Hotel Route-Inn Sakurai Ekimae
ホテルルートイン桜井駅前
Does Hotel Route-Inn Sakurai Ekimae allow tattoos? Yes, covered
At Sakurai station in Nara, an hour and ten minutes from Osaka on the Kintetsu Osaka line, with the chain’s large communal bath.
Tattoos are allowed if a cover seal hides them completely. The group names no seal size and doesn’t say the hotel sells seals, so bring your own.
Show this at the front desk
入れ墨(タトゥー)のある方のご入浴はお断りしております。ただし、カバーシールを用いて入れ墨(タトゥー)が完全に覆えている場合に限り、大浴場をご利用いただけます。
The operator’s own wording, to show at the desk if you need to.
The bath
Tabibito no Yu at Sakurai is made with Radi-Hope, the government-approved radium bath additive Route Inn uses, and the chain describes the result as soft, mineral-rich water with no color or smell. The hotel’s photos show a broad rectangular tub lined in pale turquoise tile, with stone-look walls and big windows onto a small garden behind a wooden fence, and bamboo stems planted in a stone bed in the corner. Granite-look partitions divide the washing places. Men and women have separate baths, open 3 p.m. until 2 a.m. and again 5 a.m. until 10 a.m. Cleansing oil, brushes and cotton are set out for women; combs, razors and shaving foam for men; lotion, milk lotion and dryers for both.
The hotel
175 rooms in front of the station. Free breakfast from 6:30 a.m. with croissants baked in the hotel. The 81-seat Nagomi restaurant serves dinner 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. but closes on Sundays and holidays; for those nights the hotel lists a sushi shop three minutes away and a tea house serving Miwa somen noodles five minutes away. Comfort rooms add Nishikawa [air] mattress overlays and free films. Paid parking. Check in at 3 p.m., out at 10 a.m.
Good to know
- Omiwa shrine ten minutes by car, Hasedera twenty.
Getting there
Sakurai STN · Kintetsu Osaka line and JR Sakurai line
About 1 minute from the north exit; turn right.
Sakurai is about 1 hour 10 minutes from Osaka on the Kintetsu Osaka line. Omiwa shrine is 7 minutes on foot from JR Miwa.
Where it is
Sakurai STN
- Subway Midosuji line 8 min
- Kintetsu Osaka line 55 min
- JR Kansai Wide Area Pass ¥12,000 · 5 days Worth it if you’re riding out to Kinosaki or Shirahama and back.
- Dotonbori food tour, 12 dishes and 2 drinks Two and a half hours around Dotonbori with an English-speaking guide: an izakaya, street food and a local restaurant, in a group of no more than fifteen. Evening starts.
- Shinkansen tickets Seats between any two stations, booked by date.
- Japan Rail Pass from ¥53,000 · 7, 14 or 21 days For a trip that takes in several regions by Shinkansen and JR lines.
What happens when you arrive
Bring your own seals and cover the tattoo completely before you go in. The hotel doesn't specify a size, so cover everything.
How we know
Confirmed from official site (the chain's own FAQ)
Best for: travelers exploring the shrines and temples of the Yamato hills
Book your stay
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