Kose Onsen Hotel — Hotel in Karuizawa

Back in the day, when the Mampei was the only hotel option for foreigners in Karuizawa, almost everyone who visited Karuizawa made the pleasant trek to Kose, the only nearby hot spring. It’s still one of the more appealing long walks: a mostly uphill trail starting a short distance above the old Mikasa Hotel takes a bit over an hour, or about the same amount of time will get you there from Hoshino Onsen on a scenic and mostly flat dirt road. You could do the whole loop from Karuizawa station in about six hours, or make it an easier trek with a little help from the Shinano train or Hoshino shuttle bus. Or you could just take a local bus all the way to Kose, but then you’d be missing half of the fun.||||The good news about Kose Onsen Hotel is that the baths, though a bit on the small side, are still very nice. The hotel is a rather ordinary onsen hotel—if you’ve been to a few of these, you’ll probably feel you have been here before, even if you haven’t. It’s set in a beautiful, slightly secluded area surrounded by trees beside a river. It’s not the newest hotel but the prices are reasonable—check out the somewhat misnamed Ancient Hotel nearby if you want something newer and more luxurious and don’t mind paying double.||||The weak link here seems to be the food. There are several available courses for dinner, the standard one being billed as “French,” apparently in reference to the main course, which did make use of such French culinary concepts of marinade, sauteeing, pork, cutlet, and entree, although the result was nearly as Japanese as the rest of the dinner, though somewhat more difficult to pick at with chopsticks. The beverage list was rather limited, the entire wine list consisting of red and white local products that both resembled expired grape juice. Even the beer list was restricted to the rather unpopular Heartland. I don’t want to give the impression that the food was inedible—the appetizers did include some tasty smoked fish—sea bream and ayu—and the soup was a tasty if mismatched suimono. Exactly what a plate of eggs scrambled with warabi was doing as a side dish was unclear, but my wife was happy to eat it. Breakfast, too, was edible, but it’s hard to imagine anyone is coming here for the food.||||That might explain why the hotel was running so far below capacity, while crowds over at Harunire Terrace made it impossible for us to get into a restaurant for lunch. Of course, one wouldn’t wish to see Kose overrun with tourists and shuttle busses, but the present owners might certainly make better use Kose Onsen’s heritage as one of the earliest attractions of golden-age Karuizawa, when it was practically as well-known...

Back in the day, when the Mampei was the only hotel option for foreigners in Karuizawa, almost everyone who visited Karuizawa made the pleasant trek to Kose, the only nearby hot spring. It’s still one of the more appealing long walks: a mostly uphill trail starting a short distance above the old Mikasa Hotel takes a bit over an hour, or about the same amount of time will get you there from Hoshino Onsen on a scenic and mostly flat dirt road. You could do the whole loop from Karuizawa station in about six hours, or make it an easier trek with a little help from the Shinano train or Hoshino shuttle bus. Or you could just take a local bus all the way to Kose, but then you’d be missing half of the fun.||||The good news about Kose Onsen Hotel is that the baths, though a bit on the small side, are still very nice. The hotel is a rather ordinary onsen hotel—if you’ve been to a few of these, you’ll probably feel you have been here before, even if you haven’t. It’s set in a beautiful, slightly secluded area surrounded by trees beside a river. It’s not the newest hotel but the prices are reasonable—check out the somewhat misnamed Ancient Hotel nearby if you want something newer and more luxurious and don’t mind paying double.||||The weak link here seems to be the food. There are several available courses for dinner, the standard one being billed as “French,” apparently in reference to the main course, which did make use of such French culinary concepts of marinade, sauteeing, pork, cutlet, and entree, although the result was nearly as Japanese as the rest of the dinner, though somewhat more difficult to pick at with chopsticks. The beverage list was rather limited, the entire wine list consisting of red and white local products that both resembled expired grape juice. Even the beer list was restricted to the rather unpopular Heartland. I don’t want to give the impression that the food was inedible—the appetizers did include some tasty smoked fish—sea bream and ayu—and the soup was a tasty if mismatched suimono. Exactly what a plate of eggs scrambled with warabi was doing as a side dish was unclear, but my wife was happy to eat it. Breakfast, too, was edible, but it’s hard to imagine anyone is coming here for the food.||||That might explain why the hotel was running so far below capacity, while crowds over at Harunire Terrace made it impossible for us to get into a restaurant for lunch. Of course, one wouldn’t wish to see Kose overrun with tourists and shuttle busses, but the present owners might certainly make better use Kose Onsen’s heritage as one of the earliest attractions of golden-age Karuizawa, when it was practically as well-known...

This is a perfect secluded nature hotel in Karuizawa. Staffs are very friendly. Hotel is not too big. Hotel is clean and well maintained, however, there may be some incense smell due to insect repellent. Booked 3 rooms for 7 guests. Toilets are available in-rooms. There are 2 onsen, public (gender seperated) and private. The private onsen is available on request from the lobby, however, to be considerate to other guests, a 45-minute limit will be applied. However, if there are no guests waiting, you can continue your usage. Dinner is provided as a Kaiseki style. Breakfast is a full typical japanese breakfast. Yukata robes is provided. There is a manga corner for those who read Japanese. Access is very easy, using the bus to Kose Onsen station (yes, they have their own bus stop). One word of caution, the bus schedule is limited and is not 24-hours. Please make sure to check the timetables and transit times. Driving at night is discouraged because its in the middle of a national park, and its very dark and alot of curves. There will be a 300YEN per person charged for hot spring tax during checkout. WIFI is available.

Will definetely book again...