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Reviews of Matsuya Ryokan

2.5 out of 5
Matsuya Ryokan
484, Motoyoshi-cho, Nagano

Reviews

9.6

Exceptional

Rating 10 - Excellent. 91 out of 113 reviews" "
Rating 8 - Good. 18 out of 113 reviews" "
Rating 6 - Okay. 3 out of 113 reviews" "
Rating 4 - Poor. 0 out of 113 reviews" "
Rating 2 - Terrible. 1 out of 113 reviews" "

9.6/10

Cleanliness

9.8/10

Staff & service

9.2/10

Amenities

9.4/10

Property conditions & facilities

9.4/10

Eco-friendliness

Reviews

8/10 Good

Abey Matthew Varughese

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Situated right next to the Zenkōji temple. Up a slope so if you’re coming with heavy luggage, I would recommend the bus or taxi from Nagano station. Has a nice traditional breakfast option. There is a dinner option too but you’ll need to reserve one day in advance, or at the very least, in the morning at breakfast time. There is a public bath within the building itself but it’s pretty small, however given that it’s a small guest house I don’t think it will matter. You would probably be able to use it whenever you want to. The rooms are cozy and very well appointed. Futon bed is laid out for you, and is taken away when you step down for breakfast so be mindful of that.
Stayed 1 night in Feb 2024

10/10 Excellent

Steven

Stayed 1 night in Dec 2023

10/10 Excellent

Leigh

Stayed 1 night in Dec 2023

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveler

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Comfortable ryokan
Top location for staying at Nagano city, it’s right next to the famous Zenkoji temple. Many good restaurants within walking distance. Guest service is top notch as well.
Stayed 1 night in Nov 2023

10/10 Excellent

Kara

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
This is such a beautiful historic property. It’s within the Zenkoji temple area and a fantastic find. We had the Japanese style room. Beds are hard but we are getting used to them. Staff are so lovely. This is a lovely family business. I would love to come here again.
Stayed 2 nights in Sep 2023

8/10 Good

Charity

Stayed 1 night in Sep 2023

10/10 Excellent

Stacy

Traveled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Staff were very helpful and pleasant. Traditional Japanese guesthouse with onsen. Great location near Zenko-ji temple. Good food options nearby. Very safe.
Stayed 2 nights in Aug 2023

10/10 Excellent

Giancarlo G.

The staff was very friendly and the hotel is located on the same street as one of the main temples in the area. Very convenient.
Stayed 1 night in Jul 2023

10/10 Excellent

Qi'En

Traveled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Very authentic Japanese ryokan experience, authentic and delicious Japanese set meal breakfast, very lovely staff, and great English-speaking staff too, convenient location as it is close to Zenkoji temple and surrounding beautiful areas, also close to the bus-stop where you take the bus to other places such as Togakushi shrine or to Nagano station for the Shinkansen. Price was very reasonable for a ryokan in comparison to other places. Will definitely stay here again if I come back to Nagano (which I think I will as I loved Nagano) and if the price remains good!
Stayed 2 nights in Jul 2023

10/10 Excellent

Samantha

Traveled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Our stay at the Matsuya Ryokan was our first Japanese style accommodation. We stayed here with our two boys. The baths were really lovely. The staff was incredibly sweet. It was literally steps from the Zenkoji Temple, which was amazing to visit. It's on the street with tons of shops and restaurants. We regret not reserving dinner with them the night we were there, especially since restaurants close very early in the evening.

10/10 Excellent

Lincoln

Traveled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Great ryokan to stay at. Very close to the temple and dining district. Staff is very friendly and helpful. I would definitely stay here again.

10/10 Excellent

RICHARD

Stayed 2 nights in Apr 2023

10/10 Excellent

Andrew

Liked: Cleanliness, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Very comfortable solo trip
Had an incredibly nice stay here, from the friendly staff to the perfectly clean room, and delicious breakfast. You get tea and different snacks each day in your room, so if you're the type to want to take it easy inside sometimes on your trip, it's very nice to have some quiet time in your room and sip on tea and try the different local sweets they give you each day.
Stayed 4 nights in Apr 2023

10/10 Excellent

Amy

Stayed 1 night in Feb 2023

10/10 Excellent

Christy

Traveled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Stayed over the new year season and loved every bit of the ryokan and its surrounding area festivities. Room was spacious for 4, although it was abit difficult to open our 2 large luggages. Onsen was a bit small, just nice for 2-3 persons. Service was amazing and food served for dinner and breakfast was wonderful. Amazing for the price point. The surrounding area is right next to the main temple so the location was really convenient in terms of sightseeing and local delicacies. As we stayed over the festive period, the main bus route was closed. We had to take a much longer route upslope with our luggages, so be sure to check before hand! Overall, i really reccomend anyone who’s looking to stay at a ryokan for good food and a would want to immerse in the local culture. 11/10!

