Adagio Hokkaido — Hotel in Biei

The website and photos paint a promising portrait. No one would blame you for thinking that, and for plunking down your hard-earned money to reserve a room here. Well, let me save you the trouble.

Let's start with the villa itself. We stayed in the leftmost of the 5 villas on the property, #305. The unit could be described as a decently executed version of an 8-year-old's floorplan. From ground level, you walk in the front door and find yourself... in the bedroom. Literally, the bed is 2 meters from the front door. You would not expect this arrangement in Japan, but that's probably because the Adagio Hokkaido is a Taiwanese company.

There was a strangely positioned, lighted exit sign in the foyer that could not be turned off, and generated enough light to interfere with sleep. Maybe they felt the bedroom needed more light, since there were no real windows, and the room had a dungeon aesthetic to it.

And perhaps because of the proximity to the door, the bedroom was rife with spiders. We were careful to enter and exit quickly to prevent anything from getting in, so despite what the Adagio says, they were very much existing tenants in this villa when we arrived.

Take a walk up the extremely narrow stairs to the living room level, you find a spartanly arrangement with a kitchen table and a couple wooden chairs. No furniture to relax on at all. Apparently there was a futon in the closet, but a sign hung outside informing any guests who used it that they'd be charged 5000 yen (see pictures).

The layout of this living area was extremely bizarre: more super-narrow stairs leading to several high landings with no obvious function, and some with no bannister or guardrail at all. If you happened to slip, you'd easily fall from a significant height. Definitely not for children.

The foundation of the building was solid concrete, which is good. But the floors were plywood, neither nice-looking nor comfortable.

There were large windows facing out of the living room, but unfortunately the only view they provided was of an overgrown field.

The kitchen was outfitted with enough to cook your own meals, but management made it clear that you had to wash your own dishes, or pay a penalty afterwards. Is this an AirBNB?

The property was clean (few scattered cobwebs), but not "Japanese clean". Every other Japanese hotel we stayed in was sparkling clean, and I think that is reflection of the culture. It was evident that management was not from there.

Overall, the property was just not very comfortable. In fact, when we weren't exploring Biei, we preferred to just sit in our parked rental car. It was significantly cozier than the villa.

Here's the kicker. We paid beforehand for meals in the main building. Dinner was served at 6:30PM, and all of the guests ate at that time slot, which made service a nightmare. The appetizer was a salad (meh) with corn soup (not bad). I had ordered a drink that after 30 minutes still hadn't arrived, even despite asking several times. The host--a young Taiwanese guy--decided to loudly entertain the whole room and was going on and on during dinner, and just making the experience a little awkward (more on this guy in a minute). The second course was a seafood risotto that tasted pretty awful, so we decided to leave in the middle of the meal.

As we were leaving, we asked the host about canceling the rest of our meals for the stay. Having a conversation with this guy was incredibly odd and difficult. He asked in English (to us English-speakers) what villa we were in. We had to repeat a half-dozen times "305". He seemed confused and laboring to understand this single number. It was then that I realized this guy was intoxicated! He was either drunk or on Xanax. We sprinted out of that mess.

We had a much more enjoyable dining experience at the local 7-11. Convenience store food in Japan is a...

Our family party of 11, ages 10-80, booked all five of the Adagio villas for two nights in July, 2025.

Upon arrival, we realized that it was impossible for our elderly parents (~80 years old) to stay there because of the 4.5 flights of stairs inside. Thankfully, the helpful staff were able to switch them to a regular room in the main building.

The rest of the review is about the villas only.

Pros: Beautiful views. Well kept grounds. Villas were bright, clean, cute and “Instagrammable.” Having a washer (but no dryer) in every villa was a definite plus. The staff was friendly and attentive. Food was decent.

Cons: The villa has a small footprint but VERY vertically built, almost treehouse-like. That means “form” WAY over “function,” “vibe” over “safety.” You need to climb either up or down to do the most mundane things. For example, the one full bathroom is in the first floor. The bedroom is on the top floor (the loft) near the roof. There are 4.5 flights of steep and small/dangerous (more on that below) stairs that separate them. For units 302-305, there is a TINY toilet room at the same level as the bedroom level—but it’s so small that we basically used it with the door open. (Smaller than an airplane bathroom!)

