Slowlife Lodge — Hotel in Kutchan

Staying at the Slowlife Lodge feels like you are staying with family. But the fun family that you look forward to visiting. From the warm welcome, friendly service, and inclusive feel, our stay at Slowlife Lodge was the highlight of our trip to Japan.

We stayed for 6 nights during January 2023 for a skiing holiday. Our arrival at the lodge was greeted with friendly smiles from the owners Chad, Greg, and Michael. The rooms are clean and tidy, with ample hanging room for your gear, and there is a spacious gear room for your ski equipment. The lodge itself has several room types arranged over three floors, with shared bathrooms located on each floor. We had a twin room on the top (3rd) floor with a lovely large window and view of Mt Yotei.

Western style breakfast is served early each morning, from 7:00 til about 8:00. Happy hour starts at 17:00 each evening and Chad makes a myriad of tasty libations available for purchase.

This is a ski first, party second lodge. The owners and guests are here primarily to have a great time on the hill, and the vibe in the lodge reflects that – it quiets right down after about 22:00, and the owners and guests are up early to get breakfast in before getting the gear on and heading out the door. Early to bed means early to ski! That doesn’t mean no fun – on the contrary, we had many nights with plenty of fun and activities, but just be ready to get up and at it if the snow is falling!

The lodge is located along the Hirafu Shuttle line (along the yellow line), and is basically half way between two stops, so a short walk will get you to a stop and then onto a bus heading to Grand Hirafu ski hill, however the owners are also very accommodating when they can be, and we were fortunate enough to hop into the van with them on a couple of days to catch a ride to a nearby hill Moiwa as well. It is also relatively walkable to downtown Hirafu, albeit I wouldn’t want to do it in ski boots.

The owners and staff were just so so wonderful, and we honestly can’t say enough good things about them. They had wonderful insights into the best places to eat in the area, were kind enough to share the best lines to ski, and even gave guests a wonderful tour around Otaru on a day when the hills were going to be more or less closed due to wind. Their endless fun energy, engaging conversation, and genuine interest they take in all of the guests at the lodge made for an unforgettable experience, and we left feeling like we truly made lifelong friends with the Slowlife family. Numerous times we found ourselves wondering how the heck we stumbled into finding such a perfect place.

A huge thank you to Chad, Greg, Ami, Michael, Catherine, and Tom for an unforgettable experience. We are proud to call ourselves Slowlifers, and hope you will have us back on our next trip across...

😊: Breakfast was great - if you like bacon, scrambled eggs and hashbrowns which I do.

Staff is really friendly. If you are going by yourself or just a friend, its a very social space, they organize drinks with other lodges and hang out in the lounge. I had friends in town so I didn't join but otherwise would have been tempted.

Rooms are clean and the lodge is well mantained. Bed was comfortable and I slept well (mattress is firm), though the pillow was tiny and didn't really support my neck or head well.. 😢: Had a lot of issues with the wi-fi. The wi-fi speed was fast when it worked. but for some reason both my laptop and phone had issues connecting to certain websites and networks (microsoft teams, battlenet) - though I think it did not seem to be an issue for most guests.

The shower hot water is not great. Both me and my friend had relatively cold showers - dreaded showers there, I mostly showered at a friends hotel that had an Onsen. Maybe there is a trick to the shower I didn't figure out.

The place was great and everyone seemed to run on trust, which I went with. But if you want security - the room doors do not have locks so maybe not a great place if you want your belongings highly secure - that said, had no issues with my belongings.

Also hard to get to, a 15-20 minute walk to the slopes. There is a free Hirafu bus shuttle that comes close, but I never ended up using it or seeing it because I walked to my friends hotel (10 minute walk) and took their shuttle to and from the slopes. GO TAXI is also an option, especially if you are heading there with luggage, it is...

😊: Breakfast was great - if you like bacon, scrambled eggs and hashbrowns which I do.

Staff is really friendly. If you are going by yourself or just a friend, its a very social space, they organize drinks with other lodges and hang out in the lounge. I had friends in town so I didn't join but otherwise would have been tempted.

Rooms are clean and the lodge is well mantained. Bed was comfortable and I slept well (mattress is firm), though the pillow was tiny and didn't really support my neck or head well.. 😢: Had a lot of issues with the wi-fi. The wi-fi speed was fast when it worked. but for some reason both my laptop and phone had issues connecting to certain websites and networks (microsoft teams, battlenet) - though I think it did not seem to be an issue for most guests.

The shower hot water is not great. Both me and my friend had relatively cold showers - dreaded showers there, I mostly showered at a friends hotel that had an Onsen. Maybe there is a trick to the shower I didn't figure out.

The place was great and everyone seemed to run on trust, which I went with. But if you want security - the room doors do not have locks so maybe not a great place if you want your belongings highly secure - that said, had no issues with my belongings.

Also hard to get to, a 15-20 minute walk to the slopes. There is a free Hirafu bus shuttle that comes close, but I never ended up using it or seeing it because I walked to my friends hotel (10 minute walk) and took their shuttle to and from the slopes. GO TAXI is also an option, especially if you are heading there with luggage, it is...