Chuoukan Shimizuya Ryokan — Hotel in Nagano

I had the best stay at Chuoukan Shimizuya! I’ve been traveling alone but the two grandparents that run the place are so kind and always available for any problem or question I had. They don’t speak English but with my broken Japanese and their broken English we could in the end manage to communicate well! They would always arrive at the door whenever I arrived or had to leave to wish me a good day or welcome me back home. Overall two very kind people. The house is very well kept in my opinion, some parts are old but very well kept and super clean and spotless. The room had a door on the outside that locks so you don’t have to worry about there being only sliding doors. Once you enter the door that locks, there is a small sink and area where to leave your slippers, and then you can open the sliding doors where there is the tatami floors so to not bring the slippers on the tatami. The room was extremely well kept and clean! They gave a new hot water bottle to have tea every day with new cups, tea bags and pot. Fresh towels and yukata every day. Just outside the room there is a small room just for the toilet, then downstairs there is two separate bath areas for women and men. The bath area is where the showers also are, bear in mind it’s an onsen type of bath area therefore there is no private showers. However, there is a lock on the onsen door, therefore if it’s not too crowded you can always lock the door while you shower quickly! As the shower room is cleaned after check out, the bathing times are only in the morning before 10am and then in the late afternoon and evening, to allow them to clean the onsen and showers, which I really appreciated because it was always extremely clean and hygienic, which is something I really look for in every place I stay at. Finally the futon was very comfortable and it didn’t feel hard at all. Nearby there are plenty of restaurants and convenience stores, and the famous Zenkoji temple is literally a 5 minute walk, and overall the neighborhood is very peaceful and quiet, I slept very well! It is also not that far from the train station, about a 20 minute walk or 6/7 minutes with the buses, that you can take from the train station for roughly ¥160 (they only accept cash or the local ic cards, so suica doesn’t work on these buses). I genuinely have no complaints at all and encourage anyone who would like to feel a bit at home and experience a traditional Japanese style house to...

This may be called a 2 star place, but honestly the service was 5 star. It’s a traditional Ryokan, run by an adorable elderly couple that really go all out to help you, despite not having a great grasp of English. You come in, and they start putting out stools so you can take off your shoes (no shoes, only slippers inside). They then remember them for when you want to leave, getting them ready when you want to leave. Walk down the stairs and they will interrupt whatever they are doing to be attentive (even if I was just bringing luggage downstairs before we left, the lady would fold her newspaper and get up to come see me, and I needed to make 4 trips).We had a room for 3 people, that could have fit 4, a powerful air conditioner/heater, good size shower and bathroom included, all much larger than we were expecting. Hot water was provided in a flask that was hot all the way until morning. There are no chairs though, you are expected to sit on the floor (there are cushions and a back rest in addition to a little table). The beds are also mats on the floor, but very comfortable.

Breakfast is a delight, so many small plates and bowls of pickles, soup, grilled fish, rice, vegetables… the list goes on, definitely something to try. The hotel also has 2 baths, one male and one female, both on the ground floor. You can bathe there in the mornings and evenings, and there are washing stations as well as a soak bath.

The hotel is full of burnished wood including the staircases, so slippers are a necessity, don’t be tempted to walk around in socks, it’s slippery, and there are no lifts, so you’ll have to carry your luggage up and down the stairs which can be a little narrow.

At a 20 minute walk from Nagano station, it’s easy to get to (we did it both ways with luggage). There is a direct bus for 150 yen if you want to use it though. Just down the hill from Zenkoji temple, it’s set ideally midway between the two. Quite a few good restaurants nearby too.

My first time at a Ryokan, so I don’t know if this is standard service or excellent. I want to believe that they are at the top of their game though, even in a country as friendly as Japan, such a...

We (thirty-something married couple) spent two nights at Shimizuya Ryokan in December 2015. This was our first ryokan experience (so we can't really compare it to anything else) but we had a spectacularly good time. The room was huge compared to all other places we stayed at in Japan (check out my other reviews) and they have a wonderful onsen/spa where you can warm up after a day hiking in the mountains around Nagano. Everything is squeaky clean, from the room itself, to the robes that they gave us, to the breakfast room and the spa. The elderly hosts were incredibly friendly, they don't speak a lot of English but communication was somehow not a problem.||A few tips: getting to Shimizuya from the Nagano train station is fairly easy since it's on the main street leading to the Zenkoji temple; it's probably a 15 minute walk, maybe a bit longer if you have bags. Bottom line, probably not worth taking a cab. Once you're at the ryokan, be prepared for wide changes of temperature inside: the rooms and onsen will be nice and hot, the main lobby and corridors are fairly cold (probably impossible to heat given the layout of this hundred-plus year old structure). Make sure you grab an extra blanket (they were set out in the evening on the corridor) and take a hot bath before you go to bed (make sure you shower and rinse the soap before you get in the hot tub, lest you commit a major social faux pas). Also, the rooms do not actually have a restroom, the restrooms are on the hallway and separate from...