Sendai Akiu Onsen Geihinkan Sakura Rikyu
仙台 秋保温泉 迎賓館 櫻離宮
Area photo — not the ryokan itself · Autumn in Akiu, Sendai · Random Pacer / CC BY-SA 4.0
A 13-room sukiya-style annex where most rooms have their own open-air onsen bath, plus a lounge with free drinks — but dinner is usually the buffet in the 117-room main hotel next door, and the water is recirculated
Sakura Rikyu is the annex of Hotel Zuiho, Akiu's famous buffet hotel: 13 rooms in a sukiya-style building set around a garden, each decorated differently, reached from the main hotel by a moving walkway and a key-card door. Most rooms have a private open-air bath filled with Akiu's sodium-calcium chloride spring, and the main hotel's large baths, six outdoor tubs, saunas and indoor pool are yours too. Japanese guests rate it 4.78 across 1,082 reviews on one major site (service 4.79, baths 4.70) and 4.8 across 1,036 on another. Bloggers who stayed in September 2022, March 2024 and June 2025 describe huge rooms with two toilets, attentive staff who remembered a guest's bad knee from the booking call, and a lounge with free drinks, beer on tap and snacks. The catch is the food: most plans send you to the main hotel's busy 'seasons' buffet, with reserved seats and one extra dish; real kaiseki means the on-site Natori-gawa teppan counter, which takes only a few groups a night and was closed on a Thursday in 2024. 2026 reviewers also mention a musty air-conditioner smell, an awkward step into the smallish room baths, shoji that let in dawn light, insects at night, a lounge heavy on alcohol and some dated décor. In June 2025 the mail-order group Belluna agreed to buy Hotel Zuiho and the annex. Open-air rooms with the buffet run about ¥38,000–48,000 per person; one June 2025 teppan-kaiseki stay cost ¥45,000.
Room Selection Guide
What the guests who stayed here actually recommendRecommended
Japanese and Japanese-Western rooms with an open-air bath (sold as 'room assigned by the inn')
12 of the 13 rooms are Japanese or Japanese-Western, and a booking site lists these as having open-air baths (the sauna room is the exception). Bloggers found a business-hotel-sized entrance, a garden view, a jacuzzi indoor tub plus a separate open-air onsen bath, two toilets and Ferragamo amenities (March 2024, June 2025). A June 2026 family in the end room had two open-air baths. You can't pick the room, but a March 2024 guest who asked for beds got one, and a 2026 reviewer who was given the same room twice was told to write a request when booking.
Wa-modern suite with open-air bath (renovated May 2025)
A tatami living room with a daybed, an open-air bath with rain shower, a private garden and a fire pit you can use on fine evenings. 2026 guests praised the space, the two toilets and the wine fridge; from about ¥48,000 per person with the buffet. Note it has no indoor bath.
Request To Avoid
Western twin 'airweave' (about 30㎡) and the private-sauna Japanese-Western room (opened July 2024)
Cheaper (from about ¥30,000–35,000 per person with the buffet), but neither has an open-air onsen bath: you walk 'quite a distance' to the main hotel's baths (August 2026). The sauna room has an 80–95°C two-tier sauna and a tub to fill as a cold plunge, and a mid-2025 blogger loved it, but its indoor bath isn't spring water. A 2026 reviewer in a twin noted creaky corridors and worn carpets.
Know which room you want?
Check live rates and availability for Sendai Akiu Onsen Geihinkan Sakura Rikyu.
We may earn a commission if you book through these links, at no extra cost to you. Affiliate disclosure
Dining Deep Dive
Breakfast Consensus
4.3/5The main hotel's Japanese-Western buffet, with omelettes made to order and grilled sasa-kamaboko, plus an extra dish for annex guests (beef-tongue shabu-shabu in 2026). Teppan-kaiseki guests can instead have a set Japanese breakfast at Natori-gawa — kinki fish, rolled omelette, Sasanishiki rice — that a June 2025 blogger loved, though they wanted more pickles and fewer side dishes
Book the free shuttle from Sendai Station's east exit (14:00 or 16:00; back at 8:30 or 10:30) by phone as soon as you book — a March 2024 bus was almost full. The lounge serves sweets 15:00–17:00, wine and snacks 17:00–20:00 and a late spread after 20:00; non-drinkers found only coffee in the morning and mostly alcohol in the free minibar, so ask for tea. Check-out at 11:00 leaves time for a last soak.
Dinner Insights
4.0/5Most plans mean the 'seasons' buffet in the main hotel's basement (17:00–21:00): live-cooking stations, sushi made to order, beef tongue grilled over charcoal, steak and crab, plus a reserved table, no time slot and one extra dish for annex guests (dobin-mushi with clams in 2026). Many love it; others found it an ordinary hotel buffet or too crowded around 19:00 to get back to the sushi, and one September 2026 reviewer questioned the price on finding dinner in the same hall as main-hotel guests. For real kaiseki, book Natori-gawa, the teppan counter inside the annex: in June 2025 a blogger had giant clams, a huge prawn with abalone and Kesennuma shark fin, Sendai beef and clam rice cooked in a Kumoi-gama pot — 'worth it', at ¥45,000 per person. It takes a few groups a night and was closed on a Thursday in March 2024.
