Hakuba Hotel PAIPU NO KEMURI — Hotel in Hakuba

We booked really late this season and were surprised to find a hotel so close to the lifts with availability. The location is great if you're to ignore the walk up the hill from the gondola. You'll probably hate that hill like we did by the end of the trip. Apart from that the location is excellent. You have two lifts quite close by, one up the hill and one down the hill. Both were closed early in our tour due to lack of snow but when we did Happo again we used the lift down the hill and skied back to that lift at the end of the day. Cuts out most of the hill that way. At night you can pop over to Wadano past the Roots Cafe. A top place if you're looking to hire gear from Rhythm who do premium snowboard and ski hire. The central Happo isn't too bad either and we would even walk to Echoland from here. ||They say never to judge a book by it's cover. This one, judge away. It's looks Soviet from the outside and true to form it is modest throughout. The rooms are tight but in our experience that's quite the norm on the hills. My partner and I slept really well here even though we initially thought the beds were quite hard. The shower was great although quite a tight fit like other reviewers mentioned. We're not big people and I found myself tucking the shower curtain into the sink taphead so I had a bit of room. Things that will annoy you about the rooms; no wifi and a lack of power points. We stayed in the main building overlooking the car park and looking towards the hill so I can't comment on the rest of the hotel but wifi was only available at in the reception area, yet another reason to get a local SIM. As for the power points we only had two available to us so if you're like us and have multiple cameras, phones, portable batteries etc, you may want a power board.||The hotel has all the basic amenities as well. There are drying lockers and a drying rooms for boots also. There's a table for any last minute tuning to do before you hit the hill as well. As boards and skis are not to be taken into rooms this is really handy. The reception area is comfortable and every time we walked through there were people plugging away on their laptops so it's a top area for catching up on emails if you can't afford to completely unplug like us. There's also a lovely fire there and some snow-covered trees to look out to. It's not a bad place to quickly check if work hasn't burnt down. Pro tip, try the ice creams they have at reception that are essentially a brick of ice cream covered in ice cream cone. I ate way too many of those. Now, things that we didn't overly enjoy, the breakfast. Dinner wasn't too shabby but we only did breakfast once even though it was included with our stay. Luckily we didn't pay extra for it but if it's cheaper to go without then there are better options in town.||This was our first stay in Happo so we obviously have a much better feel for the town now. My partner and I agreed that we'd probably stay at the bottom of the hill close to the gondola or the bus terminal next time. Would we be upset if things were booked out and we had to stay at Hotel "Pipe Smoke"? Absolutely not. It was cost effective and had everything we needed plus the staff were awesome. Very very friendly and as we didn't speak much Japanese they were also very patient and willing to help. If this is on the cards, give it a go, we ended up loving it and I think as long as you deal with the hill,...

This is an excellent budget hotel ideally located for skiing in Happo-one. Conveniently located across the road from the Shirakuba 2 chair lift from which you can access the rest of the slopes. Lockers are provided free of charge, there's a boot drying room, a work table and plenty of gas heaters in the lobby to warm up next to on comfy sofas.There's separate onsens for men and women to relieve those aches and pains and the usual vending machines at the usual prices in the lobby. ||The beds aren't the most comfy (quite stiff) but are fine by Japanese standards. The en suite bathroom is very small but the water pressure in the shower is excellent! We stayed on the 4th floor and there was a bit of a weird brassica smell at times which was probably the only downside to this hotel.||On our first night we ventured out for food and accepted the high prices for little food in the restaurants as we rarely eat in hotels. However on the second night we ate in the hotel and we're glad we did. For ¥1080 (approx £7) there was an all you can eat & drink buffet. The food was really good and had something for everyone, and unlimited beer, wine and soft drinks was very much appreciated! So much so, we ate there for the rest of our stay! Breakfast was ¥580 and again was buffet style all you can eat and drink. A really good spread and miles better than eating a cup noodle in your room!||The staff were always helpful and friendly and the majority spoke good English. Overall I would thoroughly recommend staying here in Happo-one.||Overall we were extremely happy with the hotel, it's quiet, peaceful and comfortable. If you're looking for somewhere with good Apres-Ski then this probably isn't for you, unless you fancy the long steep climb back up from...

Our family room was a row of 4 single beds in a long narrow room, and each bed had a small chair facing it. You step up into a small modular type bathroom. There is also a small closet near the door. So, it's functional but not much else. Fortunately, for all your bulky ski equipment and clothing there is a ski room, locker room, drying room, and a small laundry area. ||||Onsen was nice and my daughter and I used it every night. ||You get one towel for the week unless you know to ask for another one. No one came in our room all week to clean or empty the garbage. Not sure if you're able to request that? Since the room is small with no sitting area and no wifi, we spent most of our time in the spacious and light lobby area reading, playing games we'd brought or using internet. ||||The hotel feels like it hasn't been touched since the 70s, with brown carpeted walls and stairs. Very basic. My kids didn't love the local breakfast. We mostly just ate the yoghurt, fruit and mini croissants. Not fancy, but certainly functional. People at the desk and in the restaurant spoke limited English but were pleasant and helpful. (It's our fault for not speaking any Japanese!) Easy walking distance to the gondola and a chairlift (5 min)....