Name: Soyotei
Address: Nagata 521-4, Yakushima, Yakushima, Yakushima, 891-4201, Japan
Rating: 9

Location

Yakushima Airport

Soyotei

This family owned Ryokan includes incredible private saunas, which are separate for the morning and night. A delicious and traditional breakfast and dinner is included in your lodging cost. The owners are wonderful people. Staying there was a magical experience.

Spent 2 nights in July and loved my stay there!
At the end of a gorgeous Long Beach where you can go turtle watching at night.
Good food and a team that are all so welcoming and speak enough English to make your stay easy.
It is north west of the island so you can drive there, or hop on the bus (stop 4 litterally outside the hotel).
Big room with private toilet, several baths including one that you can book and chill in whilst watching the sea in the evening.
Lovely!

Hotel Soyotei is a traditional Japanese hotel in a wonderful location with an incredibly romantic private onsen. The hotel is located at the end of a long sandy beach where turtles come to lay their eggs starting in May. The breakfast and dining room is located just above the water line while the spray from the ocean may fall into the lower onsen when the waves are sufficiently large. This was definitely the best onsen experience during our 3-week stay in Japan. I note that there are only a few sandy beaches on Yukashima and that this hotel is located near to the forest where monkeys sit on the road and small skittish deer can be seen. Because it is a family-run traditional hotel (the hotel does not even have a sign in English) some may not appreciate the set meals.  There is a lot of fish and seafood in each meal, but there is enough to eat even for those who prefer more western fare. There is regular bus service to the area and one can rent a car for greater independence. There is not much traffic and one cannot get lost driving as there is basically one road that circles the island and two roads that go into the interior. The hotel can be recognized as it sits on both sides of the highway and is dark brown with stones on the roof (and as already mentioned, it is at the end of long sandy beach). It can be a bit tricky to make a reservation. First, like many other hotels on Yakushima, reservations for April could not be made until December. Also they did not have a website when I made reservations. Instead I did this through Y.E.S. Yakushima (from whom I hired a guide). They do accept credit cards. We stayed for 4 nights.

Food was disappointing. dinner was BBQ style and you need to cook yourself. the taste was too salty for us and we could not eat without rice (the volume was big enough). breakfast was super simple I've ever had.... Maybe i expected more since i paid 15000JPY/night/person. the view from the private bath was great (maybe the price is mainly for that and the beautiful traditional japanese style room) but the bathwater was lukewarm. It's better to take earlier if you prefer hot temperture. And it is not hot spring (the color is brown since slightly iron is included but it is not enough to say "hot spring"). check-in time is 16.00pm and check-out time is 10:00am. It would be great if we could check-in at 2pm since the room was very comfortable. the owner was very nice! thank you very much. no credit card accept, you need to phone to make reservation.

My family stayed 4 nights at this unique inn. Soyotei is family-run and is not very new, modern or high-tech but is totally Yakushima, totally charming and I would immediately stay there again on our next trip. What I enjoyed: The restaurant is located above the sea and is open to the breeze and stunning view of the sea and neighbouring islands. The sunset is breathtaking. We also enjoyed the food, especially grilling seafood and vegetables on a charcoal grill at the table. Another night, we were served fresh, juicy crabs. The proprietor couple are very friendly and down-to-earth and we enjoyed chatting with them about Yakushima over many glasses of shochu.The location was fantastic: It is next to perhaps one of the most beautiful beaches on the island, which is also the nesting ground for loggerhead and green turtles. 
The drawbacks: futons, sheets and towels were clean but not very new. We made the mistake of not renting a car so were dependant on the public bus. So it was not very convenient for visiting Shiratani Unsuikyo, Anbo etc.by public transport.
Yakushima is a slow place that feels very far from the 24-hour society of big japanese cities. I think staying at Soyotei allowed me to feel more in touch with the soil, air and people of Yakushima. If you want authenticity, Soyotei is the place to go.

