Wakayama hotels & places to stay

Rooms are well equipped n spacious Japanese standards. The decor is slightly dated with a digital alarm clock from the late 90s by your bed and no iPhone pods. Plenty of restaurants within walking distance. If you are too tired, the shopping centre under the hotel has a western bistro, Japanese restaurant and Chinese restaurant (which I had not tried any since there are local restaurants just around the corner). However, we did pop into the Family Mart for snacks and drinks since the hotel had environmentally friendly policy of not providing guests with bottled water. The hotel is about a 25 min walk from Wakayama Train Station but buses frequent a stop (in front of the castle) just opposite. It's a perfect location for visiting the Wakayama Castle. If you are planning to take any trains from Wakayama City. This hotel is conveniently located 10 min walk away from there. For example, we took the Mendetai Train (pretty sea bream train) to the quiet seaside town, Kada.

The Wakayama Hotel Granvia is a nice hotel. The rooms are upscale "business" hotel style, in Japanese terms, meaning they are not 5-star but more than adequate for the business traveller. One can reserved through discount services, making it an excellent value, and the staff have been especially helpful and friendly, and remembered me from my prior stay. We did communicate in Japanese, but their courteous and professional demeanor suggests they are probably well-trained to interact with guests in English too. I gave the facilities a 4 instead of a 5 because their work station was not set up to make digital pdf's from my documents, only hard copy prints. The lobby is surprisingly sparse for such a large space, but there are numerous coffee shops nearby, either the one just off the lobby or next door accessible by connecting door to the departments store complex. It is located about as close as you're going to get to the train station without being on top of it.

The price for one night is not high but the hotel is perfect. Within a few minutes walk from Wakayama JR station. The room is huge compared to normal Japanese hotel. Breakfast is even included in the room rate. It is a buffet style with a variety of food to be chosen. All staff we met are polite and nice. I would definitely recommend this to any travellers looking for hotel in Wakayama.

A few things one should know before going to Kada. The hotel will pick you up from the Kada Train Station which is at the end of the train line. Do not confuse this with the Wakayama or Wakayama Shi stations. The town of Kada is a small fishing port. I assume it gets busy with tourists in the summer but when we went in late October, the town was very quiet. As in, virtually no restaurants open. Unless you have booked the half board with the hotel you are pretty much on your own. We ended up taking the train up 4 stations a finding a convenience store that had prepackaged meals and taking them back. We had a 3 person Japanese ocean view room which was beautiful. Open the blinds and the ocean is right there. The open air on sen is also ocean front and a great spot to relax. The Japanese rooms look cool but after sitting on the floor and getting up and down, it does wear on the bones a bit. Overall a great place to take a break.

Its location was the primary reason I chose this hotel - the main train station (which goes to the airport via one simple transfer) is walking distance (save on bus fares!) and Wakayama Castle is still a walkable distance. If you get the top floors, the views you get of the city are pleasant. Our double room was spacious and there wasn't any smoking smell. The staff can speak English and will help you with bus options to areas you plan to visit. Kimiidera Temple, Kishu Toshogu Shrine, and Wakayama Marina City are all accessible via one-ride bus from the train station, which is walkable from the hotel. I highly recommend this hotel. Plus, breakfast is always included!

The hotel is quite the walking distance from the train station, approx 25-30mins walk, but you will be walking in a straight path so no worries of getting lost. Remember to buy your food at the mini mart by your right before starting your walk. The hotel is very near to wakayama castle and I was lucky to got a room that overlook Wakayama castle under the full moon during a full moon day and that is a plus.

About 5 minutes from the Wakayama Train Station, so if you are going to Kyoto, it's super convenient. The hotel is older and it shows. But the hotel room was still fairly clean. They give you a pair of pajamas you can wear, but I didn't because they were quite thick. The bathroom is set up that you bathe right on the floor OR there is a tub but the showerhead doesn't point in that direction. So either get the floor wet, or try to hold the showerhead to bathe in the bathtub to keep everything dry. Front desk called me a taxi which was super nice. Breakfast had some fish and other Japanese looking things that I tried. It did feel a bit like stepping back into the 70s.

I stayed in Kancho Hot Spring Hotel for 6 nights on my own, which is very unusual. It’s quite challenging for the hotel, especially the catering staff, as I would surely get bored with the food and facilities. However, they didn’t disappoint me, instead they provided superb hospitality to me, a loner. The environment was quiet and accessible. I was taken care well with the least disturbance. The staff were friendly and tried hard to communicate with me to make me feel at home. What impressed me most was the fact that they prepared different meals for me every day, lest I would be bored. I was touched when I saw my name on the dinner food list starting from the third day of my stay. They made dishes just for me every day! They even prepared a western breakfast with bread and jam and a best ever corn soup for me! I have to thank everyone at Kancho for giving me such a wonderful vacation during the worst time of my life. You did make a different! I highly recommend Kancho to you!

The hotel stands in a good position: few minutes far from the Wakayamashi station, in a quiet area, with a combini just on the way from the station. The Wakayama castle was also visible from my room and it takes about a 10-minutes walk to get there. The room was fine, even though rather small, and not completely soundproof, hence it would be most suitable for a short stay. Toiletteries and many other supplies can be found at the reception, in addition to the essentials already in the room. The free breakfast was rather good: it is a Japanese-style breakfast, so no cakes or buscuits (but there were coffee, juices, yogurt and some cereals). However, it seemed home-made, thus I really enjoyed it and I did not miss the European-style breakfast at all. Beware: the hotel did not have (or at least, I did not see) its name translated in English/romaji, so it was kind of a guess that it was the right place, but Google map was on point and the Fuji picture helped.

If you're staying in Wakayama, stay here. It is a hostel with dorm rooms, but it was immaculately clean, quiet and a great night's sleep. The hosts are gracious and more than willing to help in any way they can. The rough design of the hostel is intentional and the reception area is full of stylish curiosities. There are ambitious designs for shared workspace as well as a rooftop garden area. We were impressed not only with Rico, but also with the friendliness of the city and of course, the world-renown Chuka-soba (ramen). We made a point of returning here to stay one more night during our stay in Wakayama Prefecture after hiking the Kohechi section of the UNESCO designated Kumano Kodo trail.

Need psychological preparation of the place, amenities, and facilities before hand, needs actual image of the property, no delusion from the websites, such as the capsule style of "room", not "bunk beds" , no hands towels after washings! No personal lockers for personal things, such as sneakers, handbags, etc. Or at least a big locker's room for storage if necessary! Sense of oil burning from the heating system made people felt unsafe to have sound sleep, not sure if there is error or fire would happen! Mixed dorm even worse for single woman, only good for family style! No tourists information accessible at site, the reception area, area is cold unless asked to turn on the heater, however, the manager tries his best, maybe he needs support or resources too from Agoda!

First Cabin is a great place to stay on a budget. I would definitely recommend spending the extra money to get the First Class or Business or whatever the top rank is - almost feels like you actually have a room, rather than just a bed. First Cabin is a funny place - lots of amenities, a very nice bathroom area, almost like you're actually at a spa. But in the cabin itself, you're hearing all the noise of everyone's snoring, everyone's alarm clocks, and the lights from the corridor (or from buttons inside the cabin) prevent it from ever being properly dark enough to have an easier time getting to sleep. Also, while the Wakayama Station location has a nice Japanese bath, and that's a nice amenity, there are no private shower stalls! I really would have liked to shower in the morning in private, rather than doing it out in the open among other naked dudes. But the location was good. Located right near the station and the main dept stores & only 25 min walk to the castle and museums.