Fukui visit for first time

Just saw on NHK a great ryokan in Fukui with rotenburo right next to the sea and serves great Kani dishes. We are planning to visit Fukui around Dec 1 to 3, is that ok for Kani and does anyone know of that ryokan as would love to spend our anniversary there.
Interested in good Japanese food, sightseeing and fruit farms esp persimons, will be driving from Kyoto to Fukui this Dec, can anyone suggest where we can visit ?

I only went to Maruoka Castle, there are couple sites in Maruoka that is more accessible if you are on car,

Fukui is famous for its dinosaur fossils, Maruoka Castle, and of course its crabs! It is a bit of an overlooked prefecture since its a bit out of the way, but that makes it a great spot for sightseeing! I like this website for a list of some sights around the prefecture:

http://www.fuku-e.com/lang/english/places/culture.html

The season for kaki (persimmon) usually ends in late November, but there will probably still be kaki available to buy and eat beginning of December too. But as for actually picking the fruit, I don't think Fukui is particularly famous for that. I checked on rurubu, which lists different areas good for fruit picking, and kaki isn't one of fruits available. However, you can try for mikan or chestnuts maybe:

http://www.rurubu.com/season/autumn/mikaku/list.aspx?KenCD=18

The website is in Japanese, but you can see the fruit available and where.

Enjoy your trip!

Thanks a lot scarreddragon, both links were awesome and really helpful for planning our trip.
In one of your fruit farm links, it said the 品種 is 紅あずま but I could not understand what this is using Google translator, which translated it as "Beni Azuma".
Am searching for a ryokan in Fukui my wife and I saw on NHK TV a few months ago which had a rotenburo with a great view looking down at the sea and served great Echizen kani in December, any ideas ? If not then will settle for a ryokan or hotel in Fukui with own private rotenburo in room with 2 meals for under yen 40,000 for 2 adults for one night.We have been searching but have not been able to find one.

The Tojimbo Cliffs are quite noteworthy in Fukui. Awara Onsen is also there. Ichijodani is a nice site, too.

Fukui is famous for high-quality chopsticks and it is the largest producer of glasses in the nation. There is a glasses museum.

In the southern part, Tsuruga has Kehi Shrine, Obama has a nice coast and 8 temple pilgrimage and Kumayama is a scenic historic district.

Fukui Prefecture is actually a great place to travel, because there aren't so many other tourists. It's also easy to book hotels.

紅あずま is a sweet potato.

A search would have revealed this site:
http://awara.info/language-english/en-awara-onsen-facilities

This might be the one you saw on TV. Be sure you have lots of money.
http://www.bouyourou.co.jp/contents/en/index.html

http://www.bouyourou.co.jp/contents/reserve/plan_stayw.html
With private open bath, starting 48600/person to 70200/person seems

Thanks a lot vinces7, that ryokan is precisely the one featured in the NHK TV Programme and we had not been able to find it. As you mentioned the price is outside our budget of yen 40,000 for 2 persons for one night but still I have sent the ryokan an email in English, to ask if they allow day use onsen since we don't read Japanese and their English website has a lot less info. Thanks again !

The dinosaur museum is supposed to be very good. Also the Echizen coast as already mentioned and Eiheiji temple are very worthwhile spots.

Actually it was [Dick H] that found the link, I was just curious with the price and checked it..

I went to check again, apparently all the winter plan starts from 43200 Yen per person, in general most Ryokan now will welcome foreigners, though warning them that you are foreigner would give them time to prepare, only applicable if you book through their JP website which I normally did as they have more info there...

Their other 3 Season pricing starts around 28000~ Yen if I remember right, I am checking another JP site for Onsen/Ryokan but at the moment there is no schedule available for this 望洋楼.

On side note, their most affordable plan at 43200/per person, are fully booked for December 1st to 3rd.

The plan for 48600, still have availability for 1st and 3rd, 2nd is fully booked.

Thanks everyone. Re Bouyourou ryokan, it is beautiful (no wonder it was featured on TV) but beyond our budget even if we stretched it to yen 25,000 per person (50,000 for 2) per night. Will try to have just lunch + day use onsen there. Thanks again.

I'm pretty sure there are other ryokan available , most the time it is the meal that cost a lot.. especially in this case, the crab dinner.

You are right, my wife loves Japanese crabs, snow crabs, hairy crabs, Echizen crabs. Do you know of any place for good fresh crabs, from Nov 24 to Dec 3 we will be in Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto for koyo and then drive to Fukui for 3 days.

Well to be fair, I'm only in that area for 2 days, but I saw a lot of yummy seafood at Kanazawa Omicho market, http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e4207.html , it is relatively near to Kanazawa. They also have quite a number of restaurants around, probably you could check Kanazawa out if you have time, i don't think it is very far from Fukui, according to google map, about 1hour15 drives from Fukui station to Kanazawa station (Omicho is about 1km away from the station)

Maybe it's one option that you could consider along the way.

I look a bit into the area that you are planning to stay at, 三国温泉.

http://www.qkamura.or.jp/echizen/
This one has a few plans ranging 17-25k per person, and with Crab dinner plan.

Mainly:
http://www.qkamura.or.jp/qkamura/489/date.asp?id=echizen&room=1&plan=3...
http://www.qkamura.or.jp/qkamura/489/date.asp?id=echizen&room=1&plan=3...
http://www.qkamura.or.jp/qkamura/489/date.asp?id=echizen&room=1&plan=3...

There is also another 2, one of them has no concrete plan and you require to send in a form to reserve, the other one is : http://www.newisoya.com/kani.htm
Which i cannot find any plan for your duration of stay yet

Another two:
http://www.ebisutei.jp/ (I think this is more of minshuku rather than ryokan)

http://www.arisotei.com/

vinces7, hontoni arigatougozaimashita. I have taken up too much of your time.
Inside the link you gave below

Mainly:
http://www.qkamura.or.jp/qkamura/489/date.asp?id=echizen&room=1&plan=3...

I could not understand this ?
チェックイン 15時00分〜18時00分
チェックアウト 10時00分まで

I found nice ryokan with western room and private rotenburo on balcony for yen 22,000 for 2 persons with no meals here :

http://www.booking.com/hotel/jp/hokuriku-awara-onsen-mimatsu.en-gb.htm...;label=sppctrip-hotel-907467_xqdz-f7b6d65592549e3e00b8fffa0fbab334_pool-com_slice-99999;sid=2dbe3e89b751a8d5fa1ae27e9ef56911;dcid=4;checkin=2014-09-21;checkout=2014-09-22;ucfs=1;srfid=d0ea462e65329ab2a7d7b21b430977a31c9e1b51X1;highlight_room=40323901#availability

so do you think we can crab dinner only (no stay) on Dec 1 or 2 at either :

http://www.qkamura.or.jp/echizen/ OR
http://www.newisoya.com/kani.htm OR
http://www.ebisutei.jp/