Note: We originally had planned to stay 5 nights at the ANA Intercontinental Ishigaki Resort but a rather large Typhoon was scheduled to hit during the last 2 days so we had to cut this leg of trip short. The hotel said they would refund us for the remaining two nights due to the Typhoon, and a lot of people were leaving the day we left to avoid getting stuck there.
We arrived around 11:30a.m and after a bit of wait, they had a room ready for us so no complaints there. There was no one else checking in and it took about 10-15 minutes, about usual for most resorts in Japan.The ANA Intercontinental Ishigaki Resort is looking a bit worse for wear on the outside, reminds of the resort we stayed at in in Miyazaki – rather old and in need of some tender loving care on the outside, but quite ok on the inside. They told us the rooms had recently been renovated but don’t expect brand spanking new interiors. The room was ok, average size, nice big balcony overlooking the ocean and the swimming and pool and some of the hotel grounds.
We had two double beds, reasonably comfy without being amazing but nothing to complain about. The bathroom is alright, bit of a funny design but not too weird and perfectly ok. Unless you’re looking for absolute luxury, I don’t think you’ll find too much wrong the rooms, Not as good as what you might find at some Intercontinental’s in the city, but on par with some of the Intercons you’ll find at some beach resorts in Asia. The grounds are quite nice at the ANA Intercontinental Ishigaki Resort – some nice perfectly manicured grass areas where you can play with the kids. There’s one big outdoor pool at the ANA Intercontinental Ishigaki Resort and one indoor pool, more suited for babies and toddlers. The outdoor pool is large but unfortunately it’s no deeper than 1m so if your kids are a bit older (like over 5 or 6) and like jumping in, then the pool is not ideal.
It’s got a snake shaped water slide, if you lie down you can get down at some speed but if you sit up you’ll struggle to move. Grobbler spent a good hour on this while it was raining just going up and down and up and down. There’s limited chairs and loungers so during high season I’d recommend you get down there early and camp yourself there. The beach area at ANA Intercontinental Ishigaki Resort is rather disappointing. It’s artificial sand, there’s no snorkeling (you can but you won’t see much) and there’s a very small roped off area, that has nets surrounding it. Ordinarily we’d ignore this but we were told by staff that the nets are to stop boxed jellyfish and portugese man-of-war from coming in – so no thanks.
The beach is rather rocky, not all rocks but quite a few, and I have to say if we’d know the beach was going to be like this before coming, we wouldn’t have stayed here. There’s a floating water bouncy thingy (pictured so I don’t have to explain), which looks rather boring and is not very busy, but is actually quite fun, and a good way to spend an hour, albeit rather expensive. We had dinner the first night at one of the Japanese restaurants, pretty ordinary and only ate their once. There’s a few restaurants just across the road from the main entrance of ANA Intercontinental Ishigaki Resort, about a 5 minute walk, and a few down the road (turn left when you get out). We ate at a Sushi train one, which was rather rank and not recommended.
Breakfast was also rank and below average. The first full day at ANA Intercontinental Ishigaki Resort we had breakfast there, arrived down there at around 8a.m and as warned when checking in, there was a cue, but only took about 10 minutes before getting a seat. It’s been a while since I had a run in with any egg station guy, so not surprisingly, I had one here. Went up the order, there was a guy waiting, I waited beside him, usually most egg station guys ask you what you want, but this one seemed to have a stick up his ass and/or have no memory. So i stood there while he cooked two omelettes, about 3 people then started to line up the other side, and instead of asking me, he just pointed at me and motioned I needed to go the back of the line!
I must have been standing the wrong way or he must have had a thing for foreign tourists (of which there are few at ANA Intercontinental Ishigaki Resort). Naturally, being the asshole I am, I took a photo of him and stormed off back to my table! A few minutes later egg station man came over and while almost biting his tongue in half, asked me what I wanted! Now if I had cut in line or even lined up the wrong way, I could understand why I’d be told to go to the back of the line, but it was clear for about 5 minutes that I was the only one waiting and he clearly knew I was waiting because he kept looking at me, and instead of just asking me what I wanted, just gave me the point as if to say “fuck off and line up, even though I’ve seen you waiting here, you can go to the back of the line you dirty stinkin foreigner”!.
Anyway, needless to say, that was our first and only breakfast at the main breakfast restaurant in ANA Intercontinental Ishigaki Resort. Even if it wasn’t for my run in with egg station man, we wouldn’t have gone back because the whole breakfast was rather ordinary, especially considering how much it cost. (it wasn’t included in our room rate). Overall, the stay was probably negatively impacted a little bit by the weather, which was rather hit and miss. Would we stay here again at ANA Intercontinental Ishigaki Resort? The answer is a definite no and if you’re coming to Ishigaki and looking for somewhere nice to stay, sorry to say I can’t recommend this.
There’s a much higher rated resort on one of the nearby islands, but that is getting up to USD$1000 per night, and for that, you might as well go to the Maldives. Check out things to do in Ishigaki here or if you have questions about the ANA Intercontinental Ishigaki, send us an email or ask us on Facebook or Twitter.
