Onsen-yado CHINOHATE

This old traditional inn inside Shiretoko National Park received a split verdict from my wife and I. I enjoyed the remote location at the end of a backroad, part way up a hillside where a trailhead begins for a popular mountain walk. It’s also a good location for access to the park’s visitor center and the popular 5 lakes area. There are 3 small public outdoor onsen baths located very near by. We both enjoyed the hotel’s indoor public baths. The night we stayed there were only two other rooms occupied. Our room was a Japanese - Western Twin, meaning it had a traditional tatami mat room, but also a separate sleeping area with western beds plus a small wet room bathroom. My wife felt the food was not that good, perhaps it suffered by comparison to some really good food we had at other lodgings. Also, during the ensuing days she discovered when speaking to locals that the hotel owner is not highly regarded. It’s felt he does not invest enough in his properties. A year ago there was a tourist boat accident and some people died, the accident blamed the owner for failures in several areas. As it turns out, the same gent owns Chinohate and the locals fear he’s operating it on the cheap too. Between the average food, relatively high rates, and remote and under-occupied vibe, my wife was not keen. I found the staff welcoming, the food okay, and the remote surroundings attractive. It appears to be a place where hikers might stay before/after their climb, but it would seem they need to be hikers with a healthy budget.

Simply put, don't waste your time and money on this garbage. Their service is a disgrace to Japanese. I had book a plan called "mountain climbing support plan" from Jalan and it costs about 14000yen without meals. It's expensive but they do have a good location at the entry point of Rausu-Dake. In the afternoon of the check-in day, they call me and say they cannot offer accommodation tonight due to some pipeline issue. (I live in Japan so I could speak some Japanese, if you are a foreigner you will have a big trouble then.) They suggest me to go to their friend's hotel and can offer a discount. The distance is 13km away, let alone there's almost no transportation here and their offer is about 500yen off LOL. Why don't you suggest me a Hotel in Okinawa? They don't care about your time loss, your schedule ruined, your money wasted to get here. They charge you money when you cancel the booking, but why don't hotel give money when they cancel the booking? They don't have the heart to run a hotel, they are just running business to earn more money for themselves. Is this the Utoro style of service?

We stayed there because we wanted to stay in the park and hike early morning. Location if perfect for this if you want to climb all the way to mount Rausu. Serious 10 hour hike. If you are an occasional hiker, don't bother. This place is very old style, offers no flexibility and not much advice either. Food is served ryokan style set breakfast and dinner. Plentiful but very average quality. Rooms have seen better days. Ours reeked of smoke and we had to keep the window open all the time (Ok in summer). On Sen could be really nice due to the location, but is is old, not very clean and very disappointing. No internet watsoever ! I travel to Japan every year and always stay in Ryokans or hotels with natural onsen. So, superb location, but definitely in need of proper management and upgrade If you do not need the location, you can stay outside the park (15 min away) for better and less expensive.

My husband and I stayed for 2 nights during a 2 week Hokkaido trip. The Chinohate reminded me of the Budapest Hotel: a bit of former glory, doting staff, and traditional Japanese dinners with an abundance of seafood - crab, several sushi courses, fish, shrimp, scallops, roe.... and all the other pickled and salty sides. The outdoor onsen pools in the woods were a highlight, though I couldn't help looking over my shoulder for bears. There is no internet and I had no cell service, so it was a digital disconnect - not a bad thing unless you need to be available. If you have a car, which we did, it's a great location for hiking Mount Rausu, and also for exploring the area. All in all, a good experience and I would stay again.

It’s a hotel with good service. It’s not bad, but it is incredibly expensive for what you get. I understand this may be due to the location but I paid 1.5x what I did in Utoro at another hotel and got better quality food and dinner. There are two communal baths, one indoor same gender bath for male/female and one communal outdoor bath. They are infused with the minerals from an old geyser crater eruption in the 1900s, but it is not an “onsen” so to speak. Breakfast may be a buffet or a set meal. There are many foods available for the buffet but it’s pretty standard flavours. great across to hiking Mount Rausu, large parking space and another small open air bath outside.

I highly recommend this place if you are visiting Shiretoko. It is a very short drive from the Shiretoko go lake or from the nature center, don't trust the estimated time Google map provides on this route. I think the longer estimated time from Google is due to people frequently stop on the way to the hotel because you get to see deer and little foxes. If you drive straight from the lake, it should be just around 10-15 mins.||||If you love those hotels in the middle of nowhere, this is the place for you! Our dinner and breakfast were nicely presented and they were delicious. We did not take the crab set dinner but our ordinary set menu had crab too (see photo), just not as much as the crab set menu we saw other guests had. ||||They have indoor and outdoor onsen, the outdoor one is a mixed onsen. We were lucky that no one was using the outdoor onsen. We stayed there right after the golden week so the hotel was almost empty, just us and 2 other couples. ||||The staff were nice and polite. They helped us with the luggage and when we finished the dinner and returned to the room, they already prepared the futon for us. The room we got was a traditional Japanese room. I did not have an option to select a non-smoking room when I booked. Despite the smoking room we got, it did not have any cigarette odor at all. The room has a toilet but no shower since you are expected to use the onsen.||||There is a small bar with manga books and it serves ramen late at night. Outside the hotel, there is a little path to walk to the river and you will see some small outdoor onsen. Overall, very nice place to relax. They have coin operated laundry.

This hotel is by itself at the edge of Shiretoto Park. You need to take the fixed menu for Dinner and Breakfast as miles from anywhere. It is the start of a walk to a nearby mountain My Rausu There is a mixed outdoor Onsen with great views away from the hotel. Just beyond the car park at the front of the hotel are 2 public hot springs would have been great if we found them early. Food is very good and traditional Japanese. The staff speak good English and very helpful.

Stay away from this place! Very unpleasant and not friendly staff. We arrived at 6:50 and asked about the dinner. The receptionist told us that dinner is not available while people were eating in the restaurant. He suggested to go get groceries at the local grocery store and eat in our room. It felt like a bad joke.