This hotel is a very traditional Japanese experience. The beds are futons and there is a shared shower/bath but private toilet/sink. They provide breakfast and dinner, both of which are tradition Japanese set meals. The staff is incredibly welcoming and helpful, and we really felt at home! The location can not be beat. It has access to a private section of the beach and all the rooms/dining hall have a view of the ocean. Be warned that if you’re not a fan of fish, you should bring some snacks with you as Nagata is very small and does not have much to offer in terms of food beyond lunch. There is a small grocery store that has a few snack items and the hotel has a vending machine for drinks.

Located 19 kms (11.8 miles) from the jetfoil pier and 40 kms from the airport, Soyotei - perhaps can be translated as "Sunset Villa" - is on the remote NW side of the island.  With winding, narrow roads, the speed limit is 40-60 kms. There's not much to offer between the pier and Soyotei except Isso (10 kms) where you can find a nice coffee shop and a couple restaurants. So you do need a car to get around, as most of the scenic sites, trails starting point, restaurants, etc are on the eastern portion of the island. That said, Soyotei is located at a beautiful beach side, where turtles come to lay their eggs in Spring. This is not a high-end onsen with immaculate service but family-run, down to earth set up.  All tatami rooms (11 rooms in total, the bedding could be much softer and newer), private toilet (a bit smelly), shared bathrooms.  But most people would use the two hot spring tubs where you sit and look out into the ocean - reserved basis but never a conflict.  There's plenty of food. Wifi is an issue as reception is only inside the dining room and very weak.  Booking can be done through a local agent called YES whose reps write fluent English emails and they can also reserve rental cars and jetfoil tickets as well.

Loved the dinner by the sea, large room, nice small onsen. 
Just a small issue with the smell of toilets in the room... it did not make the stay as perfect as it would have been. Also, beware there is a street to cross to go tot he beach or to the restaurant from the beach. Very few cars, but is not the best situation with small kids.

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Magical experience

Little paradise

Beautiful location with a romantic onsen

food is disappointing but the view from the private bath was amazing.

Special place

Great little inn!

Scenic, remote, lazy stay

Traditional ryokan with lots of space and beautiful beach

Good points:  
The location cannot be beat, with the restaurant and outdoor bath overlooking the sea.  Soyotei is right beside a gorgeous beach, so you can sleep with the sound of waves crashing, the smell of fresh salty air, and cool breezes.
The rooms are spacious, and ours had a large balcony with a view of the sea across the street and a little tea room.
It is run by a family, and the son speaks English well enough to communicate with foreigners.  The whole family are friendly and accommodating, and the father, although he speaks no English, enjoys chatting and sharing his shochu with the guests.
The inn is built in the old Okinawan style, and it is quaint and cozy.
Another reviewer said they don't accept credit cards, but they do now.

Bad points:  
The food.  It's pretty standard, average Japanese-institution-type food.  For the price, I felt that the food should have been of a higher quality.  Unfortunately for us, on our last night there, we were served sashimi for a starter and then seafood to barbeque at our table.  The rest of our meal was forgotten until we got up to go to bed at 9pm and it was remembered.  As it was too late, we declined.
The futons were old and hard, and not so comfortable - especially for my American guest who was not used to sleeping on the floor.  I was fine, but I can't deny that they were pretty hard futons - even 2 layers.

All in all, it is a nice place to stay.  Just don't have your hopes up for the meals.

For newcomers to Japan, it is probably a novel experience...

Stayed there for a couple of nights to watch sea turtles laying their eggs on Nagata beach and to go some short trekking.

Pros
- No reservation required to watch egg laying of turtles on Nagata beach (a few minutes by walk) if you stay any lodges in Nagata area including Soyotei. Can borrow flash light for free as the road to the beach is very dark
- Beautiful sunset can be seen if the weather is good
- Lookout view of ocean is nice from small bath. It was not hot spring, though.
- Free washing machines/driers and detergent for dirty clothes from mountain trekking
- Very close to the west preservation area where you can come across monkeys and deers on the road all the time

Cons
- Ticks bit our legs and arms. This made our trip really uncomfortable and unpleasant. Futon is suspicious as we found our body bitten in the morning
- Bit far from most tourist spots such as Jyomon-Sugi or Shiratani-Unsui-Kyo. Need a rental car
- Food is very basic home quality food. If you feel like staying Japanese home, this might be a good choice. But for the price, the quality did not meet my expectation

Soyotei

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