Hotel Route-Inn Iwaki Ekimae

I participated at the Iwaki Sunshine marathon and stayed in this hotel for just one night. The staff was really kind, but I can't assure they can help you in English. They have paid parking lot (500yen per day) and despite the hotel being very busy (lots of people running the marathon) and we arriving quite late in the day, we did not have any issues getting a spot for our car. The room was cozy, overall clean (I found some small mold spots near the ceiling of the bathroom, but I don't really mind that). They also have a public bath which I unfortunately could not enjoy. The breakfast was good, it has everything you normally find in continental breakfasts. It was quite busy, but we did not have any issues finding a place to seat etc. The hotel is very close to the Iwaki station, so there are many options for eating (most of them were Izakayas, but we also found some nice Italian restaurants). Iwaki station is connected to the JR Joban line, which goes all the way down to Tokyo, so it is very convenient to get there by train as well (although Joban line can be pretty hectic). I think for the price, this is a very good hotel to stay!

For the price we paid, I don't have any major complains. The bed was a bit hard, but it didn't gave me any back pain or something like that. There was some small mold spots near the ceiling of the bathroom, but nothing too bad.

The breakfast was terrific, we enjoyed the range of food available from scrambled eggs, bacon, salad to some basic Japanese breakfast essentials like fish, tamagoyaki and miso soup. The public bath is basic, but it's a public bath and one cannot complain. What I loved about the male side is the shaving cream provided with the razor. That was a nice plus for a morning shave while taking the bath. Many onsen ryokans don't even provide shaving cream. The clientele looks mostly male, so my wife had the public bath all to herself and she was very pleased. The parking is a lift-type system and it works well, but please be careful that there is a limitation on car size (width is 2050cm). My car barely fit but it did so I'm happy!

The only downside of this hotel is that the bed is rather hard. If you need a plush bed, this hotel is not for you. If a hard bed works, it's not a bad room. The room is also a little small, but that's perfectly within our expectations for what we paid.

Location/public bath/breakfast

The property is a bit old

Excellent. Many selections

The location

The bathroom was tiny, and the room either

Location. Close to the railway station.

Very soft mattress of the bed.

The hotel is right next to the JR station. It also comes with a free buffet breakfast, which is more than good given it is a budget hotel. The top floor comes with a hot bath (not Onsen), which is quite relaxing.

The hotel doesn’t come with a parking area, so if you are driving (which most of you would given it is quite a remote city), you have to pay extra to rent an overnight parking nearby. The wifi CANNOT work properly with all Apple devices (we have three iPhones of different generations, two Macs, and an iPad). The room is small and the bed is rigid.