Yasuragi

Our Yasuragi experience Well, the TL;DR is my wife wants to come back and so do I, but not without concerns. The full story; We stayed in the Ryokan room, which gave us something akin to a Japanese inn feel. When considering which room to book the fact that this one came with its own hostess seemed a gimmick but let me tell you, our main Japanese hostess Mami-San was a simply wonderful guide to Japanese cuisine and life. Always there when we needed but never intrusive. I would say Mami was the secret sauce that smoothed out our two night experience into a coherent cultural whole. The architect had done a great job of infusing the whole building with Japanese spirit. But on that note, the first negative appears, and I told our second hostess and reception about this; The lighting in the hallway to our room down the whole last corridor is smashed up terribly. It’s because housekeeping keeps smashing their trollies into them. Only one light remained working at the end of our long corridor. I’m talking approximately 8 broken fittings over 40 meters, with these being jagged outcroppings of broken glass. It gave such an unharmonious feeling in what was meant to be a premium room, and every time I walked down there I felt sad. And what is particularly regrettable is it’s easily fixed. Either the bottom trough needs to be extended as it is in the other corridor, or a black metal bar installed as per the outside onsen, which would be perfectly in keeping. For years, apparently, this has been an issue. And when I brought this to the attention to our second Japanese hostess she was most embarrassed; she said she had to look away as such things would not be tolerated in Japan. Management had been told several times but, years later, it has not been fixed. And as I demonstrated above a simple fix could be done by me in a day that would be in keeping with the hotel and very reasonably priced. Perhaps you think, dear reader, that I belabour the point too much. But that is only the most egregious example of the tiredness of the place. I am “on the spectrum” and a tradesman so I notice tiny things but even not so tiny things will be evident to astute guests; Bannsiters no longer straight with important fixings bent. Sauna benches at such an angle and no longer fixed so they look like they might fall off. The top stone step leading up to the outside sauna is no longer seated on the mortar below - it was at an angle that could have let it tip had someone stood on the corner of it so being a landscaper and despite my wife telling me I should not do any work I couldn’t resist and put it back myself. And yet, it still needs to be stuck down with a slurry primer or similar. I do wonder if I could ultimately provide a service to such otherwise excellent hotels and spa’s; Staying there and just NOTICING and feeding back to the manager so a quality tradesman could take action. A stitch in time saves nine, as they say in my country. The above is far from everything, but I notice things to such an absurd degree without even meaning too, and ultimately, where do you stop? The fact that most of the metal supports have nuts and bolts going one way whereas one support was put on backwards and the nuts and bolts go the wrong way will not be noticed by most and it doesn’t impact anything other than my overactive sense of perfection. But were I a manager, I would find comfort that someone was able to notice such things and feed back to me, as he could be reasonably assured I would notice the more impactful things too. But I digress; it is worth pointing out the flaws at Yasuragi as it does have the makings of a genuinely tranquil destination. And coming back to the start, Mami-San and her hostess colleague really made us feel special. I’m quite sure Mami looked out for us behind the scenes. The massage she arranged for us was surely with the best masseuses they had to offer. I came to be absolutely trusting of his great skills and firmness (I had one the next day I arranged myself with a different masseuse which was merely ok). We were actively looked after the first night by her at dinner, and the second night when she wasn’t there she arranged for us to be looked after in her absence. As to the facilities - the Saunas, the plunge pool, the balconies and views - We got what we wanted; As close to Japan as we could on a short haul flight. That most every one of the guests was walking around in a kimono was a nice touch. So, TL;DR We would go again. I would hope its facilities are refreshed before we go. I am genuinely happy to be engaged by management as to what and where I noticed various things amiss.

