SATOYAMA STAY NINO-MACHI — Hotel in Hida

A Wonderful September time in Hida-Furukawa and the region – A taste of Japanese countryside life and products

I had the pleasure of experiencing several services provided by the Satoyama Experience team: Night and breakfast in Satoyama Stay Nino-Machi Cycling tour Food & Culture walk

First and foremost, the guides and the entire staff were very kind and appeared genuinely happy to be there, to be part of the Satoyama team, happy to do what they were doing. Lovely people! 😊 And they speak English, especially the guides who speak very good English!

Night and breakfast at Nino-Machi: beautiful and perfectly maintained traditional accommodation with tatami. With of course all modern amenities such as a bathroom, AC and a very nice comfortable bed. I asked for a traditional breakfast as well, including natto (fermented slimy soybeans). Everything was absolutely delightful.

Cycling tour: we were a small group of 3 + the guide. A few afternoon hours of gentle cycling in the streets of Hida-Furukawa and then in the Japanese countryside, in the valley, with a few stops to give some explanation about the local area, the local agriculture and more. We also had the chance to drink spring water directly from a source. Towards the end of the tour, we were treated to delicious traditional cookies and herbal tea, cold tea since the weather was pretty hot.

Food & Culture walk: not at all a duplication of the cycling tour! We were a small group of 7 + the guide. This time we were exploring Takayama, the little town next to Hida-Furukawa. We were walking across the old town for a few hours, visiting the local morning market, sake and plum wine breweries, miso paste producers, all sorts of shops with traditional cookies/crackers, etc. We were able to taste many of these products, including sake. At the end, we were treated to a traditional snack in a café.

No need to book via the « big platforms » as their own reservation and payment system runs smoothly 😊👍

Would I go back there? I’d love to! And I’ll definitely be recommending this precious address to...

This place fits my requirements. English speaking staff (my child likes talking to people), Japanese style bulding with modern facilities, and a quiet location (I have a car and I used to drive in hills). Location-wise, some people might prefer Takayama and the price is a bit dearer than Takayama. However, I don't mind the location and I feel like this place is worth the extra cost. This place was originally the centre of my vacation plan and I wanted to stay there longer. However, there wasn't too much snow before I visited that area, I changed my plan a bit to only stay there for two nights. I still feel I could have stayed there longer. I communicated with Satoyama Experience early and asked a lot of questions. I appreciate that they have been very patiently answering my questions. During my stay, when I wanted to have some information from locals, I first thought of them and they really helped me a lot communicating with others in Japanese for me. We chose the "Kura", a two storey building to stay at the back. It is not as spacious as it sounds like but it's a renovated old building with almost two hundred years of history. The building has direct access to the garden where the child can play snow there. Satoyama has a sustainability theme so we didn't expect any cleaning services during our stay. They did the daily cleaning services and we are happy about it. However, to make it really "sustainable", I think it is better they ask the customers first to see if they really need...

I could go on and on about how splendid this place was. We loved it so much that we even extended one more night! Highlights include: unique and different homemade breakfast with special local ingredients every morning (the best french toast I've had in Japan!) towel warmer in the bathroom incredibly friendly staff most comfortable duvet (that kept me warm all night) green, black, and herbal tea constantly available at practically every corner of the hotel

You could tell the owners put in so much love into the place. They clearly know what they like when they stay at other places and you can see that they put in their favorite aspects into their own place. Such a high quality stay and I cannot wait to return for...