Takahan

Rooms are ryokan, you get your tatami and your futon. However there is a very bad smell in the bathroom and toilet, might be due to sewage. Note that the taps do not provide drinking water, huge rust deposit when I first turned it on. They provided one flask of ice water and one kettle of hot water. A look into the kettle discouraged me from drinking it. I saw a fibre inside, and the kettle is heavily rusted. Had to get drinking water from L1. The rooms get stinkbugs which you need to call the front desk to get bug catching help. Otherwise they are relatively not moving bugs which you can help yourself. The onsen is very small, with 2 hot pools and 1 cold pool, and you have your own basket of towel to bring. The owner is very very helpful in getting us around the town, i wanted to get the public free buses but he said the hotel shuttle is more convenient. Just show their name card to the tourist information center and they will come pick you in 10 minutes. Breakfast is lack lustre, they gave us a timeslot to come at 8.30am, but many food already ran out and not refilled. Shout out to the chinese staff there, very helpful.

I think it's a bit far from the center but they have a shuttle service at specific hours so it made things easier. They are very attentive with the request of using the shuffle service too. Cozy onsen area, water not as hot tho. huge and clean rooms.

One of the nearest accommodation to Gala Yuzawa Ski Resort and shuttle via a mini bus is available. Shuttle bus goes to Echigo Yuzawa station too. It is walking distance from Gala Yuzawa. Approach any staff at the Ski Resort with the telephone number of the hotel to request for it. Stayed there for a few night for snowboarding. Breakfast selection was fabulous with two local Japanese sake available! The room is big, clean and well furnished. It even come with a great view! Onsen street which is the street lined with restaurant is 10-15mins walk away. I recommend making reservation for dinner if you do not intend to go out for dinner. Great service is one of the key reason why I would return to stay!

I went to go to the Gala Yuzawa ski resort next door. The hotel offers a free shuttle bus, just call them, and they drop off or pick up, including other nearby areas. Nice breakfast in a stunning Japanese style room, western style available. There is a wonderful natural thermal hot springs in the hotel, free of charge. Great after a day of skiing. The room was very spacious, traditional Japanese style, everything worked great. The staff were all very friendly, and spoke some English, with the help of an electronic pocket translator. I wanted a late check out, and they charged me around $15 an hour, which was well worth it, as I was able to use the hot springs and take a shower after skiing, before a 5 pm train back to Tokyo, 70 minutes away by bullet train. The hotel also has a 24 hour nice museum about the history, no charge, and lots of other things to do: a library, a piano to play, nightly movies shown, board games, etc. This was one of my favorite stays in all of the world.

One of my favorite stays (of this kind) in Japan - this place has fantastic staff that really shows their professionalism and willingness to give you the best service. It seems run by a family, and they are all so polite. The price was well worth it, especially when going skiing. Wake up in the morning for a very delicious breakfast, take the shuttle to either the rental or go directly skiing, great experience. From there, come back again with the shuttle, and rest in the onsen (that includes a sauna!). Lastly, the view from the hotel room, if you get one, is well worth it. I cannot emphasize how kind the staff was, they were always willing to make sure we got what we wanted - for instance we were running very tight on time to get to our shinkansen back, and they went above and beyond to make sure we made it. Only thing I would say - it's not the most modern building, but that gives it a very nice old/traditional feeling. If you are looking for a legit japanese relaxing stay, I would highly recommend this place. Arigatou!

Old worn down onsen hotel that is long past its glory days. While staff is attentive and friendly, the inside of the hotel could need a good amount of TLC. Old smelly carpets, dusty gloomy lobby with creepy anime, elevator is probably from 1970s (or maybe 1950s). Onsen is under renovation but it’s still small for such a large hotel. Room bathrooms look more like a 1970s RV than a proper bathroom. No towels. Just paper towels. Dining area looks more like a 1950s high cool cafeteria. Again the old carpets stand out. And not in a positive way. Exterior is getting a refresh it looks like, but maybe they should have started with the lobby and rooms first. It’s sad that this is the average standard in japan. Breakfast was ok.

I travel with my 6 years old daughter to try out the hot spring and keisaki dinner, it quite disappointing after finding out it not accepting private booking for the hot spring, and the dinner is nothing you see on youtube !!! maybe is the price we paid for and the ryokan. so the hot spring is only suitable for adults or same sex parent if you have kid. Nothing special beisde the room has a small enclosed balcony area for relaxing and looking at the hill and the railway tracks. Staffs at the restaurant was very kind and friendly.....overall 7 out of 10 I will give. I was told it was only 10 minutes walk to the nearby ski ground, we ended up at Yuzawa Kogen instead of Gala Yuzawa ( i guess there is no shuttle service available in the morning)

This Japanese ryokan has a history of more than 900 years. In its lobby it has a slogan says “湯を見つけ、守り伝えて、九百余年。”which means ‘ we have had found the Onsen and passed it down generation by generation for more than 900 years.” Several things to reccommend here: first, the room is bigger than usual size and has a good view. Second, the Onsen is 掛け流しwhich means it’s a running one rather than a still one. Third, breakfast buffet has a variety of what you can pick. There is something very different that you can find out in this Ryokan. It’s a small museum which has a collection of the writer of snowworld《雪国》，川端康成，the first Nobel Prize Winner for Literature in Japan. He wrote the the novel in this Ryokan. And thus it’s named 雪国の湯(Onsen of snow world) The only thing is that it’s not a ski in ski out Ryokan. It’s 15 minutes walk from YUZAWA KOGEN SKI RESORT AND GALA SKI-RESORT. But it has a shuttle bus which send you to the ski resort in 3 minutes.