Onsen & Wellness Realities
Akiu Onsen's sodium-calcium chloride spring. One booking site lists it as diluted, heated and recirculated with filtration; a 2022 blogger described the room's open-air bath as free-flowing, so ask if it matters. The indoor tubs in the rooms are not spring water.
Most rooms' open-air baths face the garden and can be used at any hour; guests call them hot and relaxing but on the small side, some with a step or awkward shape, insects at night and the bath reached through the indoor bathroom. The main hotel's large baths (5:00–24:00) have six outdoor tubs, including a 130 cm standing bath, and swap between men and women; a June 2025 blogger found the morning side cramped and dated, and a 2026 reviewer found the outdoor tubs lukewarm.
Tattoos, tattoo stickers and body paint are refused in the main hotel's shared baths. Most annex rooms have their own open-air bath.
Local Warnings & Nuances
- 01
Check-in 15:00–18:00, check-out 11:00 according to a major booking site — the inn's own FAQ still says 10:00, so confirm.
- 02
Many plans say 'room assigned by the inn': if you need beds or a different room from last time, write it in the booking.
- 03
Not every room has an open-air bath — the Western twin and the sauna room don't, and the 2025 suite has no indoor bath. Check the room type, not just the plan name.
- 04
Two-person rooms don't take children; elsewhere children aged 3 to primary school pay 70%, ages 1–2 pay ¥2,200 and under-1s stay free.
- 05
Ownership may have changed: in June 2025 Belluna agreed to buy Hotel Zuiho and its annex from Karakami, with handover planned for 30 September 2025, though the official site still carries Karakami's name — prices and services may shift.
Sources
The real blog posts and stay reports this article draws on
- 【親孝行旅行】秋保温泉 ホテル瑞鳳 迎賓館 櫻離宮 宿泊記 (４７歳からの新婚生活！夫婦で人生を楽しむ！)
- 仙台 秋保温泉 迎賓館櫻離宮 (京都のぎっちゃん 旅日記)
- 仙台 秋保温泉 迎賓館櫻離宮 お食事編 (京都のぎっちゃん 旅日記)
- 宮城県の旅①♡出発〜秋保温泉迎賓館・櫻離宮（建物・お部屋編） (明日は明日の風が吹く・・)
- 宮城県の旅②♡温泉＆夕食編 (明日は明日の風が吹く・・)
- 【サウナ探訪記03｜櫻離宮・前編】プライベートサウナ付き客室で「ととのいリベンジ」してきました。 (note)
- 仙台 秋保温泉 迎賓館 櫻離宮のクチコミ・評判一覧 (じゃらんnet)
- 仙台 秋保温泉 迎賓館 櫻離宮 クチコミ・感想 (楽天トラベル)
- ベルーナ「ホテル瑞鳳」「秋保グランドホテル」を取得 (トラベル Watch)
- 仙台秋保温泉・迎賓館 櫻離宮 公式サイト
More Consensus Reports
Akiu OnsenClassic
Akiu Onsen, Sendai, Miyagi — a large riverside ryokan on the Natori river, about 45 minutes by the inn's shuttle from Sendai Station
9 sources
Densho Sennen no Yado Sakan
伝承千年の宿 佐勘
A 34th-generation family inn that once kept the Date lords' bathhouse, with a thatched riverside bath and a free-flowing-drinks half-buffet — strong on food and history, tired in the older rooms
- Historic Ryokan
KyotoLuxury
Fuyacho-Anekoji, Nakagyo, Kyoto — in the city centre, a short walk from Kyoto City Hall
9 sources
Hiiragiya
柊家
Kyoto's 1818 inn of writers and film stars — near-flawless service and kaiseki, koyamaki-wood baths, and no hot spring
- Historic Ryokan
- Destination Dining
Aizu-WakamatsuClassic
Higashiyama Onsen, Aizu-Wakamatsu, Fukushima — a wooden inn beside the Yukawa river, a minute from the Higashiyama Onsen bus stop
12 sources
Mukaitaki
会津東山温泉 向瀧
Japan's first registered-heritage inn: a former Aizu clan bath retreat with scalding free-flowing water, free private baths and carp dinners in your room — and a lot of stairs
- Historic Ryokan
Photo credits: Sakan — the entrance, Akiu Onsen · JustinSendai / CC BY-SA 4.0 / Hiiragiya — the frontage on Anekoji-dori, Kyoto · Mariemon / CC BY 3.0 / Mukaitaki in the snow, Higashiyama Onsen, Aizu-Wakamatsu · Fumihiko Ueno / CC BY 3.0
Sendai Akiu Onsen Geihinkan Sakura Rikyu
Compare rates across trusted booking partners · Affiliate disclosure