One of my favorite places to stay in Japan - beautifully renovated AKIYA abandoned house brought back to life that feels like you are staying in a retro doll house filled with salvaged vintage Japan items that capture your interest with a sense of whimsy. Watching my 58 yr old husband play the FAMICON game on the old TV and playing records on the portable record player or even picking up an old rotary phone and feeling again how tedious it is to dial a number that way as we used to brings back lots of nostalgia fun.
The guest house is big with lots of room to relax in as well as kept in pristine condition & hyper clean. I love the addition of local juice and retro popcorn and other snacks you can buy if you'd like, but also free chilled water, tea, coffee and all the amenities you need in the bath. It was also nice to try the famous local IMABARI towels they have available for use.
Dani & Evan are inspiring creatives who are also doing so much good work for their community in collaboration, farming, beekeeping, taking in stray dogs & cats as well as renovating old structures to provide a service for travelers. Looking forward to trying their taco stand and shop when it opens soon too. They can also recommend great local places to eat or stay if they are fully booked- such wonderful local ambassadors!
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It's like staying in a retro doll house filled with Shows Japan vintage items in good repair that you can actually try them out. So many free services available like chilled water in fridge, lots of coffee & tea & lots of amenities to choose from. But also wonderful local juice to buy in fridge if you want as well as their own honey (so good) and some fun snacks which saves you a trip to the local store. So much space to spread out and relax in. I even liked using the bean pillow. You'll be surprised that this was an abandoned house before Dani & Evan transformed it as everything is so clean, comfortable & in good repair. The communication is also so friendly and helpful - can't wait to stay again!
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Time travelling as comfortable as possible haha We’ve had an amazing, unique time at Benton Guesthouse. Dani and Evan are lovely hosts who helped us with any topic within minutes.This is definitely a “we’ll be coming back here” place - and already can’t wait for it to happen 🌞
A wonderful guesthouse with everything you could need for a relaxing visit. Dani and Evan were helpful every step of the way with prompt responses to any questions we had. It can sometimes be difficult to traveling in more rural areas, but they helped make it easy for us;)
It’s nice to see a traditional Japanese house get a new life and still maintain its character. A great building and kind hosts made our stay very enjoyable even after many hours of travel.
Verified
☺Dani et Evan sont très gentils et accueillants. Ils nous ont beaucoup aider pour la réservation de restaurant et également le transfert de bagages qui était compliqué durant la semaine de congé des japonais ! La maison est vraiment adorable en pleine campagne, avec une console Nintendo sur une tv ancienne et un lecteur vinyle avec des albums japonais, tout pour se mettre dans l'ambiance un peu old school japonais. Merci beaucoup !!
☹/
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We had a most comfortable stay at your guest house. The house had everything and more than what we needed. Big thanks for Evan and Dani spending extra time with us. We hope to stay with you again before long. All the best,Colin and Tomoko————My parents really loved their stay here. They really appreciated all the help and the dinner at Kitsune No Botan. They were having a great time with the vinyl and were talking about the great retro nostalgic deco. ❤️ Thank you!Nataly
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A wonderful guesthouse with everything you could need for a relaxing visit. Dani and Evan were helpful every step of the way with prompt responses to any questions we had. It can sometimes be difficult to traveling in more rural areas, but they helped make it easy for us. It’s nice to see a traditional Japanese house get a new life and still maintain its character. A great building and kind hosts made our stay very enjoyable even after many hours of travel.
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Cyclist stopover in charming restored guesthouse with awesome hosts.
☺It was a beautifully restored country home. The hosts have lovingly preserved so many of the house’s original features and charm. It was conveniently located for our purposes as cyclists on the Shimanami Kaido route. The hosts helped us make a reservation for a delicious dinner at a nearby restaurant. We slept very comfortably in a Japanese style bed, and were appreciative of the opportunity to do laundry midway through our bicycle trip. We are very impressed by hosts and their project at (and projects beyond!) Benton Guesthouse.
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Absolutely Beautiful Place! If you only needed one sentence to sum it up...
☺Everything about Benton Guesthouse was perfect!
My favourite things that make this place truly exemplary is though is the hosts, especially Dani who was extremely kind, generous, humours and helpful throughout my stay. I plan my trips with a lots of depth and care and as such sent, you could say bombarded ;) ha, Dani with lots and lots of highly detailed, specific and exacting questions.
Far from being overwhelmed though, I was extremely impressed with her very thoughtful, extremely knowledgable and joyful and humorous (and important for planning, VERY PROMPT) responses to every question I had. She gave me invaluable insights and tips with made my trip planning seamless. Even more though, you can clearly see her genuine passion to help in any way and do everything to help make your trip as memorable as possible.
The other thing I love is all the small details! The pre-cooled mugs in the fridge so you can have an instant cold drink on arrival if your own drinks are warm, the onsen kits, the detailed collection of maps in the lobby to help plan your trip, the local bottles of orange juice in the fridge for instant refreshment if you need it and all the Showa era vintage antiques throughout that make you feel like you're in a living museum, a tourist attraction in its own right. It's these small details that really push this place from being already excellent to truly exemplary!
The accommodation alone is enough to earn this place a solid 10 but with Dani's absolute above and beyond service and those small details you can really see and feel every single drop of passion and love the Dani and Evan put into this place from every angle to give the best of the best experience possible! They really deserve a solid 10/10. I would even give 11 if I could!
☹Nothing!
And I can be fussy with the places I stay at but at this place the hosts have truly thought of everything and made every little tiny detail incredible!
The only thing I'd say that made would make you a bit sad when leaving is when you see the heart and soul they put into this place you just know that as incredible as your stay is that if you do come back 1 year, 2 year, 3 years etc from when you're there it'll be even better!
Even if you only have 1 night, this place would be 10/10! But if you can, do your best and stay for at least 2! It'll be very, very worth it!
Verified
☺Everything. Wow, what an experience. We spent some days in the cities before and intentionally wanted to relax in the countryside.
Doing the Shimanami we were happy to find this gem.
With so much love renovated and in top condition.
Dani as a host is incredible. Super communication, full of good hints and super supportive. We had some logistic issues bcs one of the travelling group fell sick. Dani helped without being asked, offered unsolicited help and was available 24/7. Great!!!!
Further, Dani offered "grab'n'go" bags for the local Onsen, which was very much appreciated.
The pictures give you a good impression. WYSIWYG.
If you want to have a countryside experience during the Shimanami trail combined with Japanese culture- do not miss this place. You won't regrer!
☹Nottingham, everytjing was perfect
