Hakuba Ryujin — Hotel in Hakuba

The Hakuba Ryujin Onsen was easily one of the most amazing places we have ever stayed. The staff are incredibly welcoming, helpful, and will go out of their way to make your stay wonderful. The traditional atmosphere transports you away from all your troubles. You can really tell thought and caring were put into each detail around you. Let me give some examples;

You're given comfortable traditional Japanese lounge wear you can wear around the complex to include inside slippers and outside shoes. This made life very easy as we wore this outfit while we were in our room, at dinner, and when we went to the onsen. We now want to buy this lounge wear for our own home.

There are free refreshments (juice, chu hi seltzer, beer, quince water, tea) and snacks (trail mix, chocolates) available at all times. We bought the breakfast package (which I highly recommend as it has numerous delicious options ranging from traditional to western). We also had dinner here two nights and the food was incredible. Even though we selected two of the most expensive options (various kobe beef and wagyu beef plates) and had numerous drinks, it was ludicrously affordable. If you want to try different food, there are a few options a couple blocks away or a short taxi ride away (echoland).

The rooms are very clean, quiet, and peaceful with comfortable beds and a TV that can connect to streaming services. There's also a hot water/coffee pot and green tea. The room was fully stocked with shampoo, conditioner, body wash, hair brushes, razors, toothbrushes, etc.

Now... my favorite part... the onsens. These are separated by gender. In the onsen area, there's a locker room, bathing area, an indoor onsen, an outdoor onsen, a cold plunge bath, onsen pot baths, and a sauna. I used all of these almost every day I was there and they are all wonderful. Sitting in the outside onsen with the snow falling was the most magical part of my whole stay. These are traditional onsens though. You strip to naked in the locker room, bathe, then enter the onsen, bathe again before you leave (the water has minerals that may irritate skin if left on). You carry a small onsen towel with you and that is it. No phones. No splashing. Just pure relaxation. There is even a free sake service 8-10pm where you can take a floating dish of sake into the onsen and watch the snow fall. This was magical. There is even after- onsen ice cream and quince water.

While the staff here primarily speaks Japanese, they use translation apps if a more complex conversation needs to occur. I recommend learning some basic Japanese so you can communicate more effectively, but it's not needed. The staff here are so caring, they chased after our car as we were leaving to say goodbye and transported us to the train station (thank you, Yasuto)!

We can't wait to come back in the future and we are so grateful to everyone who made our stay so perfect. I cannot recommend this...

Lovely traditional Japanese accommodation!

Liked · We really enjoyed the onsen and the friendly staff. Additionally, there is a laundry facility (400 yen) and extra shared toilet and sink area on the accommodation floor (extra toilets on the ground floor as well), which were great to have access to.

We did not have a meal option included (as the children don't really make the most out of a Japanese breakfast), but there was free hot coffee and hot water each morning (we brought our own fresh milk and kept it in the refrigerator in our room). We travelled with our three children and bought some instant hot chocolate powder with us. We were able to use the hot water, spoons and cups so the children could also have a warm morning drink at the table downstairs in reception. We were able to pick up some quick breakfast at a 7-11 just down the road.

We ate 1 evening meal at the Yakiniku restaurant at Ryujin Onsen. We all really enjoyed this and would recommend dinner there if you are staying the evening

Disliked · The only thing that would have made our stay better, was if all the furniture was fully functional and if there was additional space to hang jackets and wet ski gear.

The wall hooks (only 5 hooks with some hangers) for hanging jackets and wet ski gear fell off the wall. This piece of furniture was unfortunately broken when we arrived in the room. Some additional space to hang wet ski gear would have been useful and we ended up hanging our ski gear on the curtain rail instead.

The small floor heater under side table, would shut off after about 15 minutes and flash a small error code. This was not really an issue, as after that time, the room was warm enough, but it may...

I had an amazing experience at Hakuba Ryujin Onsen, and would love to be back again.

Shout out to Chika-san, Nao-san and Kenji-san for working tirelessly day and night to make the guests happy. We were there for 5 nights in a row, and we could definitely tell that each of them were up later than us (to clean up and finish their duties) and up earlier than us (to get ready for breakfast and to greet customers). They are nonetheless always cheery and ready to make our experience memorable - ありがとうござます！

The rooms are also super comfortable, and we never wanted to leave. If you get the dinner option, you will be treated with a yummy sukiyaki, yakiniku (our absolute favorite) or shabu shabu each night. This was convenient for us as we didn’t step out to other restaurants to explore food options.

In terms of convenience, there is a shuttle bus 2 minutes away from the hotel which will bring you to Escal plaza (the point where you can board the Hakuba Valley bus to different ski resorts). It’s very convenient if you are planning to ski in Hakuba 47, Goryu, Imori etc. It is a far trip to other slopes such as Tsukaige, but this really depends on what you need.

Overall, we really enjoyed our stay here and were sad to leave (even though we had already stayed here for 5 nights). The hospitality of everyone here, the fact that there’s an onsen right at your hotel (plus free drinks and snacks at night) was too hard to beat. Can’t wait to be...