Saturday, August 6, 2016

Shikoku Autumn 2014 四国秋季之旅 - Shodoshima International Hotel 小豆島国際ホテル

Stayed 15.11.2014 (Sat)
Booked thru' Jalan.net
- Western and Japanese room (3 occupants) = 17,280 yen/pax + 450 yen/pax (bathing tax)

Shodoshima International Hotel viewed from the other end of the sandbank.
Highlights: 

Hotel or/and Angel Road? Decided to stay overnight in Shodoshima on such that we can tour the island at a much leisure pace. Apart from its beautiful natural scenery, olive cultivation and high quality soy sauce production, this small island has its own natural hot spring sources as well. Shodoshima International Hotel is one of the largest scale hotel equipped with hot spring facilities here. On most occasions, I will try not to choose too touristy or commercialized hotel (to avoid large tour groups) as much as possible but I was very much attracted to the location of this hotel this time round. This hotel is located just beside the Angel Road and a picturesque view of this sandbank which appears only twice per day during low tide can be captured from most of the rooms. How wonderful is that! During my stay in this hotel, I visited the Angel Road twice, conveniently - once when the sandbank disappeared and on the next morning when the sandbank reappeared again. 

Bottom left: Spacious hotel lobby; Right: Western and Japanese style room.
Room, service and facilities. Reserved a Western and Japanese style room, comes with two single beds and futons. Room was very spacious (~30 m2) with an unobstructed view of Angel Road. Upon check in, staff from the front desk confirmed our preferred dinner and breakfast time; and whether we would like to utilize the complimentary bus service to Tonosho Port on the following day. Hotel has a spacious lobby and sofa seats arranged to face the beach. Complimentary coffee and tea bags were placed beside the front desk for guests to enjoy; do check out the forecast of low and high tides with the front desk as well. There is a shop selling souvenirs produced in Shodoshima and Kagawa Prefecture, just outside one of the two communal bath houses. Swimming pool is open to guests in summer. 


Sea bream feast! Both meals were served in the ballroom. Unknowingly, I chose the sea bream course (鯛ずくし会席) for dinner when I reserved the room online. I felt this dinner was more of a sea bream "feast" for me because the fish, freshly caught from Seto Inland Sea, appeared in most of the dishes. A whole sea bream sashimi (each), together with the head and tail, was served as soon as we sat down at our assigned table. In addition to that, we had thinly sliced sea bream for shabu shabu, a sea bream head stewed with soy sauce and root vegetables and sea bream rice cooked in kamameshi style (釜飯, rice cooked with other ingredients in a hot pot). This is definitely my first time having to eat so much sea bream in one night; and I am not sure whether I will do that again. On the other hand, breakfast was buffet style with a good selection of both Western (such as omelette, bacon strips, sausages and bread) and Japanese food. 

A tranquil town.
Onsen. There are two communal bathhouses, Olive no Yu (オリーブの湯) and Hamakaze no Yu (浜風の湯) and each has both indoor and outdoor pools. There is a changeover at midnight to allow hotel guests to experience both bathhouses during an overnight stay. Hot spring source is mildly alkaline, removes cuticles and leaves a soapy feeling on your skin. Do two things at a time: enjoyed a relaxing soak in the outdoor pool of Olive no Yu and a scenic view of Angel Road. 

Room with unobstructed view of Angel Road; reappearance of the sandbank during dusk.
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Shodoshima International Hotel 小豆島国際ホテル
〒761-4106 香川県小豆島土庄町銀波浦
http://www.shodoshima-kh.jp/

How to get there? 
(1) Complimentary pick up service from Tonosho Port (土庄港). A service provided by the hotel, the microbus journey takes around 5 minutes. Reservations are required to utilise the microbus service to/fro Tonosho Port (via phone or email). http://www.shodoshima-kh.jp/access/
(2) Shodoshima Olive Bus:

  • From Tonosho Port (土庄港), take Nishiura line (East loop) or Tanoura Eiga Mura line (heading for Eiga Mura) and alight in front of hotel. 
  • From Ikeda Port (池田港) & Kusakabe Port (草壁港), take Tanoura Eiga Mura line (heading for Ikeda Port) and alight in front of hotel. 
Nishiura line (西浦線): http://www.shodoshima-olive-bus.com/dia/dia_nishiura.pdf
Tanoura Eiga Mura line (田ノ浦映画村線): http://www.shodoshima-olive-bus.com/dia/dia_tanoura.pdf

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