Izumigo Hotel Altia Toba

This hotel is very nice whether you use Japanese or American standards. My wife and I stayed in Room 204 from Sunday July 7 with a check out the next day. Check in time is 3 PM. Check out is Noon. The room is very nice. It is sectioned off with a seperate tatami room for dining and sleeping with a traditional two twin-bed sleeping area in a sunken area of the room. The room is nicely appointed with a flat screen TV, refrigerator and air purifying machine. Each room has a private outdoor balcony, but note, there are no chairs on the balcany. Standing room only. The view is spectacular. The hotel ammenities include an outdoor pool with a seperate hot tub. Please note, the pool and hot tub close at 6 PM. There is a small "planetarium" next to the pool that opens at 7 PM. Hotel guests may go and take a peek through the telescope at the visible stars. It left me less than impressed. I would have preferred the pool area to stay open during the evening/night hours in the summer, given the heat index in the day. The outdoor pool area also has a breathtaking view of the ocean and islands down below as the hotel sits on top of a mountain. Note: Each room has 4 large bath towels, however, if you need additional towels, the person at the front desk told me there is a 300 yen charge per extra towel. The dining facility on the 4th floor is magnificent. Our dinner had several courses of Japanese cuisine and the dining room has the same spectacular view of the ocean. The hosts and waiters were very accomodating. Breakfast was in the form of an all you can eat buffet. It was a mixture of Japanese and American breakfast foods and was very good. The hotel has a natural spring onsen on site. It is open until 10 PM. I was in the onsen until about 10:30 PM, but no one made me leave and the cleaning person apparently went to the other side and cleaned up and allowed me to stay longer. This was evident because my shoes were removed from the shoe locker and placed on the floor for when I departed. This is a pricey hotel. I runs between $200-$200 US Dollars per night. There is a complimentary shuttle that will pick you up at the JR Station and take you into town. Be sure to take the tour of Mikimoto Pearl Island while in Toba City. I highly recommend this property and would stay again.