Kurashiki Hotels - Japan

<body bgcolor="#FFFFFF"> <h2 align="center">Kurashiki Hotels</h2> <p>Find a hotel in Kurashiki, Japan. Get the best discounts on <a href="http://www.hotels-travelnow.com/asia/japan/">Kurashiki hotels</a> - up to 70% off the regular rate. Make reservations online. Japan travel information.</p> <p><b>HOTEL NIKKO KURASHIKI</b></p> <p>It's around a one-kilometre walk from Kurashiki Station along Kurashiki Chuo-dori to the Bikan district of seventeenth-century granaries and merchant houses, but, before heading there, peel off west after the fourth set of traffic lights to check out Ohashi House (Tues-Sun 9am-5pm; ¥500). A poor samurai family, the Ohashi turned to trade and prospered through salt production and land holdings. When they built their home in 1796, it was designed like those of the high-ranking samurai class, indicating how wealth was beginning to break down previously rigid social barriers. After passing through a gatehouse and small courtyard, you're free to wander through the spacious, unfurnished tatami rooms.</p> <p>Returning to the main road, the start of the Bikan district is marked by the inevitable cluster of shops and dawdling tourists. Either side of the willow-lined canal are beautifully preserved houses and warehouses, including the Ohara House , with its typical wooden lattice windows, and the adjacent Yurinso , the Ohara family guesthouse with distinctive green roof tiles. Opposite, across a stone bridge decorated with carved dragons, is the Ohara Museum of Art , the best of Kurashiki's many galleries and museums. The next most engaging is the Kurashiki Museum of Folkcraft (Tues-Sun: March-Nov 9am-5pm; Jan, Feb & Dec 9am-4.15pm; ¥700) in a handsomely restored granary around the canal bend, next to a stylish Meiji-era wooden building, which houses the tourist information centre. The museum displays a wide range of crafts, including Bizen-yaki pottery, baskets and traditional clothes, and has a small shop attached, selling souvenirs a cut above those found in most of Kurashiki's other giftshops.</p> <p>A few doors down from the folkcraft museum, another excellent giftshop attached to the Japan Rural Toy Museum (daily 8am-5pm; ¥500) sells colourful, new versions of the traditional playthings on display in the museum. Among this vast collection of dolls, spinning tops, animals and suchlike - most faded and tatty with age and use - the best displays are of huge kites and masks in the hall across the garden at the back of the shop.</p> <p>Rather than spending more yen at Kurashiki's other lacklustre museums, retrace your steps north over the canal and amble past the seventeenth-century merchant houses in the district of Honmachi , where you'll find some artsy craft shops, or stroll up the hillside to Tsurugata-yama Park , which includes the grounds of the simple shrine Aichi-jinja and temple Honei-ji. If you have time, you could also potter around Ivy Square , east of the canal, the ivy-covered late nineteenth-century Kurashiki Spinning Mill redeveloped into a shopping, museum and hotel complex. There's another good craft shop here, as well as an atelier where you can try your hand at pottery (¥1800).</p> <p>Grafted onto the town as if from another planet is Kurashiki Tivoli Park (Mon-Fri 10am-8pm, Sat, Sun and holidays 9am-10pm; ¥2000), a mini-Danish theme park in storybook colours, immediately north of Kurashiki Station. Modelled on the famous Copenhagen funfair, the park (with its street entertainers, giant Ferris wheel, Hansiatic palaces and shopping plazas, landscaped gardens and artificial lakes) is amusingly kitsch, and has some reasonably priced restaurants and cafés. However, the rides are all tame and cost extra on top of the already expensive entrance fee. Hang around, though, to watch the Hans Christian Andersen-inspired automatons spring to life on the hour from inside the musical clock between the station and the park.</p> <p>Café El Greco . Classic Bikan café, in an ivy-clad building facing the canal next to the Ohara Museum of Art. It's a favourite pit stop with visitors, even though it has a limited menu of drinks and cake. Seating is at shared tables and a coffee will set you back ¥400. Tues-Sun 10am-5pm.</p> <p>Domino , Kurashiki Chuo-dori. Small café in a pink and grey wooden building midway between the station and the Bikan district. It serves cheap Western/Japanese dishes, such as hamburger, rice pilaf and spaghetti. Tues-Sun 10am-9pm.</p> <p>Kamoi , 1-3-17 Chuo. Good-value sushi-ya in a old granary facing the canal. Choose from the plastic food display in the restaurant window. Tues-Sun 9am-6pm.</p> <p>Kanaizumi , Honmachi. Koto music tinkles in the background at this traditional restaurant, specializing in freshly made noodles, and serving excellent-value set meals throughout the day, all illustrated in a photo menu. A good place to sample mamakari sushi at only ¥750 for a set meal. Daily 11.30am-8pm.</p> <p>Kiyu-tei , Chuo. Rustic steak restaurant at the head of the canal running through the Bikan district. The lunches start at ¥880 for a beef steak, cake and coffee. There's also a salad bar. The fixed three-course dinner menu for ¥2800 is also worth considering. Daily 11.30am-3pm & 5-8.30pm.</p> <p>Kuku , Honmachi. This quaint restaurant, located away from the bustle of the tourist track, serves up specials starting at ¥700. Tues-Sun noon-9pm.</p> <p>Mamakari-tei , 3-12 Honmachi. Fine place to try the local speciality mamakari sushi . A set lunch including the sushi, along with baked fish, tofu and soup, is ¥2500. Look for the giant ikebana flower display outside the restaurant. Daily 11am-2pm & 5-10pm.</p> <p>Retenchi , Kurashiki Chuo-dori. Dimly lit Italian restaurant, with an intimate atmosphere, next to a pop-art junk shop. Pasta and pizza are on the menu, and a meal comes to around ¥1500 per person. Daily 11am-3pm & 5-10pm.</p> <p>Terrace de Ryokan Kurashiki , 4-1 Honmachi. Elegant café at the back of the Ryokan Kurashiki , opening out onto a beautiful traditional garden which is particularly enchanting at dusk. Indulge in tea and biscuits for ¥840. Daily 9am-8pm.</p> <p> </p> </body>