While sat in the baths, many conversations were happening around me and in one a regular explained to a visitor that although everything in Sweden is expensive, this place is not for what it offers and I am inclined to agree. It's truly beautiful here and you can curate your own experience of it. I had an absolutely fabulous time, even though I arrived on the public bus in the middle of a downpour, the walk to the place through the little forested area was a joyful experience. The bad reviews I see are primarily not about Yasuragi but about poor visitor spa etiquette. The quiet zones were often occupied by groups of young men chit chatting or couples whispering. All areas were alive with conversation from couples and friends in long and loud conversations, this is both natural and annoying. Despite the best efforts of Yasuragi staff, people were talking during the 30 minutes quiet period. People were on their phones during my visit. This highlights peoples inability to be quiet, to relax, to pay attention both to the experience of those around them and the quality of their own, without devices and the normal everyday distractions. Despite this and once you accept this, you can enjoy the experience. The views from all parts of Yasuragi and the baths are gorgeous. Even the view from the cheapest rooms is spectacular though the room was underwhelming and cold, I could not find out how to use the heater which was inaccessible. The saunas are lovely, again with a focus on the gorgeous views. The outside baths were my favourite and I was able to meditate in the water and be hypnotised by the landscape, despite the chatter around me. The fruit and teas is a lovely extra touch. The sound bath experience on the last day was of the highest calibre and the teacher provided bilingual guidance in Swedish and English, even attending the Swedish-only Zazen the evening before was a wonderful experience. The breakfast was delicious and I appreciated the many vegan options. Finally, I very much appreciated the midday checkout, which allowed for a leisurely departure, ample time for breakfast, a soak in the baths for a final moment with the water and the landscape and if you are so inclined, a sound bath. It completed the experience fully and is a very elegant touch, thank you for that Yasuragi. In terms of transport I want to add my experience. It was confusing coming from the central station to the right bus stop at Slussen, as of August 2025 Slussen is a mess and overwhelming if it's your first time in Stockholm or your first time after a long break away. When exiting the station follow the directions to the Fotografiska Museum where you need to take the first bus to Orminge Central and then connect to the local bus. The bus from Orminge Central is not frequent and I had a 40 minute wait. You can also take a taxi from that point which is reasonably affordable but the bus journey is short once you get on it. The ferry is also an option but even less frequent on the Sunday I attended Yasuragi. I highly recommend Yasuragi and will return there anytime I am in Sweden, in fact I will return to Sweden just to visit Yasuragi, in the hope that meanwhile, others will learn better spa etiquette and give this place an opportunity to truly shine.

We really enjoyed the spa and the relaxing and calm atmosphere there. We seemed to be lucky with very little people and noise at the spa as it comes up frequently in the other reviews. We also love the Japanese ambience. However we felt a little disgusted that a couple was having openly sex in the main pool for almost 10 minutes. No employees at the sight to stop it. We couldn't help but feel a bit dirty and nasty thinking about how often this happens in the pools and what's swimming around in the water. Also the rooms could really use air conditioners as the summers are getting hotter by the year. Opening the window helped a little but not much. We stayed for two nights and the room was not cleaned during that time although we had the "please clean the room"-sign hanging. Wet towels were piling up in the bathroom and we had to pick toilet paper from reception. Also the booking system seemed to have bugs as there were troubles with validating dates, lunch/dinner times etc. We were able to get these sorted by phone prior arrival, but the website still showed wrong times. Food at breakfast and dinner was good, service at the restaurant friendly. All in all we liked our stay, but it would need some improvements for us to come back again.

The hotel is pretty with a lot of people. It is quite calm but at the same time a lot of noice in the spa. We didn’t have any reservations at the restaurant because we didn’t know that Stockholm was 1 h with bus away, and they made us wait for 2 h outside the restaurant just to tell us after 2 h that they were fully booket.. we also tried to pay for an early check in as well, instead we had to wait until after our original check in time to get the room because it wasn’t ready. If you are in the area it is nice for a day spa thing but I wouldn’t travel like we did to experience it..

Enjoyed the visit. Both of us had massages. They were excellent. Only disappointment is only one restaurant open in summer. The choices on the menu are limited especially at lunch. We did not sign up for the spa package. But each meal it was assumed we were on a package and must eat meal offered with package. A little annoying.