Yakushima Minsyuku Suginoko

A perfect stay on this remote island. Your host Ayumi is so welcoming and warm and really made my stay there perfect and she was so friendly. There is washing, but drying is a challenge. There are bicycles which are free to use too!

Room is nice and spacious enough, with its own bathroom. Location is great for buses to Yakusugi land and to go to Miyanoura port (and from there to Shiratani). Since Yakusugi land only has one bus per day, I recommend staying here if you wanna go by bus, as the stop to go is like 15 mins away by walk. They have a bento service you can book everyday so that you dont have to worry about finding food for the hikes.

Breakfast was bread everyday (I stayed for 4 nights), which if you look at the pictures in booking and the description, is not what it is advertised, as the pic is a traditional japanese breakfast. It does say bread might be a possibility, but in my case it was the only option. There is also not a lot of places to eat or shops to buy food, so be prepared for that, and buy groceries at the big supermarket in advance. But my main issue is the noise. The common area you see in the pic is cut in half, with the place with the tatami being only for the staff (which seem to be volunteers that stay there kinda situation, as they were advetising they were recruiting). From around 7 pm, the owners would come and eat there with the staff, my room was next to it and it was so noisy, they would be screaming and playing games and stuff from 7 till late. The quiet hours are supposedly from 9:30, but sometimes they would stay until 10 or 11, which sucks if you are hiking and have to wake up at 4. It is an old japanese house, the walls are so thin you can hear people cough at night, so all this noise makes it unberable to be in the room. My rec is if you cant handle noise dont stay here at all, and if you want to stay here and get a room next to the common area, ask to be moved to a different room.

Really good location for accessing the buses into the mountain trails. They have bikes to hire which is a nice feature for those not hiring a car. The staff were amazing in helping me plan and book taxis to take my the trailhead and advising me on the right equipment for winter hiking. The room is minimal and practical and i believe if you want a good value base for trekking this is a great option.

Unfortunately the walls were very thin and I struggled a lot with sleep, as one of the other guests was snoring every night - even wearing my wax earplugs which i always travel with. I felt the breakfast did not reflect the images in the listing, the breads were delicious but after three days was not very healthy.

The surroundings were peaceful and full of greenery, which created a very relaxing atmosphere. The staff was also very kind and helpful throughout the stay. The whole place had a unique, hostel-like feeling that reminded me of a school trip experience.

The rooms felt very cramped, and there were many rules that made the stay feel a bit restrictive. The breakfasts were also disappointing - one consisted only of a piece of sweet bread (2/10), while the Japanese-style breakfast on the second day was somewhat better (6/10). Another downside were the large spiders occasionally getting into the room, although the staff kindly helped deal with them.