Day 8 – Morning in Izumiso in Ito and Returning to Tokyo

We awoke at Izumiso in Ito to find a light rain was falling.  We were both anxious to experience their onsen and quickly put on our Yukatas and headed downstairs. 

I entered the men’s side and was pleasantly surprised at the size of the hot spring facility and the different options that were available to me.  The changing area provided baskets for me to place my Yukata in and I headed into the main area.  The atmosphere was great, there was a large washing area against the wall to my right where I quickly washed prior to entering one of the two choices of hot springs.  I first chose to go to their outdoor hot spring and was happy to see that I had the entire bath to myself.  The outdoor hot spring is quite large and made up of a great mixture of stone and concrete with an abundance of Japanese foliage that provides the feeling of being right next to a mountain.  It was a very relaxing experience, with the only drawback being the light rain.  However, the rain was not much of an issue as Izumiso also provides an indoor hot spring, which after 30 minutes of enjoying the outdoor facility, I ventured indoors.  Most of the Ryokans that we have stayed in had indoor and outdoor facilities, but they can compete with the sheer size of each of the hot springs at Izumiso.  The indoor hot spring was larger than the others I had experienced, and was also created out of stone giving it an authentic rustic feel.  It provided a wonderful and peaceful experience and a great break from the rain.  The final element in this onsen was a small sauna that could be enjoyed, although I chose not use this particular one, I had used similar ones in the past and it is quite enjoyable to mix your hot spring experience with a hot sauna.

After washing and putting my Yukata back on, it was time for breakfast.  We ate in the same dining hall in which we had enjoyed our Kaiseki dinner in the night before.  It was a Japanese style breakfast that consisted of fish, rice, a few dishes with Japanese vegetables, a light crab soup, and fresh fruit.  It was quite delicious and very welcomed after the hot spring.  Service from the staff was once again excellent.

 

We returned to our room and packed our bags as we would be returning to Tokyo today.  We went downstairs to the lobby level and gave our bags to the staff to place on the free shuttle bus that would be taking us to the train station.  With some time to kill, we found some comfortable chairs and I enjoyed looking over the Japanese garden through the window while drinking a complimentary cup of coffee while my wife checked her email through the free Wifi available on the lobby level.  One of the assistant managers came by to thank us for staying with them and let us know that are shuttle bus was ready.

We arrived at Ito station and boarded a local train that took us to Odawara where we would then board the Shinkansen to Tokyo.