Akan Tsuruga Besso Hinanoza

After a long drive, we arrived at the hotel and immediately felt comfortable and welcomed. The staff were consistently friendly, attentive, and always had the right answer to any question.||Having stayed in many hotels and ryokans across Japan, I would personally rank Akan Tsuruga Bessou HINA no ZA as a very close No. 2 on my list—just behind my No. 1, the Kaho in Tsukioka Onsen. But truly, it’s a photo finish!||The dining experience was absolutely fantastic, and the spacious rooms are equipped with everything one could wish for. What really sets excellent hotels apart from merely good ones are the little details. Here, every detail has been thought of—for example, the coffee machine already filled with water, a small but meaningful touch. Even my shoes were cleaned during my stay, something I did not expect.||These thoughtful touches show that everything in this hotel is perfectly cared for. We are deeply grateful to the staff for such a wonderful stay. If our travels bring us back to the area, we will certainly return.

My two-night stay at Akan Tsuruga Bessou HINANOZA in early March was the best hotel experience I’ve had so far! The food was absolutely impeccable, and the service was exceptionally thoughtful. Soaking in the hot spring while enjoying the fireworks over Lake Akan, gazing at the starry night sky, and watching the sunrise, everything was simply perfect. Will definitely visit again—I absolutely loved it!

We stayed 3 nights. The first 2 were on the second floor, but they moved us to a bigger suite with a separate bedroom/beds on the 3rd floor because the staff found our room too cold (heater not fully working). The first two nights' Kaiseki were in room and the third was in the restaurant at our request. All three dinners and breakfasts were wonderful with different ingredients and cooking styles. Our menus were bilingual although the Japanese side was more descriptive. The in-room covered open air (facing Lake Akan) hot bath was great. We were able to watch the fireworks in the bath. The temperature at 42°C (adjustable) was just right for the winter. The in-room massage chair was spot on after a long day of snow activities. We had a marvelous dedicated and very professional staff who took care of our meals and set up the room for tatami after dinner on the first 2 nights. She was the one who noticed our cold room. We communicated mainly thru Google Translate and hand gestures.

Amazing staff. Really nice hotel with outdoor hotspring. Walking distance to the night walk (discount if you buy tickets from the hotel) and the bokke (mud volcano). Both dinner and breakfast that are inclusive are also very good.

While I had a relaxing stay here on Lake Akan, I unfortunately did experience some things that made the stay more mixed in the end. First of all, the room and onsen amenities were great. There was a ton of space in our room, it was all neat and quite comfortable. The private onsen was very nice, and had a great view of the lake. My one criticism is the room did feel a bit stuffy with a lack of windows and ventilation. The public onsen was a surprising highlight. There wasn't many people using the facilities, and there was plenty of space to relax and enjoy the onsen. The wild milk bottles were a great amenity that I enjoyed after the public onsen. This leads into my criticisms, the milk bottle essentially outshined the keiseki meal experience for me, which I found to be subpar. I have stayed in one other ryokan in Japan besides this one, and I found that to be amazing and really added to the relaxing overall experience. Unfortunately, that was not the case here, especially considering the price tag for that ryokan was cheaper by a significant amount. For the amount of money to stay at this ryokan, I expected an amazing dinner and breakfast. The food was overall mediocre, some minor highlights but not that great. Even compared to normal meals that we had just in cities and everywhere we visited in Japan. I wasn't that impressed, the dessert to me was much stronger than the courses. Similar problem with the breakfast. What really tipped it over the edge for me as being a negative experience during the meals was the server. I know they must have rigorous training, and it must be difficult, but I expect better for such an expensive luxury. There was an overall awkwardness that my server at my other ryokan experience did not have. From that other experience, he went above and beyond, taking time to explain every food item, announcing his presence, being delicate, methodical, etc. I don't normally care about these things, and it feels nitpicky, but I think in an experience like this it's expected. The woman who served us felt like she kept essentially barging in, not really announcing herself and would leave very awkwardly. It's hard to explain, but even the way she placed our food felt awkward, it just didn't feel elegant like I'd expect. The biggest issue was that I ordered several beers, while pointing at the Japanese on the menu (in case she didn't understand me). Every time she had no hesitation and acted as if she understood, only to give me the wrong beer both times. I ordered the same beer twice, and got two completely different beers. To be clear, this woman was not japanese. I have spent a month total in japan, I am used to not being able to fully communicate with servers and Japanese staff, it's never been a problem before. If she didn't understand, or can't read Japanese, she should've made this clear instead of just giving me whatever she felt like. This felt so inconsiderate in what I'd expect to be a fancy environment where everything is taken care of for what I am paying. The light/ambience in our room for dinner was just off, way too bright and not relaxing at all. Comparing this to the other ryokan I have stayed in the Hakone area, I can't say I will come here again. I think there are a lot of small things specifically with the keiseki meal that they are not up to par on, and they are more expensive. Luckily, the onsen experience was great and made it still relaxing even if everything wasn't as expected.

