Fukuichi

Large hotel with amenities. The decor is a bit outdated. Food is mediocre. Service is average depending on individual staff

While visiting Ikaho in 2019, I saw 福一 while walking the stone steps. The unmaintained, unkempt external of the building and the bags of trash littered around the building were enough to make my visceral reaction be one of… I’m glad I’m not staying there. Unfortunately, while visiting more recently, the ryokan I’d stayed at previously was fully booked. I happened upon 福一’s website and didn’t realize that it was the same ryokan that had made me internally shudder. The website makes you believe this ryokan will be updated and beautiful. Don’t be fooled like me. The ryokan was old and dirty inside. I’ve stayed at many ryokans and I don’t mind old buildings and fixtures, furniture, etc. Old can be beautifully-maintained and clean. Unfortunately, that isn’t the case here. Carpets in common areas were horribly stained. Parts of wooden fixtures were peeling off. There was mold in the sink in our bathroom. The bathroom trash can was literally a yellow bucket that has not been cleaned of stains in quite a while. There was mold covering the soap dispenser in our room. The room I booked was called the “Modern Japanese room”. Superficial things in the room had been updated (like the wallpaper) but the sink, shower, bathtub, etc were obviously from when the ryokan opened. The food was disappointing as well. It’d obviously been cooked in huge batches beforehand and was just sitting around for awhile prior to being served. The rice in the 炊き込みご飯 at the end of the meal was cold and hard. Anyone who is familiar with rice would know it’d obviously been cooked well before and had been left out for awhile. The breakfast buffet had plenty of variety but the quality of the food was poor. All in all, quite bad cost performance. While this ryokan charges the same price as other ryokans in the area, the quality of the room and the facilities and the quality of the food really don’t live up to the price point. I couldn’t wait to leave 福一.

石段の上のほうがいいよ、と言われ迷わず福一さんに行きました。到着すると丁寧に案内されたのは、なんと、こちらの社長さんでした。物腰の柔らかい言葉と絶やさぬ笑みが素敵と思いながら入館します。広い大浴場はふんだんに伊香保の湯がかけ流しです。ちょうどいい温度と成分が高い温泉はとても管理が大変だと思います。食事は海産物が活きのよいこと、味付けが料亭のような気品を感じることに感動しました。石段の上部に位置するので、景色が申し分なく石段歩きも楽でした。