Kamikochi Lemeiesta Hotel — Hotel in Matsumoto

Kamikoche is an adventure destination where the ‘add’ part of the venture starts before getting there (see ‘Need to know’ below). Set amid one of Japan’s most stunning alpine valleys, this hotel offers good quality lodgings with attentive service and rounds it off with international haute cuisine of the highest calibre. It all comes at a premium price of course but then staying at Kamikochi is not for the budget conscious unless you are a camper. |Aside of the gastronomy, there is little of the facility that could be considered luxurious here but more something along the lines of 3-star comfortable alpine lodge. It thus falls short of excellence but is still very good. ||The good: reception was slick and welcoming and English is fine through most of the hotel. Our mountain & river view twin room with ensuite spa & toilet (204) was clean, quiet, and comfortable. The twin beds (not futons) were restful, the linens clean and crisp and, after some help from the service staff we were able to find pillows that suited our preferences. The panoramic outlook shared between the room and the ensuite spa was breathtaking. |The include WiFi worked well on all our devices although the speed went to sleep on a few occasions. |Breakfast was a good quality, well-serviced buffet of cross-cultural staples. Our dinners were top class table d’hote affairs that varied significantly for each night of our stay. There is a small but high quality wine list to chose from with dinner. | |The not so good: there is no laundry or laundry service offered. Our guest room was a little on the compact side (24m2) which was exacerbated by the disproportionate amount of space consumed by the bathroom arrangements. The toilet cubicle was fine and worked well but the spacious glazed shower/spa ensemble with adjacent vanity tries hard to be a headline feature where you can bathe in the onsen tub while taking in the glorious mountain view but somehow it just didn’t work as intended for us. Perhaps a little more privacy on a higher floor from the passing parade might have been better but in the end we filled the bath, took one look at it and used the communal onsen. |Need to know: if you are driving here there is no private vehicle access to Kamikochi from the tunnel entry. You need to park and ride – either by taxi or bus – from Sawando or Hirayu (ca. 15km away). There are plenty of parking options at either town that cost ¥600/night and a taxi from Sawando cost us ¥5000 each way. After navigating the tunnel and roads to and through Kamikoche it’s easy to understand why private vehicles are...

Kamikoche is an adventure destination where the ‘add’ part of the venture starts before getting there (see ‘Need to know’ below). Set amid one of Japan’s most stunning alpine valleys, this hotel offers good quality lodgings with attentive service and rounds it off with international haute cuisine of the highest calibre. It all comes at a premium price of course but then staying at Kamikochi is not for the budget conscious unless you are a camper. |Aside of the gastronomy, there is little of the facility that could be considered luxurious here but more something along the lines of 3-star comfortable alpine lodge. It thus falls short of excellence but is still very good. ||The good: reception was slick and welcoming and English is fine through most of the hotel. Our mountain & river view twin room with ensuite spa & toilet (204) was clean, quiet, and comfortable. The twin beds (not futons) were restful, the linens clean and crisp and, after some help from the service staff we were able to find pillows that suited our preferences. The panoramic outlook shared between the room and the ensuite spa was breathtaking. |The include WiFi worked well on all our devices although the speed went to sleep on a few occasions. |Breakfast was a good quality, well-serviced buffet of cross-cultural staples. Our dinners were top class table d’hote affairs that varied significantly for each night of our stay. There is a small but high quality wine list to chose from with dinner. | |The not so good: there is no laundry or laundry service offered. Our guest room was a little on the compact side (24m2) which was exacerbated by the disproportionate amount of space consumed by the bathroom arrangements. The toilet cubicle was fine and worked well but the spacious glazed shower/spa ensemble with adjacent vanity tries hard to be a headline feature where you can bathe in the onsen tub while taking in the glorious mountain view but somehow it just didn’t work as intended for us. Perhaps a little more privacy on a higher floor from the passing parade might have been better but in the end we filled the bath, took one look at it and used the communal onsen. |Need to know: if you are driving here there is no private vehicle access to Kamikochi from the tunnel entry. You need to park and ride – either by taxi or bus – from Sawando or Hirayu (ca. 15km away). There are plenty of parking options at either town that cost ¥600/night and a taxi from Sawando cost us ¥5000 each way. After navigating the tunnel and roads to and through Kamikoche it’s easy to understand why private vehicles are...

I was visiting Kamikochi Park from the 24-26th of October with friends. We were here to hike and I chose lemeista hotel because it was one of only 2 hotels in the park that had an onsen. The other , the Kamikochi Onsen hotel was just next to it.Its not convenient to get to as one had to hike/ walk 20 minutes from the nearest bus stop which is at the Imperial Kamikochi hotel. One could also hike from the bus terminal but it is a longer hike. But The loveliness of this hotel makes it worth the walk! |The front desk staff are very polite and the service is good. A few of them speak good English. There is a large welcoming lobby with free flow of coffees, tea and soft drinks from 5.30 pm onwards . The dinner on the first night is French style and the roast beef was par excellence! The second night was Japanese which was also very good standard. The buffet breakfast was a choice of western and Japanese . They even served honey melons for breakfast which was very sweet .|The onsen was good but the quality of shampoo and conditioners were not as good as those in the Hokkaido onsens. ( they used pola). However the redeeming grace is the presence of 4 massage chairs outside the onsens which provided a finishing touch to the onsen baths. Loved, loved this extra touch .|Overall, I would recommend my friends to stay here .|Ps:All our rooms had a lovely view of the asuza river. The memory of the river view stays etched...