Hakuba Yamano Hotel — Hotel in Hakuba

Yamano Hotel is the ultimate ski chalet in Hakuba. It's situated right across from the 1986 Olympic ski jump and just a short stroll to the Happo-One chair lift. It could even be considered a ski-in and ski-out chalet. The rooms are big and comfortable with gorgeous views of the mountains and the valley. ||This hotel is a family-owned and run business. The owners Mr. Keita and his wife Monica will greet you from the time you get off the bus to the time you enter the hotel parking area. Mr. Keita is an incredible concierge, always attending to any of your needs and willing to assist you with any information. He also provides a free shuttle to the lift, and if you're tired at the end of the day you can call him and he will be happy to come pick you up, even though it's a short distance. For the additional ski resorts, he is happy to make a reservation for the free morning shuttle. They will pick you up right at the parking lot of the hotel and will drop you off at the same place. So you have easy access to the 7 resorts in the Hakuba Valley right from his doorstep. ||Once you return from your day in the mountain, you can walk straight into a very spacious heated ski room where you can put your boards and skis on a special rack, warm your boots, gloves, ski pants and jacket so all will be ready to go the next morning. After leaving your stuff in the warm room, you can either step across the hall to enjoy their beautiful onsen inside the chalet that has a hot mineral bath, a cold mountain water plunge bath, and a fantastic wooden and hot rock sauna. An additional perk is the two massage chairs in the laundry area that you can enjoy for free.||After relaxing in the Onsen and/or massage chair, you can go back to your comfortable and spacious room and relax until you're ready to have dinner at his restaurant at 6pm. And if you choose to go to other restaurants, several of them are just 5-10 minutes walk away, or there are shuttle buses you can take. The hotel also includes a delicious and abundant breakfast buffet that includes traditional Japanese breakfast of miso soup, fermented beans, Japanese rice and more; traditional American breakfast with several types of eggs, bacon, potatoes, and sausage; and traditional Continental breakfast including orange juice, freshly made apple juice, cereals, pastries, and fresh fruit. ||To summarize our stay at Yamano Hotel, Mr. Keita and his wife Monica made us feel at home and part of their family. That's how well they treat you. This will definitely be the place we stay next time we...

My first visit to Hakuba - and choosing Yamano Hotel was pure luck. Many incredible experiences which I will try laying them out :|1) Keita and Monica - excellent hosts (made it felt very much a family hotel) |2) Monica arranged Woody Rentals : to come pick us, get fitted out with our snowboard gear - and Woody will arrange to send it back to the Dryer Room . The shop was in Happo area - so after getting fitting out , we went for our dinner and strolled back to the hotel . The gear appear in the dryer room that night. Talked about good service and shout out to the guys at Woody Rental|3) my kids had late night hunger pangs - and they opened the kitchen though the kitchen has arrays closed . Had the curry rice - which they gobbled up. My son had another curry rice serving the next day |4) my wife hurt her back and went back to the hotel first, and Monica helped to pick up her Insurnace cards in the room - really thankful. I was at the slopes as the kids were in ski school . |5) the evergreen international ski pick up and drop off is just at the hotel entrance - so bringing the kids and coming back from their ski school was an ease |6) we walked to both happo and echoland - through the small roads - about 15-20 mins with young kids pace - so overall not too bad |7) hot onsen tub and cold tub with sauna - amazing . |8) free massage chairs whilst waiting for your Laundry is an added plus! |9) rooms were comfy , clean, well furnished . Read some comments that it was aged but I did not think so. It was great. The size was good as well. Toilets are Japanese sized , but in these resorts, most time was spent in the Ibsen and bath area. |10) great great hospitality - pick up and drop off by Keita . Thanks a lot and helping me with the baggage as it was quite a handful for myself only |11) the greatest host was Keita & Monica’s son - Gakuto , 7 year old bright boy - he made toys for my kids to play, played Uno, and video games - and my kids really had a great time with him. Hope we get to see him soon. He was always somewhere in the hotel - popping in and out and just being a great presence .||The overall feel is the hotel has so much history , in a family oriented setup which was warm , cosy , and always inviting - made you feel home despite my only 4 nights there . ||Thank you and sincerely my warm regards|Dominic , Yurika...

A truly tremendous place to stay during your skiing holidays. It is 300 meters removed from the happo one ski area and is fully equipped for that business. Skiroom, a shuttle service towards all major ski areas, towards the centre of town and the rental places, it has the whole shebang. At the same time it does not loose its authentic feel most of the other hotels in town lack. It is quite spacious, has a real onsen (sort of a hot tub without bubbles that requires you to sterilize your body first unless you want to be looked at like a maniac) and am amazing breakfast. Truly. The breakfast is a selling point. The only remark I could find, and it is a miniature one (pun intended), is the size of the bathroom. I am an 185 centimetres measuring bloke with the with of 2 slender girls (without being fat, there are no ex's in my clothing size apart from the pants, if you know what I mean) and when I say down on the impressively technical, no-english-manual-providing lavatory, I nearly broke the sinks mirror. Also, nearly every working surface only reached my knees. So after doing number 2, my knees, back and brains hurt, luckily I never are Mexican or I would have had another major problem on my hands. Bit as I said, it is just a tiny issue, just never poop nor shower when in Japan, the restroom size is a national problem. I can however compliment the staff! They are all exceptionally versed in the English language. A miracle considering the many Australian visitors attempting to destroy whatever efforts were made by native English speaking people of teaching the Japanese our Queen's language. So in conclusion, if you need to find a place to stay in the Japanese Alps, look no further, stay at the Yamano hotel!

Ps. The picture of the ramp was the view from my window. It is the ramp from the Nagano Winter...