Beniya Mukayu

Location: Japanese Alps & Northern Honshu | Japan

Price guide: £££££ £350-£500 per person per night

Rooted in the spa town of Yamashiro, well-known for its healing waters and steamy onsens, Beniya Mukayu is an elegant and refined inn that combines modern comforts with a traditional ryokan experience. Surrounded by a wild garden of red pine, cherry and maple trees, the intimate rooms have beautiful views, which you can enjoy from the open-air hot spring bath on your private terrace.

Perfect forAn unforgettable retreat for the body and soul.

In the know

Spacious bedrooms with private terraces and open-air baths.
The bath products, found in the rooms, were developed by the owners and a prominent biochemist, using water from the local springs and medicinal herbs.
Morning yoga available every morning surrounded by the peaceful gardens.
Member of the prestigious Relais & Chateaux collection.

Recommended for...

Cultural Immersion
Peace & Quiet
Chic Design
Eco-tourism

Hotel Overview

Sense of place

In the spa town of Yamashiro, in the mountains of Yakushiyama, between Kyoto and the historic UNESCO World Heritage-listed villages of Shirakawa-go and Gokayama.

Rooms at Beniya Mukayu

You can choose between a traditional Japanese tatami room with futons and a hammock or a Western-style room with two queen size beds. Each has its own private open-air hot spring bath paired with a fine view of the gardens, but when in Japan, why not book an authentic room, such as the Japanese Premier Tatami Garden rooms?

Food and drink

Highly dependent on the season, the inn serves the finest Kaga style Kaiseki cuisine on locally crafted crockery. In spring, you can have kegani crab and sea urchins, summer holds highlights like noto summer oysters, soups with seven kinds of special mushrooms from the local region will appear on the autumn menu and in winter expect dishes of female snow crab, steamed kaga lotus root soup with turnip and cod soft roe served in a hot pot. Throughout the year, the inn offers superb in season sashimi and sushi, which can be paired with Japanese sake, wine or beer.

Facilities

There is an Entei spa that has a tailored menu of treatments for mental and physical health issues. Using the hot spring water and medicinal herb remedies inherited from the local monks, the Yakushiyama body treatment starts with an invigorating massage, is followed by a steamed herbal ball compress and finishes with a good lathering of herbal cream that leaves the body balanced and refreshed – definitely one to try! After the spa treatment, you can then rest in the tea house, read a book in the library or soak in the views and the creams on your terrace wrapped up in a bedroom kimono.

Activities at Beniya Mukayu

Wake up with some morning yoga to start the day off right and then head to the tea room for a traditional ceremony performed by the owners. Drink your matcha (strong green tea) and then enjoy a palate cleanser at the café with a plum soda, made from locally produced green plums, or a honey vanilla chai tea. As well as the bath in your room, you can visit the inn’s big alkaline baths or onsens, which help those that suffer from neuralgia and rheumatism.