Stayed at the hotel for three nights. The lake was fine should weather permit, but lacks adventurous activities. Can’t swim in it, drive any boat by yourself and even canoe rentals have to be accompanied… We went on a guided speedboat twice which was cheap and fun.||The service at the hotel isn’t great across the board. Most of the local employees were cold and aloof, like they were doing us a favor by letting us stay here, spoke no English and didn’t try. One said “I don’t know” in Japanese and no then hung up the phone. Some ladies at the front desk were very kind and always remembered our room number.||Foreign staff were amateur and ignored/misunderstood many of my requests. For example, saying that there were no canoe rentals on the lake which turned out there was and being overly intrusive at dinner. Stayed at about 10+ just this year and the service here sits in the bottom. One Southeast Asian waitress that unfortunately served most of our meals mafe us feel very uncomfortable. She spoke poor english, talked way too much and was quite rude.||Food was initially supurb, but kept declining night after night. Still extremely innovative within the constraints of Kaiseki cuisine. Breakfast had free flowing portions of salmon roe which is great if you like it. Very generous too with all kinds of alcohol free at dinner and later at the lobby lounge.||Onsen facilities were excellent with a unique stone sauna where you put on a towel dress and lay on the stone on another towel and never crowded.||The town was depressing and only one main street long, everything except souvenior shops was closed during our time and restaurants all seemed like cafeterias. We never had lunch.||Rooms, albeit standard was spacious and very well-maintained and designed. Had very nice stereo tower speakers connected to a CD player, with jazz CDs beside it.||Three nights, which I booked is too lengthy even for the lake. There’s only a short path to walk along the lake and a small unpleasant forest trail. Not to mention we arrived from on a propeller powered plane which was the scariest flight of my life and I love to fly. A car is a must here if you don’t want to pay the $100+ cab ride from/to Kushiro airport.||What’s interesting is that service magically improved on the third day of my stay. I’ve had employees gawk/stare at me before and especially male ones never smiled.

Stayed at the hotel for three nights. The lake was fine should weather permit, but lacks adventurous activities. Can’t swim in it, drive any boat by yourself and even canoe rentals have to be accompanied… We went on a guided speedboat twice which was cheap and fun. The service at the hotel isn’t great across the board. Most of the local employees were cold and aloof, like they were doing us a favor by letting us stay here, spoke no English and didn’t try. One said “I don’t know” in Japanese and no then hung up the phone. Some ladies at the front desk were very kind and always remembered our room number. Foreign staff were amateur and ignored/misunderstood many of my requests. For example, saying that there were no canoe rentals on the lake which turned out there was and being overly intrusive at dinner. Stayed at about 10+ just this year and the service here sits in the bottom. One Southeast Asian waitress that unfortunately served most of our meals mafe us feel very uncomfortable. She spoke poor english, talked way too much and was quite rude. Food was initially supurb, but kept declining night after night. Still extremely innovative within the constraints of Kaiseki cuisine. Breakfast had free flowing portions of salmon roe which is great if you like it. Very generous too with all kinds of alcohol free at dinner and later at the lobby lounge. Onsen facilities were excellent with a unique stone sauna where you put on a towel dress and lay on the stone on another towel and never crowded. The town was depressing and only one main street long, everything except souvenior shops was closed during our time and restaurants all seemed like cafeterias. We never had lunch. Rooms, albeit standard was spacious and very well-maintained and designed. Had very nice stereo tower speakers connected to a CD player, with jazz CDs beside it. Three nights, which I booked is too lengthy even for the lake. There’s only a short path to walk along the lake and a small unpleasant forest trail. Not to mention we arrived from on a propeller powered plane which was the scariest flight of my life and I love to fly. A car is a must here if you don’t want to pay the $100+ cab ride from/to Kushiro airport. What’s interesting is that service magically improved on the third day of my stay. I’ve had employees gawk/stare at me before and especially male ones never smiled.

Easily one of the less than a hand full hotels I ever stayed. The entire building is impeccably clean . The room is extremely well equipped. Not only there's a Japanese Ryokan style room for perfect esthetics, there's also a western style room for comfort, equipped with stereo equipment, wine fridge and wine fridge. The drinks at the hotel bar are all free of charge, including the alcohol drinks. How cool is that!!