodic BBC and CNN. NHK, Japanese Public Broadcasting, does bilingual broadcasts of news at 7;00 PM and maybe 10;00 PM....not sure, I don't watch NHK. Many better hotels have satellite or cable, which increases the English language choice a bit.

W9London

travelinwifey,

If I recall, you're travelling mid-July, right? In the main island, there still is a possibility that the rainy season may not be over.

For a proper beach vacation, you really do need to go to Okinawa--by then, the rainy season should be over.

Agree Prince Hotel chain is 3* ish. I've stayed one in Oiso, the room size is average but the place did look overdue for refurb. We must have been one of few non-Japanese there, but the staff did speak basic English, the language was not an issue.

travelinwifey

W9London, yes, we had originally planned Okinawa for this time around buy my husband said he didn't want to spend a good part of the day traveling there, but he did promise we can go back, that this trip is just to get out feet wet (without sand now, it seems). If I could I'd travel to every exotic island in the world. I take it you are from London, in that case you are very close(r) to many exotic islands I hope to visit some day.

KimJapan, I can't thank youenough for your detailed suggestions. I will go through everything today and tomorrow and post back with what I find. Since we will now be saving several hundreds of dollars on flights it would be okay to spend a little more on taxi or whatever needed to get there.

Be back soon.

travelinwifey

Hello, just checking in. We are waiting for a response from the Kibune Ugenta. It only has two rooms availible so I really hope we can get in. Will check back in when we get our lodging. By the photos and google searches I have fallen in love with the place, and it's not too hard to get there. Fingers crossed!