The staff was so kind and spoke amazing English. Our traditional room had a great view of the lake and an open air bath. Honestly I found the floor mat beds to be uncomfortable. The yukata was a cool experience though.
The Onsen baths were nice, though we struggled a bit to fully relax because it there are a lot of rules and customs involved, like washing yourself beforehand in the little stalls, where to put your towel, etc. Even though we read up a bunch, it was still a bit stressful to make sure we weren’t doing anything wrong. The hot springs water is so hot you can’t really stay long. We did enjoy a private bath in the late evening before going to bed. Perhaps starting in the private bath would’ve helped us feel more at ease in the public.
I’m a bit surprised so many people have said the food was amazing. While beautifully presented, the Kaiseki meal was so far out of our Western palate comfort zone, we honestly could barely eat half of it. And we were so afraid to be rude by not eating the meal, so it was again quite stressful. I had selected the Omi beef meal option because my husband doesn’t really like fish. I didn’t realize that the rest of the courses would be fish. We probably should have told them before, but we didn’t know. We skipped breakfast because we were so scared off by the dinner. If you’re not adventurous, I would recommend skipping the Kaiseki meal and eating at the other restaurant that is more western-friendly. Or maybe worry less than we did.