Akan Yuku no Sato Tsuruga

The hotel is quite spacious, comprising two distinct buildings. Within the hotel premises, you will find various shops, including a souvenir store and a North Face outlet. The rooms are generously sized, and the onsen facilities are notably expansive. There is an outdoor onsen situated on the 8th floor of the main building. The restaurant offers an impressive dining experience, with a wide selection of food available for both breakfast and dinner in a buffet style. Guests are kindly requested to reserve their dining times in advance. Across from the hotel, there is a vibrant shopping street featuring approximately 16 shops, which are open from early morning until late at night, a convenience much appreciated by tourists. The Ainu Theatre is within walking distance, while reaching the famous footbath may require a slightly longer stroll.

Akan Yuku no Sato Tsuruga is a large Japanese ryokan made up of 2 main buildings, beautifully located beside Lake Akan. Most rooms enjoy views of either the lake or the town. The Akan Cultural Village & Akanko Ainu Theatre are conveniently just a 3min walk across the river, with a Lawson convenience store directly opposite the hotel.||We stayed for 2 nights in midDec before Xmas. As expected during winter, the town was rather quiet, with many shops closed even during the day.||If you’re driving, arrival is well organised: pull into the driveway to unload luggage, then follow a map to a designated parking area about 3min away, with a courtesy shuttle back to the hotel for check-in.||Onsen Experience|Among the many ryokans we’ve stayed at in Japan, the onsens here are some of the most impressive. Think “luxury onsen factory”, massive in scale, yet still beautifully maintained & comfortable even with large numbers of guests. There are 3 onsen areas p/gender available at the same time, offering plenty of choice.||The 2 onsens in the main building are particularly stunning, especially the outdoor areas. Bathing in winter while snow falls over Japanese gardens, with Lake Akan & a snow-covered, Fuji-like mountain in the background, was truly magical.||Dining|We had both breakfast & dinner included, served buffet-style at the main restaurant, Tenga, enormous, efficient, & clearly designed to handle crowds with military precision. The buffet is divided into Japanese (the largest section), Chinese, Western, plus a kids’ area & ramen bar. Seafood & sashimi dominate, & watching some guests stack plates as if preparing for hibernation was mildly entertaining.||That said, if you’re not keen on seafood, choices are limited. Also, despite our 2 night stay, both breakfast & dinner selections remained exactly the same.||Rooms & Facilities|There’s a small indoor shopping area for snacks & souvenirs, & complimentary local steamed potatoes are served daily from 3:30pm (we showed restraint to save room for dinner).||Our room in the Wing building was spacious, clean, & comfortable, though showing a bit of age. Throughout most of our stay, staff were friendly & greeted us warmly whenever we passed through public areas.||The Departure Experience|Unfortunately, the final moments of our stay told a very different story.||On departure day, I watched the doorman , Hattori-san, enthusiastically assist Japanese guests with their luggage. Observing this, I admired once again the world-famous Japanese hospitality.||When it became our turn, that hospitality appeared to go on an unscheduled break.||I pushed the trolley where our luggage was next to our car. With no other guests around, I began loading the luggage myself. Two large suitcases went into the car while Hattori-san stood nearby, watching.||The 3rd suitcase was left on the sloped driveway. At this point, Hattori-san suddenly approached. For a brief moment, I thought help had arrived. Instead, he swiftly removed the luggage trolley, as if concerned it might disappear, & resumed watching.||As he observed, the final suitcase slowly slid down the slope & fell flat onto the ground. I turned to him. He looked at the suitcase. Then at me. And continued standing there.||No assistance. No concern.|The only thing missing was popcorn.||The contrast b/t his attentiveness toward Japanese guests & his indifference toward us was stark, almost theatrical. Unfortunately, this left us feeling singled out & discriminated against, & it significantly overshadowed an otherwise enjoyable stay.||Final Thoughts|Akan Yuku no Sato Tsuruga offers beautiful scenery, impressive onsens, generous dining and comfortable accommodation. It remains a place worth experiencing.||However, if service were more consistent, especially in those final, lasting moments, it could easily be an excellent stay rather than one remembered for an unexpectedly revealing farewell performance.

Stayed here for 2 nights having got to Kushiro & realised we’d made a bad mistake. We left pronto.|Taxi from Kushiro was £120 & well worth it to get here, we had a room with an outside onsen for just under £900 for 2 nights including breakfast (nice, lots of choice) & evening meal (very similar selections + a few more mains to be honest).|Food was all decent & really wide selection of Japanese, Chinese & Western, but everything was cold/lukewarm (& it was buffet style).|Presume that’s a thing here because no one seemed to complain….but the same stuff hot would have been so much nicer?||Room was spacious & nice, bathroom very dated though. Clothes provided for onsen use.|Outside room onsen very nice with snow falling onto your head as you sat in there.|Only went in the downstairs onsen (no tatts!) & that was very nice - the outside one was spectacular with snow covered pine trees over it.|I’m told the 8th floor one was much shabbier….(men in one, women in the other, it switches over each day)||Right on the lake, so views were very nice & the town was more than good enough & full of gift shops (plus a perfect little bar in the Leather Shop/Outdoor Shop 🤔).|Would stay here again, Hokkaido & this area in particular very nice & worth the effort to get to.

The hotel is not recommended for foreigners. We traveled all the way from Europe and then felt a bit excluded in the hotel. At dinner the Japanese guests looked at us strangely just because we weren't wearing a yukata. We were practically overrun at the buffet and none of the locals showed any consideration for us. No one made room for us; they just kept walking through. Then many of the guests ate like pigs and stuffed themselves with everything they could. Not only did many of the guests misbehave and treat us badly, but some of the staff also gave us strange looks. Japanese guests were given priority at check-in. All of this felt very strange. The only kind staff was our bartender on the bar in the first floor. He treated us very good. The rooms and the food weren't bad, but because of the feeling of not being welcome and the exclusion the best times of our stay were when we weren't in the hotel or when we were at the bar. So overall I can't recommend it to anyone who is a foreigner.

This hotel was our highlight in Hokkaido trip! Onsen was very good quolity, and they provided free fried potato on check in as well. Highly recommended!

We would like to extend our deepest appreciation to Ms. Tamori Minatsu for her exceptional help during our recent stay. Upon arriving at the hotel, we discovered that we had left a bag containing a wallet, cash, and cards at a restaurant in Kamikawa, nearly three hours away.We approached Ms. Tamori for help. She listened attentively to understand our situation. The she contacted the restaurant to confirm that the bag had been found. The next day, she went above and beyond by helping us arrange for the bag to be safely delivered to our hotel in Sapporo.Thanks to her efficiency, kindness, and genuine concern, a potential disaster turned into a heartwarming reminder of the hospitality and warmth we experienced in Hokkaido. We are truly grateful for her support — she made our trip not only smooth but also deeply memorable.

The hotel was big and spacious with a few different bathhouses. The buffet dinner was amazing with lots of selection and dessert.

A few hotels were closed down in the area. This was a historical and large one. The traditions were kept. The carpark was located some distance away, but a free shuttle bus was provided. My rooms had a lake view. There were two water basins in the bathroom area, which was very convenient. Room size was acceptable. There were onsens in the building. Sightseeing points were very near. There were many souvenir shops along the road. Convenient stores and restaurants were operating within walking distance. Food choices in the breakfast and dinner buffet were enough. They were put in separate areas to avoid congestion of guests at one point and creating long queue. Overall maintenance was good.