Yumoto Shirogane Onsen Hotel — Hotel in Biei

Pretty solid onsen, with the biggest drawback being that they don't switch the men's and women's onsen sides, so you're stuck with the view assigned to your gender. And that means the men get a way better outdoor experience than the women, unfortunately. I suspect it's because the men's side (which is maybe 2x bigger) faces the bridge, but the wall along the steps is only a little over waist high, so basically anyone walking along the bridge could see your chest as you walked up or down to the onsen if they paid attention. Indoors, both sides seem to have the same setup: one clear cold bath, one clear hot bath, and one hot 温泉 bath, which was cloudy from the minerals. The two hot baths on the inside are hotter than the outdoor one.

The rooms are fine, although the washrooms are minimally supplied with showering amenities; showering in the onsen is probably encouraged. They have elevators as well to get to each floor as necessary.

Location is great. You can walk outside over the bridge to the right to get to the longer bridge that gets you the great views of the Shirahige Waterfall and river. They also have one night-time shuttle at 7:30 to see the Blue Lake, but returns sharply at 8:15, so don't be late to catch it back! I'm pretty sure they left behind quite a few people, as we were a packed shuttle going there but had a number of empty seats coming back. 😨It is over 30 min to walk back normally, and you don't want to be doing that in freezing temperatures on the main road. (Would be fun to hike to in warmer times though.) When we went, the lake was frozen solid and snow covered the whole surface, so didn't get to enjoy the natural blues, but they do have their own light display of sorts to still evoke that feeling.

Food is good and very filling for the kaiseki-style dinner. I recommend the 5:30pm seating if you don't want to feel rushed to catch the 7:30 lake shuttle. Breakfast is a bit crazier though, as it's self-serve in a single room, so lots of slippers are left overflowing out front, and people leaving to go find seats in other rooms. Also, we chose the 8:30-9:30 breakfast slot, but despite arriving at 845 they already ran out of three of the main entrees and did not replace them ever.

Lastly, they provide two shuttle pickups per day from Asahikawa and Biei, so you can save yourself some headache and $ if you coordinate properly. Sadly, snow storms caused our trains to be canceled, so we missed the 1pm shuttle. It you want to maximize your time, you can pay a little over 10000 yen for a cab to drive you all the way from Asahikawa station, which is better than waiting for the 5pm shuttle if you...

I can't comprehend why so many people have provided positive feedback regarding this hotel. I stayed there with my friends in early September. The room lacked air conditioning, leaving us two noisy fans, one bathroom exhausted fan and one air purifier. Despite having fly nets installed on the windows, we were hesitant to open them as it seemed like a horde of flies and bugs were eagerly waiting to invade our room.

Furthermore, there were no body wash or shampoo available in the room. Instead, you had to personally borrow them from the front desk, as no one responded when we called for assistance during the nighttime. Patience is advised when communicating with the staff, as they primarily speak Japanese.

While I can accept these shortcomings considering it was a traditionally-styled hotel situated in a remote area close to nature, it became unacceptable when a foul odor (resembling exhaust emissions from a diesel Mitsubishi) permeated our room and the staff refused to accommodate our request for a room change, citing that all rooms were occupied. I fully utilized the air purifier for whole night.

The dining experience was also special. After a 2.5-hour drive filled with anticipation, we reached the hotel at about 7pm and the dinner that awaited us was utterly disappointing. The sashimi appeared to have lost its freshness and I had to fully cook it by using the little hot pot provided – in which more than half of the soup had boiled away before it was even served to me. The bean curd bun tasted soured and there was an unpleasant odor coming from the steamed egg.

Nonetheless, I appreciate the indoor hot spring for its cleanliness and tidiness. While it is worth mentioning that some dead bugs can be found in the water of the hot spring in the outer areas, I persuaded myself (again) it was a contact with nature.

Perhaps the experience would be completely different during Winter, but I won’t be there to test my...

I never rated any hotel lower than 3 stars, but I have to do it this time. ||We are in a group of 10 , we booked 3 rooms and came to stay for 3 nights for the lavender seasons, paying more than 40000 yen per night per room, however the experience was rather unpleasant.||1. One family of our group has 2 adults and 2 kids, we already paid extra for the kids, and informed the hotel we in advance that we have kids, but while we requested for extra futon bedding , they said they have no more beddings, and also no extra pillows. How could 4 people sleep in 2 futons ?!?!? For 3 nights....... |2. Food was ok , but then the service was awful, we didn’t arrive the dining hall at the same time, once the waiter saw a few of us, and they lighted up all the fires to cook the beef without telling us, when we discovered , the beef already overcooked, some of our friends not even arrived yet. And there was one morning that we couldn’t even get a bowl to get breakfast, and no hot tea , everything just gone, and no one refilling. |3. The first night half way of my shower, I found out no shower jel and no shampoo. My hubby called the concierge immediately and they asked him to go down to get it. |4. We reserved non smoking rooms, but the room still have smells of smoke, made me feel sick. |5. The hair dryer was not really working properly, it just kept flipping back while I was drying my hair. |6. No WiFi in rooms. ||The only good thing is - the bell boy was very helpful, once we arrived , he helped carrying our luggages. ||Staying in this hotel has completely ruined our trip, never had any bad service like this in any other...