10/10 Excellent

Alessandro

Traveled with family and small children
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Staff really friendly. Perfect for families and for who wants to experience the traditional Japanese life.

10/10 Excellent

Carrie

Traveled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Very friendly and a lovely experience.
Stayed 1 night in Jan 2023

10/10 Excellent

Brian

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Great little public bath. Very kind owners.

10/10 Excellent

Isabelle

Traveled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
We thought this ryokan was amazing! The location is perfect, in the center of old Nagano and a few minutes walk from the temple (convenient to attend the early morning prayer). The staff was amazingly friendly and helpful. The Japanese breakfast was phenomenal; we didn't try the dinner as we asked for it too late. Note that you need to give the hotel a few days advance notice for meals; they didn't ask us proactively if we were interested in them. The staff was able to recommend other local restaurants for dinner, which was great too. Overall, we loved our stay and wish we could have stayed longer.
Stayed 1 night in Nov 2022

10/10 Excellent

Rodney G

Traveled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
My stay far exceeded my expectations. The location and accessibility are excellent. The surrounding are spectacular and basically part of the Temple and most importantly the hotel was spotless and the staff were exceptionally friendly. I was very happy and grateful for my stay. I highly recommend. Rodney-
Stayed 1 night in Nov 2022

10/10 Excellent

John, Harpenden

Traveled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Our best accommodation experience in Japan by far and the bar was already very high. It is a true gem with comfortable and spacious rooms, very friendly staff and the food is of a very high standard. It felt like a gourmet feast on the first night and then it got even better on the second! The onsen bath was simple but very welcome. And being almost on the steps to the delightful Zenoji temple and gardens was the icing on top of a very delicious cake!

10/10 Excellent

Abdessadk

Traveled with group, Business traveler
Liked: Staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
the whole area
Stayed 2 nights in Sep 2022

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveler

Traveled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Stayed 3 nights in Sep 2021

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveler

Traveled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Stay here! Great experience
The hotel qas very clean and well maintained. The family that runs it is incredibly nice and welcoming. The location is fantastic and has free parking a few blocks away. The only slight negative was how bright the room was in the morning but that only affected me from our group and could be fixed with a sleep mask. Highly recommend and will stay there ahain on ouf next visit to Nagano
Stayed 7 nights in Aug 2020

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveler

Traveled with group, Traveled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Very traditional Ryokan with tatami mats floors and futons for sleeping. Great onsen! Right in the heart of the old town and 200m from Zenko-ji Temple
Stayed 2 nights in Feb 2020

10/10 Excellent

Matt, Fukushima, Fukushima

Traveled with group
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
The building is old, but well maintained. It's a straight 20 minute walk from Nagano station and is located really centrally to a lot of sightseeing spots and tourist attractions. The staff were super welcoming and accommodating. It had a real family run vibe. They were very non-Japanese guest friendly, including tattoos at their hot spring bath. The bath wasn't huge, it could fit four adult men in at once, if you are comfortable being close to each other. The room was comfortable and warm. Towels, razors and hairbrushes were available, but you need to bring other toiletries yourself. I would highly recommend this hotel to anyone!
Stayed 2 nights in Feb 2020

10/10 Excellent

Yvonne

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Great hosts and excellent breakfast
Amazing breakfast, close to the temple and most importantly felt welcome by the warm service and greetings from the family that runs the ryokan. Highly recommended.
Stayed 2 nights in Jan 2020

10/10 Excellent

Sarah

Traveled with group, Traveled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Wonderful traditional stay
Absolutely ideal location and couldn’t believe how close we were to the temple! Wonderful warm welcome by staff. Traditional ryokan with impeccable staff (our beds were laid out in the 30mins we went for a quick wander) and we thoroughly enjoyed the traditional breakfast (big thank you for explaining the correct way to add seaweed!). Would recommend to friends in a heartbeat
Stayed 1 night in Dec 2019

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveler

Traveled with group
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Staff service very nice. Big room than picture on website. Dinner and breakfast are very good.
Stayed 1 night in Oct 2019

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveler

Traveled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
This was a traditional Japanese inn with tatami floors and futons. I booked to get a taste of the Japanese way of sleeping. The futons were a bit alarming but I slept well. The hot bath in the basement was excellent.
Stayed 3 nights in Sep 2019

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveler

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Stayed 1 night in Sep 2019

6/10 Okay

Verified traveler

Stayed 1 night in Jun 2019

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveler

Stayed 1 night in Jun 2019

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveler

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Stayed 1 night in May 2019

8/10 Good

Anthony

Traveled with partner
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Unique, historic and traditional, 5 minutes from Zenkoji
Stayed 2 nights in Apr 2019

