New Matsuo

The hotel was indeed tricky to find. We got desperately lost even though we had a map from Welcome Inn website. Luckily we met a very kind Japanese lady who took us to the hotel by her car ( I just love Hiroshima people). In fact the hotel is very near the train station and it takes only 5-7 minutes on foot. I booked 2 rooms for 7 persons but unfortunately my son couldn't join our trip in the last minute so there were only 6 of us. I forgot to inform the hotel about this change in advance but the owner who was very understanding didn't charge us for our mistake. In the end we got to stay in a large room intended for 6-7 persons. The bathroom was decent with western sized bathtub. I myself loved sleeping on a futon but my mother-in-law who has bad knees had a hard time getting up and down. Being near the train station, the hotel can be a bit noisy but frankly the train noise didn't bother me at all. Everybody who works in this hotel speaks almost no English but they are very kind and courteous. We didn't order breakfast but when we went down to use internet in a lobby, the owner brought us hot green tea and yogurt for free. Compared to a modern brand named hotel we stayed in Osaka, New Matsuo may be somewhat inferior but this place is perfect if you want to experience real Japanese hospitality in traditional setting.