The location and arrangement of the spacious ryokan rooms, which are rather small houses, are great. The food is excellent. The dinner is an 8 course kaiseki meal with Michelin star quality. Breakfast is a Japanese style multi items arrangement that is full of surprises. Dinner and breakfast (included in the admittedly high price) were served in a separate adjacent private room. There was also an additional private bath room with a wooden tub available at an arranged time. The overall hospitality was wonderful. More good things could be told.

One negative issue was that during our visit, the temperature in part of the rooms was pretty low - despite floor heating under the tatami mats. Other areas had cold floors. Anyway, we enjoyed our stay very much! Useful information: Since the ryokan is in a remote and therefore very quiet place in the forest of Nara Park, it is necessary to take a taxi from the train station.

Lovely location in the forest -- it's very quiet and scenic. At the same time it's still accessible by taxi so no issues even if you have more luggage. Great wooden bathtub and amazing bathroom products (full Aesop range). Tasty, varied and well portioned meals. You really feel spoiled by the staff, e.g. alcohol is included with meals, free minibar, complimentary matcha tea and snacks.

In-room heating a bit hard to control -- e.g. the bedroom area could get nice and warm but the toilet area was always cold.

Amazing Ryokan with the most attentive staff. Their English is very good and we felt like 5-star guests from arrival to check out and felt that our needs were always taken care of. The location is amazing, right in the heart of Nara Park. We had the pleasure of waking up to the sight of deer! We also were able to walk around the park and the main sections where the deer graze were not too far away (which was one of the reasons we chose this Ryokan in particular!). We enjoyed the onsen at night after our wonderful dinner, as well as first thing in the morning. It was very relaxing. The room itself is very large, almost like an apartment, and it is very traditional with a tatami floor. Everything from inside and outside of the venue was decorated in such a traditional and beautiful way, it really allows you to immerse yourself in traditional Japanese culture. Would definitely stay in this Ryokan again if we had the chance!

From the moment we arrived we were welcomed by the manager of the hotel and her assistant, and treated like kings throughout first showing us our rooms, and then when serving dinner in the private dinner room. If you like Kaiseki dinner, then you are in for a treat because the food is very good. They also offer vegetarian or Halal options which is excellent. The location is in the middle of a nice forest from where you can hike to the top and then get a nice view of Osaka, and it's an easy hike. We came a bit late to the hotel which unfortunately did not allow us to fully experience the Ryokan on the first day. If you come here, you can come early to Nara, leave your luggage in the lockers near the station (they are cheaper right outside than inside the station), and then walk around the deer park and to the temple (won't take more than 2 hours). Then have a meal, go to the Ryokan, take a walk around the forest, come back for a nice bath, then have your dinner, after which you can relax in your room. I feel this will give you the full experience.

This isn't a negative, but the shower / bath isn't in the room. It's in a separate room, but in our case our room had a designated bathroom all day (so other guests wouldn't use it).

This was our favourite ryokan in Japan. We loved the secluded forest setting, proximity to Nara Park, stunning traditional wooden building, forest view from our room, and the delicious dinner in a private dining room (they catered for us vegetarians well). The staff is friendly and speaks English. Our room was warm on a chilly day. Drinks in the minibar (beer, juice, water) and tea were free.

The onsens are quite small (they fit two), aren't open air and don't have a view. They are private, family-style, though (you book a time), so they are good for those intimidated by public nudity! They were still a lovely place to relax.

We paid for the breakfast and dinner services. Breakfast was varied, filling, and Japanese style. Dinners were served kaiseki style and delicious as well (also Japanese style). Our room faced a small waterfall like area and being completely in the woods was soothing and relaxing. The actual room was great for staying unplugged (wifi is free but no tv or games) and it was beautiful. The futon was an experience. If you’ve never used one be prepared as you’re on the floor and it’s more firm than a typical mattress (all of which is put out for you).

I enjoyed the stay. There wasn’t anything that stuck out as needing improvement.

The two nights we spent in this Ryokan was one of the best experiences of my life. The staff were so friendly and attentive. The location was unmatched in the middle of the primeval forest, it was so peaceful and calm with excellent views of the forest, we could even hear and see a small babbling brook from our room. The food was incredible, we got to try alot of japanese cuisine that I would of been too afraid to order elsewhere or wouldn't even know it existed! The first night was a multi course traditional japanese style meal that the inn specialises in, the quality was immpeccable and even though there were some sections of the meal I didnt like (not used to so much fish items) it was incredible to try it all. The staff were so friendly and when they realised that we knew some Japanese they spoke with us in Japanese and were very patient with our small amount of skills, it gave us such a confidence in the language. Wearing the yukata's around the inn was very nice and comfy and they were beautiful. The spring water baths in the private bathrooms were amazing and a great way to experience Japanese bathing without having to go to a public bath house or onsen (if you are a little shy). One day I will come back here! This was the perfect Japanese Ryokan experience.

There was nothing we didnt like. I would say if you arent willing to be adventurous with your food this may not be the place for you as it is very traditional japanese dishes for both breakfast and dinner. One small note is that I wish my Yukata was a little bigger. I have a larger western figure and while I was able to wear it around the inn comfortably, it would of been even more comfortable if I could of wrapped it around more. I do understand that these are usually one size and are made for the Japanese who are often a lot smaller. Not a big issue just maybe something to improve upon.

We loved the formality and the service of the food.

There were six of us, one vegetarian and another who didn't eat fish, the kitchen did accommodate for the non-fish eater, by giving him meat, but unfortunately his meal came all at once, so he was left with no dishes being served when ours were coming out. I think this could have been handled better. The vegetarian dishes came out with ours, so it was just one person who wasn't being served when the rest of us were. They could have been given the vegetarian dishes rather than nothing? The meal was also ALL fish based, it was very beautiful in presentation but we didn't enjoy some of the more extreme tastes.

Everything was truly amazing. The ryokan is located at about 10 minutes walk from Nara's park, at the beginning of the woods in a peaceful location. We stayed for one night after having visited Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka, so we were in need of some relax and indeed we found it here. We had the pleasure to enjoy both of the traditional baths, they were very beautiful and quite big (we could fit in 2 in the bathtub and i'm 6'1") Rooms are large, tatami mats everywere and traditional sliding doors. And yes, the property is in a forest so there is the possibility to find an insect or two (it's also written in the guide you find in the room), there is a freezing spray the staff or you can use to dispose of the "threat", to be quite honest it is not an issue. Now the food. Dinner is kaiseki style, so multi courses, and i have to say i've never eaten so well in any other place, the menu is tailored to both the season and the local ingredients. And with local i mean, ingredients of the very same mountain. Every dish was beautifully presented and explained by the staff, we got to eat many new things, especially vegetables and roots never heard before. Breakfast on the other hand was all at once and was lavish, and also here there were ingredients never heard before. Tsukihitei is an amazing ryokan, and very well worth a visit, thank you for the amazing experience.

The food was amazing. It was too much food for us, I would be surprised if anyone could eat it all and I felt terrible not doing so! I can tell how much care and love went into the preparation of each aspect of each dish. Maybe one or two less courses would be fine, just to not waste such precious food. Overall, no complaints though, just too much of a good thing! ;)

The communication about the bath times was a little challenging but really not an issue.