Hotel Ichinose

The location, the food(breakfast and dinner included in the package and another restaurant) and the convenience for rental! Even has its own convenience store, super impressive.

Nothing

From the warm greeting at check-in to the cozy atmosphere throughout, it’s the ultimate ski lodge. The breakfast and dinner services were a major highlight. The meals were absolutely delicious and offered a wonderful way to explore local cuisine. We particularly loved that they had local Shiga Kogen beer and local Snow Monkey sake available for purchase during dinner. It was a really nice touch that added to the authentic experience. The facilities are top-notch. The public onsens are beautiful, spotless, and open 24 hours. This was a total lifesaver, especially since they allow you to use them even after checkout. Logistically, they’ve thought of everything. They provide seamless, highly organized bag storage for early arrivals or late departures. There is also a full rental shop onsite with access to everything from skis and boots to full outerwear and accessories. The ski lockers are equally well-maintained and easy to use. We found the traditional Japanese futons incredibly comfortable and had a fantastic night's sleep. Everything about our stay was amazing and we can’t wait to come back!

Small improvement opportunity would be to have larger and more fluffy pillows available. We found those included were quite small and hard.

Location was ski in ski out, the onsen, badminton/ping pong court, and common TV lounge for bigger groups to gather after skiing. Each room was pre-allocated a table for dining and we could take our time in the dining hall so it felt very relaxing.

The futon was abit thin so we had to stack up 2 futons. The mattress and the pillow were very hard too. But that seems to be Japanese style so it’s down to personal bedding preference.

Staff were very very helpful with shuttle questions and helping us catch buses and rent skis/winter wear. Hotel is older which was cozy if you like an older vibe, but not the most comfortable and not a lot of amenities if you’re looking for that.

Teeny, tiny bathroom closets, hard pillows and tiny TVs. If you’re not participating in skiing or snowboarding during the winter, you may be a little bored in the hotel. Also, if you’re renting winter clothing, they realllllly had to dig up snowpants and coats to fit us. Our group was taller/average size Americans.