Naruto Grand Hotel

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• Fourps

  28 noviembre 2018
  Luxury at a discount

  The Grand is one of the many resort stye hotels around Japan that were built towards the end of the 'bubble' days of the 1990s. Regrettably some of these hotels are now closed and those that remain appear to survive on weddings, work parties and Japanese national holidays, when many Japanese take a break and go have fun. That means that outside of the main holidays, these hotels tend to have lots of rooms available at pretty low prices considering what they offer. The Grand is one of them. The hotel is located about 7km from Naruto town so if you're travelling by train, you may need to take a taxi to get here. I suspect the hotel is also serviced by a bus. Note that the hotel is a resort style hotel located where it is because of the views it has of the Onaruto bridge, which is one of the main 3 land access points to Shikoku. This means that the hotel stands alone and is not in town. There is a restaurant serving traditional Japanese menu for dinner and breakfast, so if you're not into that, stock up on some nibbles and drinks in town before coming to the hotel. The nearest convenience store, Yamazaki, is about 2 km away in the direction of Naruto town if you need to top up. So those are the logistics, what about the hotel? It was clearly a 5 star hotel in the day, and is still looking pretty good at about 4 stars. There's a very comfortable lounge looking out to sea where you can gaze, drink free coffee or soft drinks and wonder why life isn't always as good as this. We paid 12,000yen for a room that had perfect views of the Onaruto bridge and was large enough to house a family, including aunts, uncles and second cousins. We're pretty sure that it was not the standard room, but a free upgrade. As with all of these large resort hotels, they're happy to have your custom, so ask for the best room and you may receive. The best part of the hotel (if you don't mind jumping in a bath with strangers) are the onsen on the eighth and ninth floors. There are plenty of washing and bathing areas on the lower floor, as well as a sauna, but it is the view from the ninth floor outdoor bath (rotenburo) which make it special with views out to the Onaruto bridge. You could spend hours up here and, like ourselves, you may be able to sneak your camera in and get some great pictures. I should add that a camera in a Japanese bath is a big no, but some times the views and the opportunities are too great to resist and if there's nobody else there, does it matter!!?? So good that we planned just the one night here and decided to extend for another. If you're exploring all of Shikoku over a number of days, it's too far East to use as a base, but if you have time and want to kick back, this would be highly recommended.