But our biggest issue with this villa is safety. The stairs were steep AND small—a regular adult’s foot cannot fit on one step (see picture, and people don’t walk up/down stairs like that) and it forced us to walk up and down very slowly (is this the reason behind the name “adagio”?) as to not slip and fall. Also, some of the stairs do not have a safety railing on one side.

The most alarming thing was a curious 50cm wide elevated “platform” on one side of the room with no railing at all. From the top of platform, it’s a 5m drop to the bare concrete floor down below. I can’t even imagine if a child walked onto the platform and fell down that height!

That same 5m drop is also adjacent to the main bed, which has a very low railing. AND the slats between the railing are wide enough for a child to climb through. I seriously wonder how this kind of interior layout could pass any respectable safety code/city ordinances. It’s simply not safe.

Last but not least, two panels of the large floor-length windows can be unlocked and opened to allow anyone to fall directly from the second floor to the ground outside. There is no screen, no safety lock, no restraint or warning—nothing.

Finally, while being close to nature, expect it to be buggy in the summer. Mosquitoes, wasps, spiders, moths, etc. are co-residents of the space outdoors—and indoors too if you don’t quickly shut your door.

In conclusion, when I visit a place that advertises an “adagio” time, I don’t want to be forced to be slow (either through being extra cautious or being tired from walking up and down the stairs constantly). I want the place to INVITE me to slow down because I WANT to, not because I HAVE to. Here, it’s adagio or else…

All in all, we felt like there were enough safety hazards to not recommend the villas in general. If you are young and strong and want Instagrammable moments, stay at your own risk (and you’ll probably be okay if you are cautiously adagio). But if you’re traveling with young children and the elderly, then we definitely do NOT recommend you staying here and either consider their main building units or elsewhere.

p.s. A personal pet peeve: They do inflate their star ratings with a “leave a 5-star rating and we’ll give you a free postcard and mail it for you.” So the high rating is “weighted,” for...

Stayed here for two night for a family trip in late-July. It was very difficult to book, and so I would recommend doing so in advance, as I believe I booked the last room two months in advance for the day of my stay.

Pros : friendly and helpful staff who spoke Mandarin, Japanese and/or English. My main contention is the stinginess with milk for breakfast (see below), but that's more of an upper management/policy issue so I don't blame the staff for that as they were mostly likely just following orders. -amazing location and views! quick response for online correspondance delicious 5 course dinner, exquisitely prepared Western cuisine using local and fresh ingredients. They even have a patisserie chef to make the desserts fresh. They also rotate meal options, as the meals I ate on both nights were different. Highly recommend. Need to book in advance. -vegetarian/vegan friendly ! It is incredibly difficult finding vegetarian cuisine in Biei, and the staff were very understanding and accommodating. -free shuttle service from Biei Station (by request and reservation) -situated just a 8 minute drive away from the city with panoramic views of bucolic Biei scenery of oat, corn fields and more

Cons: (some other reviewers have already mentioned some of these points)

-Villa was rather unimpressive. It was definitely not as nice as the room in the main building, but somehow more expensive. The decor was spartan and bare, and honestly it felt like it was a half-completed renovation. There were three sets of steep stairs, which could be dangerous for those with young kids/elder members. The floors were concrete and covered by patches of carpet. -The have motion activated light sensors closer to the main building and leading to the villa, but when I walked from the villa to the main building at night there was a stretch where I was in darkness which I didn't like. -kitchenette without a functional stove ; looked like there was once a set-up but it was later removed. -ants and spider webs on the outdoor lawn chairs : We wanted to sit down on the sets of lawn chairs facing the fields, but found spider webs and a lot of ants crawling over. The two lawn chairs facing the golden oat fields were alot cleaner so we sat there. Great views. -The vegetarian options were delicious, but not as filling as my family found themselves not full by the end. I had the regular meal option and was filled. I felt they were quite frugal in some respects, as I had only requested for ONE extra cup of milk to go with the coffee beans they provided in our room and they politely said each person is only allotted one per person. I can understand that, but given the amount they charge, I expected more generosity with such a small request. -some insects in the room (the room was clean and given how easily they can fly into the room, I can to a certain degree understand; it wasn't a big issue)

Hopefully they can make corrective action for the points...