8/10 Good

Verified traveler

Stayed 1 night in Apr 2019

10/10 Excellent

Dmitry, Toronto

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Authentic ryokan experience
Can't go wrong with this place if you want to experience an authentic Japanese ryokan: it's an old wooden house just steps away from a huge Buddhist temple, service is great and the shared bathhouse is a wonderful way to end a long day. Our room didn't have a bathroom, but there was a shared one just outside and using it was never a problem. We tried the kaiseki dinner as well, and it was a ton of food, a must try at least once.
Stayed 3 nights in Apr 2019

10/10 Excellent

betty s w

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Excellent service
Very enjoyable stay
Stayed 2 nights in Mar 2019

10/10 Excellent

C.Brown

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
It's a pretty, renovated Japanese-style inn. My room was very nice. It had a low table and chair for me to sit in, and adequate storage space for my luggage. It was equipped with a modern air conditioner/heater, as well as a private sink, shower, and toilet. If you want the Japan experience, try the public bath/shower. Breakfast was very tasty; one of the staff came to get me when it was ready. It's in a nice area, with only a short walk from the Zenkoji Temple; it's also quiet at night. Nagano station and downtown are about a 20-minute walk away. The staff spoke enough English to help me with anything I needed, and were very courteous and friendly.
Stayed 3 nights in Mar 2019

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveler

Stayed 3 nights in Mar 2019

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveler

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
I wanted a traditional Japanese cultural accommodation and this fitted the bill. The property is soo close to the spiritual heart of Japan namely the Zenkoji Temple. This is like to a catholic, being next to the Vatican and Bethlehem all in one street. Loved the owners and the food they served. Travelled all over the world, best stay ever.
Stayed 1 night in Feb 2019

10/10 Excellent

Keanan

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
What an AMAZING EXPERIENCE
This ryokan is placed very strategically next to seemingly on of the larger attractions in Nagano, Zenkoji Temple. It’s not very close to any train stations, but the whole of Nagano city is pretty small and we were able to walk to the hotel from the Nagano Shinkansen station. The ryokan itself was absolutely lovely. The breakfast and dinner that is included was amazing and the staff were all so kind and helpful. It truly felt like the quintessential traditional Japanese experience!
Stayed 2 nights in Feb 2019

10/10 Excellent

Dave

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Amazing location, lovely hosts.
Amazing location, lovely family hosts, very traditional Japanese accommodation. Sleeping on mats takes some getting used to.
Stayed 2 nights in Jan 2019

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveler

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Stayed 2 nights in Jan 2019

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveler

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Wonderful accomodation and experience at the ryokan, thank you!
Stayed 1 night in Jan 2019

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveler

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Excellent location- very close to Zen-Ko-Ji. This made it easy to visit multiple times; in the afternoon, morning, night etc. Hotel was very clean and stay were very friendly. The futon and pillow were excellent and I slept very well. I had breakfast included and it was quite good.
Stayed 3 nights in Oct 2018

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveler

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Highly recommended, give it a try!
Words can not describe how amazing this place is. Whilst I was initially taken aback by the traditional feel of it (I’d been used to western hotels on my travels) I can honestly say this was the best experience of my trip. Located in a beautiful area up a short walk up a hill from the metro, you were met with a tiny street filled with traditional shops and at the end a beautiful temple. Nestled away amongst the shops was this place and when we were entered we were met with the nicest family ever with great Japanese hospitality. Very helpful, kind and informative. We went for a traditional room with western style bathroom (to keep it private) and the beds were those on the floor. We came into a table in the middle and when we later came back they had kindly made the beds up for us. There is free use of onsen baths. Extremely sad to leave but well seen off by the family. Can’t conment on the breakfast or dinner as we didn’t have it. Would highly recommend this place!!!
Stayed 2 nights in Sep 2018

10/10 Excellent

Karen, Playa del Rey, CA

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
The entire staff was very friendly to everyone in our group despite only one of our foursome able to converse in Japanese. The hotel is very centrally located near the Temple. Plenty of little stores and food options during daytime hours, and very quiet at night (street is closed to car traffic). We enjoyed our breakfasts so much that we also ate dinner there one evening.
Stayed 4 nights in Sep 2018

10/10 Excellent

Genaro, Nagano

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Truly Japanese
Very friendly and homely Ryokan. The food is incredible and the people is amazing
Stayed 2 nights in Jun 2018

10/10 Excellent

Yuliana dewi

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Amazing stay
Amazing stay. Full of services. Food are fantastic. Recommend the kaiseki dinner. The family running this Ryokan are very accommodating. Location is very peaceful but during weekend can be crowded. Surrounded by many shops and few steps from the temple. Will definitely come back. We are staying in family room with private bathroom. Have small onsen in the common area.
Stayed 1 night in May 2018